Glucosamine.....Is It Safe?

Maybe not according to recent reports. There seems to be an otherwise healthy man in the UK who has died after starting treatment with glucosamine. I have been reading different blogs for a few days about all this recent information.



Dr. Crippen, who is the NHS Blog Doctor, sometimes snarky, sometimes humorous, but always interesting, has this to say of it all.

I was so lucky to find "Battling Arthritis" blog the other day. Oh, it is one that is full of so much information. This is her take on glucosamine.

Personally, I have never been a big fan of it for myself. I did try it several years ago when my treatment options became very limited. It was sort of humorous, when all my Drs. who had previously told me not to even bother with trying it, "it will not work for you" was there standard response, when I would ask about it. Then they all became an advocate of me trying it, once they realized there would be no more NSAIDS or COX-2 inhibitors for me.

I tried it, and I noticed no difference at all. Has any one had good luck with it? Will you still continue using it? I wonder if using it will even be an option, or if it will be pulled from shelves?

My Arthritis

Well I have started this blog as a way to hopefully find others who suffer daily from the pains of arthritis. I am 55 years old and have had early onset osteoarthritis since in my mid 20s.

I had my first surgery when still in my 30s, and have had a total of 3 arthroscopic knee surgeries and 2 years ago, I had a total knee replacement. I have been putting off having the other one replaced. I now have It so bad in my lower spine that the neurosurgeon wants to do a 3 level fusion and also clean up alot of the arthritis. This is a surgery that scares me. I just went through a period of non stop 24 hr a day lower back pain that was the worst I have ever experienced.

To make things worse, I cannot take any arthritis medications (Nsaids, COX-2 inhibitors, or aspirins) due to ulcers in my stomach and esophagus. I keep trying to find alternative treatments and things to try but I feel my options are really limited.

I do not want this to just be a blog of me talking about my personal experience. Although I do have a 4 part post written on my entire experience. I would love to hear from others, and also would like to share information back and forth.

Please feel free to leave a comment.