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[SarahT]

My joint pain is awful lately.
An x-ray shows arthritis in both hips. I exercise a ok and my diet is good. So some yoga and light weights.

Am awaiting physio to learn correct exercises to target this pain. But my shoulders and lower back are bad...and I am not as strong as I was either.

I would like to try a natural way to help my joints. As a vegetarian things likening fish et c are out.

Has anyone seen benefit in using crushed or milled flax seed for joint pain?

[Emzib0b]

Hi Sarah, me again!

I’m sorry to hear you’re struggling so much with joint pain and arthritis. I don’t know if Flax seed can help joint pain, but I remember reading once that humans don’t convert the essential fatty acids in plant based sources of Omega 3 in to the type found in fish oil based Omega 3 very well. I don’t know whether that applies to the benefits for joint health or just the heart/brain benefits.

Turmeric is meant to be very good for joint pain and inflammation. Adding a touch of black pepper helps with bioavailability. Glucosamine is meant to be helpful. My Mum and Dad have been giving it to their 12 year old cat (on prescription) for the last few months and she’s started jumping again! I’m surprised they haven’t tried it themselves! It comes in a vegetarian form too. MSM is apparently meant to be good for joints, I think someone might have mentioned it recently? CBD is also meant to be good for pain, sleep etc.

[jaypo]

Hi Sarah, I too suffer with arthritis and have been veggie for 30 odd years,like EmzibOb says,Turmeric is supposed to be good but a good quality one like Turmeric complex from bettervits,expensive sadly but be careful of the cheaper ones.I take CBD gummies you can get veggie ones,whether they help,I'm not sure but my arthritic foot has been ok lately, I also use capsaicin cream,which is FAB,used to get it on prescription but apparently they can't get it now,yet I buy it online so 🤷‍♀️

[SarahT]

Thanks Emz and jaypo.

I didn't know you can get veggie glucosamine, and definitely adding that in my supplements. I know turmeric is so good, but I have a hiatus hernia, and any spice irritates it. Even good quality capsule I would be wary of just in case. Same with the capsicum but I think a cream would be worth looking into. Thanks ladies.

Good to learn. I wasn't aware humans can't convert plant omega 3 very well. But am happy for your mum's cat Emz! Bless her.😸

Jaypo, am researching the capsicum cream, I think a topical does would help my hips, along with a veggie glucosamine for the rest of my joints. I hope you are able to relieve your own joint pain a bit.

Hard to do a lot of physical stuff to keep moving, then feel worse because of the pain it causes... Just another peri balancing act I guess!
X
 

[CLKD]

Why can't you eat fish  .  If U stick to line caught rather than trawled or farmed fish from Scotland, i.e. salmon, you should be OK once a week.  Some tuna in cans is line caught too. Having made that suggestion even though DH goes trout 🎣, I don't like fish that tastes like fish 

Osteo arthritis is nature's joint wear and tear due to evolving upright so the weight of the head bears down on all the other joints  . 

Also, taking a pain relief medication 30 mins B4 exercise will help. 

[SarahT]

Hi CLKD,

Have been vegetarian for 30+ years, that means no fish or any form of creature killed for eating. Am very much a person who respects how others live, no problem for anyone else choosing to eat fish or animals at all  it's just not for me. Ever.

My g.p did say try pain relief before heavy exercise, but I am a bit reluctant, because it I take medication at this stage I am concerned if my joints worsen (as you say, age and evolution play their parts) then I will have to increase the strength of medication. So want to keep drugs in reserve if you see.

So am looking for a more natural approach. Unless I get to the stage where am so bad I just scream "Give Me The Drugs"...!Start small and work upwards.
X

[jaypo]

Sarah,I'm sure the capsaicin cream wouldn't affect your hiatus hernia as,like you say,it's topical,it doesn't work for everyone but the physio said to give it a go and hey presto Mysore foot was no more,then they go and stop prescribing it for some reason,pharmacist said they can't get it in but I found it online the Drs alternative was ibuprofen gel but I'd rather pay for a drug free pain relief.

[CLKD]

That's fine.  Sometimes the body 'asks' for something: several years ago a friend who had been vegetarian for 50 years, yearned for a steak.  Once she had started eating meat occasionally her body pains settled. 

