Can I avoid a future knee replacement??
Question: from Audrey
This week I visited with an Orthopedic Doctor about pain in my knee. He reviewed my MRI, then told me I had degenerative bone disease. He said I do not need surgery immediately, but in the next few years, I will need total knee replacement. There must be some supplements I can take that would help me at this point. I have used your women's total balance vitamins, but recently I have run out of those, so at this time I am not taking anything. I take Ibuprofen for pain (about 12 200mg tablets per day). Please advise me if Arthrit-Eze; Bone-Protec; Omega3; Total Balance for Women are products I should try and in what amounts.
Answer: from Warren
That is a lot of Ibuprofen. It is important that you make an effort to reduce that intake and preferably get off it altogether because it creates other problems.
This is what I would do if I was in your position, and wanted the best protocol and was not subject to any budget constraints.
Continue with Total Balance Women’s Plus at the full dose of 6 tablets a day.
Add the Bone-Protec at the rate of 3 caps per day.
Add Arthrit-Eze at 6 tablets a day for three months and then try dropping back to 3 per day.
Add GLM Omega 3 Plus instead of the normal Omega 3 DHA. Try a double dose for 2 – 3 months at 6 soft gels per day and then try dropping back to 3 soft gels daily.
The rationale for the above is this.
The Total Balance will help your general health and your overall nutrient balance and thus likely reduce the rate at which calcium is leached from your bones.
The Bone-Protec will help give your calcium stores a boost and improve the bio-availability. It also contains Vitamin K2 which is often a missing element in the body and which is essential for absorption.
The Arthrit-Eze should help you with pain and also help provide the nutrients that are needed to rebuild the joints. It should help you reduce your dependence on the pain killers.
The GLM-Omega 3 Plus will give you the Omega 3 that your body needs for general health but also because of the green lipped mussel extract present it will also help reduce inflammation which is important for reversing or holding further damage.
In addition to this be careful with your diet. Try not to eat any processed foods and focus of alkaline producing vegetables and fruit, along with plenty of pure fresh water.
Reader Comments (3)
I read with interest your comment to Audrey.
I too have the same problem although i was diagnosed with this back about 1992.
The specialist told me to take ibuprofen before and after playing squash and in the meantime he would inject with cortisol.
Not knowing exactly what it was he explained that it was a pain killer. I said i would prefer not to have it but i would like advice on how to restore the cartilage. He said there is no way to rebuild the cartilage but he would give me a new knee in 10 years time.
Some help that was as prosthesis was the last thing on my list of needs so i searched for help and found considerable interest in Glucosamine which i have taken for most of the time since then during which time i have run the London marathon in 2002.
When money allows i prefer to use your products as i do find them very beneficial but cost is always a consideration.
The prescription you have given to Audrey is a considerable one and i am sure that many of us would love to follow your advice but price-wise i would say it is prohibitive.
Is there not a cheaper way for us to obtain the same benefit?
and on a side note i have read about sugar injections into the knee to stimulate re-growth for cartlidge. Do you have any opinions on this?
Kind regards, Norman HAwkins
January 31, 2008 | Norman Hawkins
I have dear frinds in Shaklee. They, of course have numerous testimonials for their product,and the purity of it. I'm not looking for a "Shaklee Bash" here, but I truly need to know your opinion of Shaklee - I'm probably not the first one to ask you this question!!
I, too, have knee probs, and so this is how the subject all got started!
Thanks so much, and really appreciate your newsletters!
February 1, 2008 | Mary Olin
Hi Norman, Warren is away at present so hope you don't mind me stepping in to help you further.
I understand your comment re cost, as this is of course an issue with all of us when trying to find the best solutions for our health. However, we are proud of the fact that to date, by comparison, we do produce the best value for money supplements available!
It is possible of course to take some and not all of the suggested protocol, and also to reduce the dosage. This does of course mean that the degree of benefit received will be in accordance with this reduced intake.
I would advise the Arthrit-Eze formula for you as you mention specific cartilage degeneration. You could try the Omega 3/DHAs rather than the GLM Omega 3 Plus version, to see if this is enough.
The Total Balance would be very beneficial overall, as Warren suggests, and the Bone-Protec to help with future degeneration, but you could add these at a slightly later date if you wished to try a reduced protocol.
So you could try Arthrit-Eze at 6 per day and Omega 3/DHAs at 4 per day.
Alternatively you could try the full protocol but reduce the dose of Total Balance to minimum 3 per day instead of 6, and the same with the GLM Omega 3 Plus. The Arthrit-Eze could also be reduced to 3 per day, although in your case I would advise the full recommended dose of this product.
Remember too that good diet and fluid intake will additionally help repair and strength, and avoidance of aggravating dietary elements, such as too much meat or dairy (which increases joint inflammation in susceptible people) is important to reduce severity.
Regarding your comment on sugar injections...these are used in practice although it is not a form of choice in my opinion. The sugar acts as an irritant, which then stimulates the immune system to react. However, if lack of repair is due to a malfunctioning immune system, it is my opinion that it is better to correct this malfunction by encouraging improved immunity (such as using our Total Balance formula) rather than a temporary 'jolt' to the system, which could have potential negative effects if performed on a regular basis. It is important to remember that sugar injections are a short-term solution, and may help in this way as a one-off, but do not help the immune system (or the joints) long-term.
Hope this helps Norman.
February 13, 2008 | Joanna Machin (Medical Nutritionist)
Reader Comments (0)