Quote Originally Posted by bmccasland View Post
Bruno,
When I was diagnosed with arthritis my Doc said to buy a bottle of the glucosamine, enough for a month. I can't remember the dosage, but 1000 mg / day comes to mind. Anyway if I didn't notice a difference in a month, don't bother buying another bottle. Apparently the glucosamine doesn't work for everyone. It won't hurt you to give it a try.
Quality of glucosamine is important, too. From the studies, hydrochloride is worthless, sulfate definitely allows cartilage to rebuild but may or may not bring a resulting decrease in pain. (Whether it prevents increased pain from joint spaces that continue to narrow is, obviously, impossible to quantify.) Sulfate is way more expensive, not surprisingly.

I've actually been getting better relief of pain and crepitus lately with shark cartilage than with glucosamine/chondroitin. Unfortunately there was an issue where one manufacturer had one lot of contaminated shark cartilage, and now it's really hard to find.

Also try an Omega-3 supplement like freshly ground flaxseeds or Udo's Choice oil. Capsaicin rubs (probably not the best thing if you wear contact lenses though...trust me on this one).

Set up your computer so you don't use your thumbs for mouse clicks. Tap on a touch pad or do finger-clicks. Clicking is incredibly stressful to the thumb joint.

If you don't like Thai food, Indian food also is full of ginger, turmeric and garlic.

And +1 to keeping the joint moving. You'll both help keep it supple, and keep the muscles stronger.