Take pain pills, lose weight, exercise conservatively and try to learn to live with it. Historically this was the only advice that may of the over 40 million people in North America with osteoarthritis (OA) received from physicians.
For many decades OA was believed to be an inevitable part of growing old, the result of progressive wear and tear on the cartilage. Over the last decade we have entered an era where we can alter the metabolism of cartilage with a number of agents, the most prominent of which is glucosamine. Also on the list are chondroitin, niacinamide, boron, and tetracycline.
Glucosamine Hydrochloride was discovered over 100 years ago but little interest was focused on this aminosacharride until 1956. L.Roden from Sweden demonstrated that the addition of Glucosamine Hydrochloride (GHCL) into the tissue culture of cartilage produced an increase in chondroitin sulfate, the key cement or matrix of cartilage. It was not long before European researchers carried out extensive tissue, animal, open and double blind studies establishing GHCL as a proven substance to treat OA. Glucosamine Hydrochloride contains 83% Glucosamine, and as an added benefit, it does not need salt as a stabilizer.
A 1994 paper by Mark McCarthy, The Neglect of Glucosamine as a Treatment of Osteoarthritis, stimulated my interest to review this subject. It is the perfect example of GHCL being a natural agent without a patent, therefor there is no profit and no research.
Many patients with OA respond to analgesics (pain killers) within on or two days. Glucosamine and other agents which improve cartilage take four to six weeks to become effective, due to their stimulation of repair mechanisms.
Having treated in excess of 600 patients, our standard dose is 500 mg of Glucosamine HCL three times per day for six weeks. If at the end of this period of time no significant improvement has occurred, the dosage is increased to 1 gram three times daily. There has not been one serious side effect reported with glucosamine HCL. It has no reactions with other analgesics or medications. If the effect of glucosamine hcl on osteoarthritis was not enough to make it the rediscovery of the decade, tantalizing report in the literature of its effectiveness in wound healing and gastrointestinal inflammation cry out for research funding.
Alan Russell is a conventionally trained physician who incorporates alternative medicine in his practice.
References:
- Roden, l Effect of Hexosamines on the synthesis of chondroinn sulfuric acid in vitrol. Ark Demi 1956; 10: 234-352
- Wein, C.R et al Open trial of glucosamine hydrochloride (Arthroid) in the treatment of pain of osteoarthritis of the knee, presented at the Panamerican Congress of Rheumatology, June 22, 1998.
- Houpt,JB et al. Effect of Glucosamine Hydrochloride in the treatment of pain of Osteoarthritis of the knee.
