Biking-Severe Arthritis-Vitamins-Supplements

[pardes]

So, if you're not a "senior" and you're just beginning to get symptoms, I'd say work up to a sustainable level of exercise, and you'll keep more fitness as you age. (duh.)Karen

Very true, very true! They key is "sustainable" as you say. I must say I was paranoid about my bike seat position at first. I didn't want to aggravate things by having it too low but I had to have it low in order to be able to get on and off the bike. Fortunately it didn't seem to matter as far as my knees were concerned. But then I'm lucky that my arthritis seems to be everywhere BUT my knees.

Starting early is also the key so you should be biking at 100!

[beccaB]

Neither or in combination had any effect for me. That was one of the first things I tried.

I have heard some stories of Glucosamine and Chondroitin not working. My problem isn't arthritis, but a torn Rotator Cuff and tendonitis with impingement.
I swear it works for me even though research shows it's not effective on those things.
I also try to eat certain fruits that have anti-inflammatory effects, such as pineapples and pitted fruits.
I also take fish oil and "try" to stay away from too much sugar, because sugar has an inflammatory effect.

[SouthernBelle]

I have no suggestions. But I wanted to mention that I read somewhere that Georgena Terry (in her 70s) walks with crutches but can ride you into the ground.

[michelem]

Oh, I almost forgot (actually, I did until I was reminded by salsabike's post in the "SADD [sic] that time of year" thread). Make sure to get your vitamin d levels tested. Both mine and my mother's were abnormally low. Here's the article salsabike posted:

http://www.hopkins-arthritis.org/art...arthritis.html

[pardes]

Oh, I almost forgot (actually, I did until I was reminded by salsabike's post in the "SADD [sic] that time of year" thread). Make sure to get your vitamin d levels tested. Both mine and my mother's were abnormally low. Here's the article salsabike posted:

http://www.hopkins-arthritis.org/art...arthritis.html

Thanks! I managed to catch that thread when it was posted and my ears perked up.

[Zen]

I also try to eat certain fruits that have anti-inflammatory effects, such as pineapples and pitted fruits.
.

When I had cellulitis, yogurt was recommended as an anti-inflammatory.

[sundial]

Pardes, I found staying away from processed foods, and things that are white in color helped me more than anything. Sugar, flour, white potatoes, pasta, milk products, etc causes my arthritis to flare up big time. Also, shade plants such as tomatoes and eggplant don't do me any favors.

If you can stay limber and cycle frequently, that will help more than any supplement in my opinion.

By the way, I ran across my cane the other day. Hoping I won't be using that anytime soon.

[OakLeaf]

What I've read about glucosamine and chondroitin is basically three things.
-Glucosamine HCl is useless, glucosamine sulfate may be useful.
-Glucosamine sulfate demonstrably rebuilds cartilage and slows deterioration of cartilage.
-Glucosamine does not necessarily relieve pain.

That's in line with the fact that no one actually knows what pain is. Radiological evidence of osteoarthritis does not correlate well with pain. I'll continue to take glucosamine to protect my joints, whether or not it's useful for pain relief. I do get some pain relief from it, but I'll grant that it may be placebo effect. My guess is that it probably prevents much more pain than it relieves... but of course that's impossible to measure.

I've had better results with shark cartilage than with bovine glucosamine/chondroitin, but I hesitate to take it since sharks are so overfished. You never know if it's really by-product cartilage, and even if it is, whether the meat was legally and sustainably fished.

My dog had excellent results with Adequan injections (glucosamine/chondroitin). Oral forms really didn't help her much, and I'm pretty sure there was no placebo effect involved with her shots.

SAM-e sent my blood pressure sky-high.

I'm generally skeptical of mainstream medicine doing research on supplements, not because I assume any direct bias, but because the studies are often designed around forms of the supplement that are already known to be the least effective.

Green tea and foods high in omega-3s like nuts and leafy greens are known to be anti-inflammatory. Sugar and caffeine are thought to promote inflammation. Yes I know green tea has some caffeine.

It doesn't cost anything to do a challenge diet for food sensitivities and allergies, and it can be very revealing. When your immune system is stressed by food allergies, systemic inflammation can't help with joint pain.

Supplements only go so far - most of this should happen through (1) good body mechanics, (2) regular activity through a full range of motion, (3) healthy diet, (4) if necessary, other therapies such as acupuncture, massage, heat/cold therapy, occasional homeopathic treatments.

