Yesterday’s bread was a bit, well, I had some ado getting it out of the pan last night, so the scrappy end of the loaf ended up in the skillet with a little butter, then some blueberry jam, we optimistically put the umbrella on the patio table, had breakfast out by the pond, then did a little gardening. The pond is clear! The crud has melted off the rocks, the fish are happy, the new babies are getting the idea that food happens here, and it’s lovely out there except the bog I created by forgetting to turn off a watering hose last night.
Clipped the suckers off the monster flowering quince, got into the plastic bins that have been sitting on the concrete since April—discovered they are not water-tight; and one had our lights; but solar lights are tough. I got our little hanging solar lanterns distributed about, hosed out the stagnant (ugh!) water, did a little weeding, and now my day starts…
I love our garden in the morning. The recipient of the water was my snapdragon patch—and the pretty tall red ones are lying over. Of course we are forecast for 3 days of rain. But sitting as we are atop glacial till with a pond, we do handle excess water well.
Curiously enough I’m not at all sore today, and the troublesome knee is responding to the hyaluronic acid/Joint Juice combo: it felt so good that, after I got too hot to work in the garden (I am not at all heat tolerant above 72 degrees) I did some stair running to the basement, taking stuff that should be down, down, and stuff that needed tossing, upstairs.
You have mentioned “hyalronic acid/Joint Juice combo” in the past. If it’s something that helps arthritic joints behave, I would surely like a link to wherever you have a source!
Me, too! Give!
Hyaluronic acid. THis is what it is: http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-1062-HYALURONIC%20ACID.aspx?activeIngredientId=1062&activeIngredientName=HYALURONIC%20ACID
Your body has it naturally. As we age, we don’t have as much of it.
This is exactly what I take: two caps daily. http://www.biosynergy.com/products/hyaluronic-acid-plus-msm/
And http://jointjuice.com/?gclid=CKXxxPuC97ACFQkaQgoddXazUw
You can get it at Costco or Walmart. It’s a glucosamine/chondroitin/vitamin B dose in a cranberry/pomegranite flavored drink.
It takes about a week of doing this daily to note any improvement. But it improves both eyes and joints, and helps particularly if you are losing some of the lubrication in the knees due to aging.
The Web/MD link didn’t list any interactions or side effects, which is unusual.
This particular choice is vegetarian, not that it matters to me, but it is significant to some of our friends. There are 2 sources for hyaluronic acid, one of which is from chickens, one from bacterial production, which is the one I think is in question here.
Another thing that does help is MSM, aka methylated sulphur compound, taken internally as pills. We got onto this when Jane’s horse Venus was so stiff she was banging her feet crossing the stall threshold and moping and losing weight, ie, in discomfort and not grazing as she should. WE got this preparation meant for dogs, and gave her a horse-sized dose. Literally within hours she was moving more freely, and we spotted the old girl actually running and frisking a bit in the pasture. It gave her some more good years. WE began to think of our own aches and pains, and began taking, yes, the dog pills. We later found it for people. 😉 And I need to get back on that, too. When Jane got sick last year, all our routines went into suspension. We’re trying to get moving again.
So if you want to toss another item onto the pile, find yourself some human-type MSM. It’s just dietary sulphur, so it’s sort of like eating a lot of broccoli, I imagine. WHich we do. For those of you who don’t like broccoli, it might be a good thing. 😉
I’m familiar with hyaluronic acid, both as Synvisc and as Hyalgan (both trade names for a collagen made from the combs of chickens. The main difference is that Hyalgan is refined and has a purer composition than Synvisc. They are administered by injection into the affected joint, and are given in a series of 3 shots for Synvisc and 5 shots for Hyalgan. I’ve been on the therapy for both knees, but thankfully, those are behind me, as I have no need for synovial fluid to lubricate my knees.
You would want to hold off getting steroid shots in your joints for as long as possible, since the steroid causes the tissues in the joints to break down faster. This is why my orthopaedic surgeon used them as a last resort, because he knew that the next step was replacement surgery. You’d like to hold off on that, too, since it effectively stops any activity which involves running, jumping, bouncing, etc. You can skate, bicycle, swim, walk, etc., but anything that causes the femur and the tibia to try to meet each other in the middle of the knee is going to cause pain and possible damage to the plastic spacer between the implants.
Properly cooked broccoli is outstanding!
I’ve had 3 shots into a shoulder joint, over a 2 year period. It was nearly as much fun as having eyelids deadened for a cosmetic tattoo (which faded within 3 years)—a thing NEVER to contemplate again. In both cases I saw colors not in any earthly spectrum.
The pills-by-mouth are ever so much more pleasant than that.
Hyaluronic acid can be injected into joints; or smeared on your face to remove wrinkles, or swallowed in a capsule.
Synvisc 1 requires only 1 shot per joint and can take up to 5-6 weeks for full benefit. It can last up to 6 months (if it works for you). My orthopedic surgeons recommended the shot vs oral and it’s been 5 weeks since injection of my worst knee and 2+ weeks since injection of my best knee. I found almost immediate benefits in my good knee (now it doesn’t hurt so much on stairs) but I’m still having problems with the bad knee. Another arthroscopy to clean up meniscus tears isn’t off the table for the worst knee even through I’m bone-on-bone in the medial compartment, but I’m supposed to wait the full 6 weeks post injection to see if things improve. I’m trying to put off the knee replacement as long as possible (or until I retire). The injections were really no big deal at all….virtually no problems/pain….at least for me.
In addition to all this I do take Glusosamine/Chondroitin with MSM, ginger, turmeric/ resveratrol and boswellia in addition to eating an anti-inflammatory diet geared towards optimum thyroid function. Unfortunately, no matter how much I like broccoli, eating it more than once per week isn’t something those concerned about thyroid function should do (sigh).
Haika, MY orthopedic surgeons told me that Synvisc is a series of three shots to the joint, separated by one or two weeks between shots. Hyalgan (TM) is a series of five shots to the joint, separated by one or two weeks.
Glucosamine/Chondroitin didn’t work for me, and now, it doesn’t matter, because my knees are both stainless steel and plastic.
I verified that information with the Mayo Clinic.
There are two versions of Synvisc. One requires 3 shots, the other requires only 1. Synvisc-One (1 shot) and Synvisc (3 shots). This can be verified via multiple sources.
Mayo Clinic isn’t very informative about synvisc options when compared to other on-line resources OR it’s analysis of the two options is well-hidden (shrug). Synvisc-One was approved in 2009.
http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/ProductsandMedicalProcedures/DeviceApprovalsandClearances/Recently-ApprovedDevices/ucm133863.htm
Joe, the bionic man. This technology served my father well—he kept falling off ladders with his bionic hip, and off porches, and it held up just fine, to the wonder of it all. His first dive was only 3 months after surgery. My old traveling buddy Audrey had two hip replacements, …I tell you it’s way far ahead of the alternative.
Artificial knees, artificial lenses in my eyes, an artificial joint in my right thumb. They love me at airport security!