Glucosamine and Arthritis 2019

I stopped taking glucosamine at the start of this experiment. It took a week or so, but gradually joint pain increased. Things that hadn’t hurt started to hurt again, others that always hurt were worse.

I don’t have typical Rheumatoid Arthritis joint pain, with redness and swelling. My joint issues are soft tissue disorders, the worst being enthesopathies. I was playing soccer, landed on one foot and twisted, and heard a pop. The obturator internus separated from the hip bone. So did a third of my hamstring.

I’ve been diagnosed with everything highlighted above. Below is a pelvis. It’s not my pelvis. But I did have imaging of all kinds, revealing, the avulsion injuries, calcification on both ‘sit bones’ (where this image is pointing), and tendinosis on the upper outer hip.

When I’m at the gym, if I increase weight or reps to reach muscle fatigue, the limiter is a joint: knee, shoulder, elbow, wrist, or hip. If I push through the pain, I’ll end up with a tendinopathy that will keep me sidelined for weeks until it’s healed.

Legendarily bad hips run in the family, in the very same people that had HD. My grandmother, who didn’t walk for the last 20 years, blamed the hips on her father. My aunt died from HD after 2 hip and 2 knee replacements.

Rheumatoid Arthritis and HD

“Depleting rheumatoid arthritis cells of HIP1 decreased their invasion capacities by nearly half, a property required by these cells to properly recover after cartilage and joint damage.”

Result?

I still have no answers for the joint/tendon issues. I suspect that since both skeletal muscle and bone density are affected, there will be further information on other connective tissue. Someday.
Until then, I’m back on the glucosamine. Within a week I was feeling better, exercising longer.