[pardes]

If you can stay limber and cycle frequently, that will

You are right about that. Doing a minimum of 30 minutes a day commuting has made a tremendous difference already.

SAM-e sent my blood pressure sky-high.

I tried it but found it led to severe lower GI tract distress....not a pretty thing on a bike!

I'm generally skeptical of mainstream medicine doing research on supplements, not because I assume any direct bias, but because the studies are often designed around forms of the supplement that are already known to be the least effective.

Yes, indeed, if you look long enough you can find a study to support any position you wish to take. However, there is good stuff out there and I try things and see what helps.

[Zen]

I ran across my cane the other day. Hoping I won't be using that anytime soon.

Mine's in the Jeep
just in case...

[Trek420]

Pardes, I found staying away from processed foods, and things that are white in color helped me more than anything. Sugar, flour, white potatoes, pasta, milk products, etc causes my arthritis to flare up big time. Also, shade plants such as tomatoes and eggplant don't do me any favors.

If you can stay limber and cycle frequently, that will help more than any supplement in my opinion.

+1,000,000 best tip yet!

Keep moving, ditch the junk. Paint with your food, lots of colorful fruits and veggies.

The processed food is more of a weight issue to me. There are foods with anecdotal evidence of help for arth and I eat those but no need to discuss that. You have to move the joint.

But if you do eat processed foods stop. Not that any of us are overweight or that it's any issue

When it comes to arth it's pure simple engineering. Every pound you drop is like hundreds of pounds less pressure on the knee. Every ounce of muscle you gain is like a replacement for the joints.

I was told alternatively or in addition to weight loss to strengthen the large surrounding muscles on the knee. Climb stairs, climb a hill, strengthen the hamstrings and quads, ciimb, climb, climb.

My knee joints are heading to bone on bone with no surgical option out. I was told take weight off them and/or strengthen the surrounding muscles so they do the work of my decrepit joints.

It was explained to me thus by my orthopedic surgeon:
"you have a sedentary body but an active lifestyle. You have two choices. Either change your lifestyle to fit your knee that is go sedentary, or change your knee to fit your lifestyle. If you want to go sedentary fine. Then we don't have to talk. Go home, the knees will continue to hurt and hurt more, soon you'll have all the effects of a sedentary lifestyle but you really don't need the joint to sit at a desk and drive to and from home so why bother? If you want to change the knee here's a Rx for PT, but really just go ... ride .... your .... bike"

I picked the latter and that was 3 AIDS rides ago. 4 if you count leading training rides

Pills may help. All they can hurt is your wallet.

But movement especially cycling is the best pill of all. My knees anyway "like circles". My knees don't like impact, they really don't like lateral movement, but they like doing circles. And cycling has circles!

[OakLeaf]

interesting article from a couple of days ago on the lack of correlation between pain and findings on imaging -

my favorite pull quote:

The question, though, was whether it helped the patients and their doctors to know what the M.R.I.’s had found. And the answer, Dr. Modic reported, is that it did not. The patients who knew recovered no faster than those who did not know. However, Dr. Modic said, there was one effect of being told — patients felt worse about themselves when they knew they had a bulging disk.

“If I tell you that you have a degenerated disk, basically I’m telling you you’re ugly,” Dr. Modic said.

[Trek420]

On the back of mine it says "don't tell me what I can't do"

So now that you have a diagnosis, or even if you intuit it such as having an elderly relative who struggled with and suffered from _______ and you feel you will have the same it's so important to find a way to keep moving.

If it's worse in the morning, work out in the afternoon
If it's better when you stretch, stretch in the morning
If it's worse when you are cold buy more wool!
If the bike hurts fit it and or make adjustments (you can't suffer through poor fit with arth)
If you're knees hurt get those fabulous Sheila Moon knee warmers or knit some ...

Keep moving.

Some may snicker at the middle aged gal with a steel bike, tights or knickers and arm warmers in even the hottest weather and wonder why is she drinking green tea etc. I don't care. At the end of the day and at the end of the ride I'm 52 severely arthritic and climbing. Slowly, badly but climbing.

So take that arth ;-) I'll twack you with my cane

Keep moving, keep moving, you can beat this.

[sundial]

Mine's in the Jeep
just in case...

Might come in handy with unruly Christmas shoppers.