Vitamins and Joint Supplements - any recommendations and thoughts?

While I do take Vitamin C at the first signs of a cold and it seems to help, I have never observed any benefit to joints and arthritis from any supplement. But that is just my experience., Over the past 8 years I have tried turmeric, in various combinations (curcumin, black-pepper), chondroitin, glucosamine. I have also tried various topically applied gels. I had a hip-replacement 3.5 years ago, and in the 12 months before that I had a lot of knee pain (with hindsight possibly caused by my unnatural gait from the hip ). One thing I found that DID ease the knee and allow me to sleep was "Green Mussel gel" (or green- lipped mussel gel) . I tried "Pernaton" and "Musselex" I have arthritis in my thumbs, hands, neck, ank;le and one big toe. No supplements made any difference to those conditions for me.,

Hi there Thanks for your honesty and information - it is helpful. I have my doubts about supplements but there seems to be a lot of information that over time, these help. I am just trying to find a more natural way to remedy my psoriatic arthritis. I have hemp gel that I use from time to time as well. Imranali

Hi! I had been suffering from psoriatic arthritis (Gout like symptoms) and had really painful joints, particularly feet , hands, wrists, fingers. I have been drinking sour cherry juice, (wine glass every day) after having read that it contains anti-inflammatory properties. It either works or it's a very convenient coincidence. I've gone from not being able to use my hands in the morning to having forgotten how bad the pain was.(I used to wear wrist splints to alleviate the pain and tried regular acupuncture, which sometimes helped) I can recommend Biona organic cherry juice. I've been relatively pain free for over 2 years. Definitely worth a try, nothing to lose.

Dear S, Thanks for this useful suggestion - I will try it. Just 2 questions: 1) How many glasses a day did you drink of this sour cherry juice? 2) Did you order Biona organic cherry juice from amazon? Or is there a cheaper place? God bless you. Imranali

re questions 1) a small wine glass (175ml) every day* although I wasn't scientific in my measurements. I found it quite sour (durgh!) to start with, but have started to enjoy it more recently. It needs to be stored in fridge once opened, but I find it tastes best at room temperature. 2) I have tried Amazon, although on a couple of occasions the bottles arrived smashed, which isn't ideal. I've found a nice wholefood shop locally who kindly order it for me. (I order a 6 pack of Litre bottles for a slight reduction) At about £5 a bottle it does seem expensive, but I'd happily pay twice/treble the price, if it's the juice that has caused the improvement in joint mobility/pain free joints. * when talking to my doctor, he (for some odd reason) understood "cherry brandy" and was quite concerned when I told him I was drinking a litre a week and that I'd had a glass before driving to the surgery. We both had a chuckle when he realised I was talking cherry juice, not brandy!

Hi S, Great - this is helpful. I will try amazon first as it seems the biona brand is difficult to find. Agreed - anything to help psoriatic arthritis. Kind regards, Imranali

It had got so bad I had an appt. to see a Rheumatologist, but, after taking the cherry juice for a while, I felt I was a bit of a fraud going to see him, because the inflammation had disappeared. He didn't seem to be too knowledgeable about anti inflammatory properties of cherry juice , but said if it seems to work, then do it. (My experience with doctors has always been very similar; a pill or tablet is usually the first approach. Some of the pain killers/muscle relaxants I had been prescribed were positively scary when you read the possible side effects.)

I have just read about flexumgel Haven't tried it yet.. Read it up and see what you think. Good luck.