Common Questions About Arthritis

Can You Offer Any Suggestions for My Constant Pain?

Question: I have been in constant, almost debilitating arthritis pain every day since June. Sometimes I can hardly walk from the hip problem. I am underweight, have excellent bone density, have eaten lots of green leafy vegetables, salads, and fish (no beef, very little chicken or even pork) for most of my adult life, have low blood pressure and cholesterol, have canoed, biked, walked, or swum for the past ten years. Medication did absolutely nothing for the pain. I have been taking glucosamine and chondroitin for over six weeks with no relief and MSM (methylsulfonylmethane) and flaxseed oil caps. Can you offer any suggestions for the pain?

Answer: I don't know what happened to you in June. Is there a contributing factor that caused this pain? It would be unusual for this to just start overnight. Without knowing the answer, my suggestion would be that you try acupuncture. Acupuncture and massage therapy would be very useful for you to get your pain threshold up and to increase the mobility of your hips.

There are some other supplements that you can be taking. You need to make sure that you are taking adequate dosages of multiple vitamins, including 50 mg of B. One other supplement (actually a mild hormone) that may be useful for your arthritis pain is Pregnenolone. Take this with a starting dose of 10 mg a day and see how it makes you feel. If it makes you feel edgy, as it does in a very small percentage of people, stop taking it. If not, you'll find that it may help your pain. Continue on it for 40 days. If there are no side effects, such as edginess, and the pain has not totally abated, increase the dose to 25 mg.

However, remember that nothing stands alone--you must make sure that you are approaching this pain from a total lifestyle perspective. Finally, make sure that you are under the care of a physician and again explore what it was that caused the onset of this pain in June.

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