I don't know if those pain relieving gels work?  I suppose that HRT is delivered via the skin so gels ought to help? 

Pain is of course a warning - however  . I don't do my exercises advised by the physio.: Note to Self : so my bursisitis nips in the early hours.  If you take pain relief now, you get a quality of Life.  Your joints may not worsen.  Or they might pack up when you are too old and grey to do exercise ;-). 

Let us know how you get on.  Of course, swimming is non weight bearing exercise but again, I can't be bothered to undress: skinny dipping any one ?

[SarahT]

Old and grey?? Some days I already feel that. But my glorious husband is so good with colouring my hair so am cheating that for now!

I am definitely going to keep up my physio exercises when I get an appt. I heed your advice it is a warning...my Dr did mutter possible hip replacements, but am still wanting to try without  pain relief for now. But keep active. Stubborn or stupid? Thin line...

My body only ever craves green veg at times so I listen and act accordingly.  Love my walks, need to be outside,  lucky no rivers near us so no skinny dipping to scare the local wildlife.

Thanks Jaypo, am trying the capsicum gel seeing as it is topical, thanks for the info. Also some milled flax, as veggie glucosamine seems to contain just that anyway.

As always thanks for replies, I like to learn about what my body needs and do the best I can, like anyone I guess x

X

[jaypo]

Do let us know how it goes Sarah.

[SarahT]

Thanks Jaypo I will do so.
Getting the flax seed tomorrow and ordering the capsicum too. Have begun the yoga, light weights and stretches too. I stopped for a while as the pain was worse. Hard to know the what's best to balance the need  to move well, but knowing it hurts makes you not want to do too much! So whilst I walk\garden each day, I will also add in the exercises on the days where I have the mobility and energy to do them.
If I get the really bad days, no energy, feel like trudging through mud, then I probably can't do them at all. Hope that makes sense...

Thanks again

[CLKD]

How about pilates ?  Apparently 'at our age' we are supposed to stand on 1 leg and count to 5 without wobbling.  It supposedly improves brain function  .  It doesn't say how fast the counting to 5 should be though 

SarahT - does your DH get colouring all over the bathroom walls, sink, tub: the I coloured my own, it look as though a murder had been committed  .  Now I've grown grey, gracefully.  The grey disappears for a while after a very good trim. 

Wading through treacle - even though I am taking VitD tablets I still feel weary at times.  Probably due to my buy, long, involved dreams 

[Claire MM]

Hi Sarah T, Just echoing what other people have said, I got the book 'Say no to arthritis' by Patrick Holford a few years ago which helped me, it does reference fish oil but also a number of these other remedies. Another couple I took were Boswelia (Frankinscence) which you can get as a capsule or a cream to apply topically and pycogenol as a capsule, both of these would be vegetarian. I did find that HRT has helped me a great deal with hip arthritis but I was looking at potential hip replacement in my mid 40s so that's just my situation. The HRT I am on is vegetarian as derived from yams I believe. But I'm not trying to sell you anything! I hope some of the different supplement ideas you have here help xx

[SarahT]

Thanks Claire,I hadn't done across Frankincense, I used to burn that as an oil, so I know I would feel compatible with it. I know my hrt is also yam derived too. I originally resisted hrt due to the way some of the  older types  were derived and I do feel strongly about my veggie morals. Appreciate you giving info and not a hard sell.haha. All info to me is valuable.

And CKLD... My husband is so good at doing my hair colour my friends want to hire him out. But I am too selfish to let him  loose as we enjoy a little (ahem) 'extra closeness' when he acts as my personal hairdresser.... 

So. I can balance on one leg and count to 5. I have fabulous hair, as I refuse to do anything gracefully let alone to grey in that manner. And the biggest plus is a fab husband too.

May be all over the place right now but sometimes it's worth being reminded of the good stuff. X

[jaypo]

Haha,so there you go Sarah,getting exercise whilst getting your hair done,win win 
I stick to my morals too, I always remember being prescribed ABs but the Dr had forgotten to write vegetarian no gelatine on the prescription, I asked the pharmacist......are they gelatine free? He said no, I said well I'm veggie,he said......it's only a tiny bit of gelatine and he wasn't joking