Finally a pain free day...

Yesterday I finally had a day without joint pain. I took advantage of it with a ripping mountain bike ride and a full day of work including grass cutting and painting. Then I had the Grandchildren over for a spend the night. I am a little tired after but got lots done. Hurray for Ibuprofen.

Elations day 6

After having tried Elations for 5 days I was having a lot of pain in my knees. So I started 400mg of Ibuprofen twice a day and have had more relief than with the Elations all week. Just as I suspected. The benefit was stated as modest at best. Even though the GAIT trial showed benefit, the power of the study wasn't defining. A bigger study would be needed to assert Glucosamine as having clinical benefit.

Elations day 5

Today was a typical joint pain kind of day. Still taking the elations. The GAIT trial may have given an indication of modest benefit but I don't really see it. I think I'll change back to aspirin and ibuprofen. Tomorrow I will either mountain bike or run. Running really should bring out the pain.

Elations day 4

Today I put more stress on my knee than the other days and found the right knee to twinge quite a bit when shifting to the standing position on my road bike. I still don't have the pain in my hands and elbows. I pushed hard on the hills to try to stir up the pain. I wasn't able to keep it up as much as I like. I think I've slowed down over the past few months. The rainy summer may have taken away more riding than I'd hoped. So I'll keep on taking the stuff but I remain skeptical. The results from the GAIT trial seem modest at best. Much better results were obtained from the dose of NSAID. Like I told Mike, it might make sense to do both but Glucosamine is expensive. Better to just take some Celebrex.

Elations day 3

I drank another serving of Elations this morning. It gets harder to get down each day. I finally gulped down the last quarter glass to get it over with. To test my joints, I did a tandem ride out in the NF. Right now I am aware of some sensation in them but it isn't as bad as last week. And the pain in my fingers and elbows has gone away. I didn't take a NSAID today. Tomorrow it will be another ride morning unless we have rain. I may do a run soon to really test the effect.

I am also back watching what I eat closely. I really need to get my weight down for the sake of those joints. To give myself a nudge, I put on a blue silicone wristlet to remind me daily of my promise to myself. So far, so good.

Elations day 2

So I've had my second helping of Elations this morning. To stress my knees, we did a short ride down to Fayetteville Methodist Church. I hit some climbs pretty hard and did a little painting when I came back home. I did take two Ibuprofen this morning as well. I'd say I am having less twingy pain today. I was able to come to standing on the pedals without the sharp pain stopping me. Of course this may not be the glucosamine effect but I'll keep it up for the next few days.

Case study...

I purchased a six pack of Elations today to test whether or not it would improve my joint pain over the 6 days as they advertise. SO I am drinking one right now as I am typing. The advertised flavor or cranberry/apple doesn't taste very cranberry like. The label mentions apple concentrate but no mention of cranberry. It isn't good but it isn't bad either. Today My knees are hurting. I move to standing with some pain and feel pain at the boundaries of my knees most of the day. When I was riding this morning, I found my right knee sensitive to moving to a standing position. I'll report back here daily for each of the next week on how well it helps. I am skeptical.