MAY 2005
www.celtic-connection.com
Page 23
ICBC PERSONAL INJURY CLAIMS
SLAINTE - TO YOUR GOOD HEALTH!
More Information About Osteoarthritis
Last month Sldinte discussed the brave battle her big toe is waging against osteoarthritis (OA). She is so sure her readers found the adventures of her heroic hallux so riveting she continues on the same topic this month.
You will remember that with osteoarthritis, the cartilage that coats the ends of the bones breaks down. Left untreated the cartilage wears away until you have bare bone grating against bare bone every time you move the affected joint.
OA is the kind of arthritis that comes with age especially in joints that have been overused. For example, researchers at Boston University School of Medicine found that a lifetime of pinching chopsticks together to pick up food has caused many Beijing residents to show evidence of joint damage in their fingers and hand.
Sldinte had also mentioned that several studies found a common supplement, glucosamine, could reduce pain caused by this disorder. In fact, several studies found glucosamine supplements more effective than anti-inflammatories.
After the column appeared, Sldinte was bombarded with letters (for a grand total of six e-mails!) from readers who disagreed. They had found glucosamine a total waste of money.
One person called it a scam. Who is right about this supplement, Sldinte's readers (all six of them) or medical researchers? In this case, both, for a number of reasons.
First, the arthritis in our disappointed readers might have been severe. This supplement is only appropriate for those with moderate or milder arthritis. From last month's column you will remember that glucosamine works to heal and regenerate the damaged cartilage in joints.
However, if you have little or no cartilage left in the joint, glucosamine will not be effective because there is nothing left for it to heal. Don't judge your degree of OA from your level of pain. It is possible to have severe OA with few symptoms and moderate OA with great pain. Don't rule out using glucosamine until you have seen a doctor.
Second, all of us are impatient and tend to have unrealistic expectations. We expect supplements to work like drugs and give instant relief. In this case we expect glucosamine to act like a pain pill. When a natural treatment does not work as expected, we may not have given it enough time to work.
Glucosamine, for example, helps to rebuild cartilage so it's possible it may take anywhere from several weeks to several months of daily treatment for maximum relief.
You cannot swallow a few pills and expect relief in the morning. When using natural remedies, we must be patient and our efforts must be consistent.
Third, we are conditioned to shop
i
By
MAUREEN KEANE
for the cheapest brand we can find. If cheaper generic drugs are the same as their more expensive brand name counterparts, shouldn't this also hold true for supplements? Isn't all glucosamine the same? No.
Very often in the case of food supplements you get what you pay for. Very cheap supplements are cheap. In fact, a recent study showed many glucosamine products do not contain the amount of glucosamine claimed on the label.
Finally, if you do not use the same brand of glucosamine that was used in a study, you cannot expect the same results. The Cochrane Collaboration is an international not-for-profit organization that reviews medical research and evaluates the effectiveness of various health care treatments.
In their latest review on glucosamine they report the results are mixed. Some studies found glucosamine to be better than a placebo and some found it no better.
They also note that most of the positive studies used glucosamine supplied by the same company -Rotta Pharmaceuticals. Rotta makes a brand of glucosamine sulfate called Dona.
Another brand used in positive studies is CosaminDS made by Nutramax Laboratories. Cosamin DS is a combination of chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine hydrochloride.
The type of glucosamine varies in these supplements, yet both are effective. What makes them similar is the fact that they work while imitation brands do not.
Many doctors are still not convinced glucosamine works because no large-scale studies have yet been done. That is about to change. The University of Utah School of Medicine has been awarded a grant from several government organizations to coordinate a large-scale study of glucosamine.
More than 1,000 patients spread over nine research centers will test the effectiveness of glucosamine and chondroitin, alone and together, on arthritis of the knee. While the study itself will only last four months, we won't know the outcome for several more years.
Until then, Sldinte strongly suggests you use the brands that were used in the research studies and follow the directions on the label. Otherwise you may find yourself complaining to her about glucosamine too.
You can read more about Dona glucosamine sulfate at www. donausa.com/news_4.htm, and more about CosaminDS at www.cosamin.com. But Sldinte buys her CosaminDS at Costco, and it happens to be on sale this month -www. costco. com/Common/ CategoryMain. aspx?cat=589.
For more information on other arthritis treatments, visit the website for the Arthritis Foundation: www. arthritis. org/default. asp.
If you are contemplating surgery for your severe OA, you should try the Joint Surgery Center of the Arthritis Foundation at www.arthritis.org/ conditions/SurgeryCenter/ default, asp.
You can also find information on various bulletin boards where you can exchange information with patients who are contemplating surgery, and chat with those who have already had it.
Sldinte!
Maureen Keane is a best-selling author, nutritionist, and whole foods expert. She has authored 13 books on health and nutrition including the best selling Juicing for Life, What to Eat If You Have Heart Disease and What to Eat If You Have Cancer. If you have a question or comment regarding nutrition or health that you would like to see addressed in this column, e-mail itto Maureen@keanenutrition.com.
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He tries to keep his small room neat
make his bed every day
and stay away from booze and drugs
so he can stretch his monthly pay
he likes sitting in a tavern
where country music plays
sipping on a lemonade
and dream of his logging days.
He logged the islands off the coast with plaid shirt and wool pants the 20 inch bar on his chain saw made the king spruce do a dance he slogged the hills in summer's heat fell trees in snow and rain and no matter how steep those hills were
not a word would he complain.
The years rolled by his kids grew up from the woods came home one day to find his house cleaned to the bone and his good wife gone away he found a note she left behind a new life she did course with the kids in U or grown up she now wanted a divorce.
In the bare deserted kitchen his life meaning drained away all his work for thirty years came to this sad and sorry day he'd log the trees no more again on his pension he survives he lives out from day to day among the mean street Hastings dives.
- By Brendan Gillen
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