glucosamine-chondroitin - is it for you?

ACSH > Facts & Fears > February 23, 2006 offers their commentary on this study. In general, I can see where there may be usefulness in using GC for osteoarthritis in the knees, but it did NOT work for me.

I tried it many years ago and then stopped. It didn't seem to be working... then a medical doctor suggested I try it as an alternative to pain medications which have so many side effects that are almost as bad as the problem. I tried it for three months, using it as prescribed... I believe it was 3 times a day... and it's quite expensive even when purchased in the economy sized bottle at my favorite discount store.

Perhaps it works for some cases but not mine. Prescription pain medications helped the pain but did nothing for my knee joints which continued to deteriorate. A friend had total knee replacement surgery and it worked so well on her I had the same surgery on my knees. It has been over a year now for both knees - operated on three months apart end of 2004 and beginning 2005 - and I have not been so well in several years!

I guess I would still suggest you try GC if you are too young or don't want to have knee surgery. Sounds like it works for some people suffering from osteoarthritis.

Update...

A few days ago I posted my plea for Michigan residents to tell Governor Granholm to sign the Homeowners' Fairness bill - HB-4617S-4. I actually did this on several web sites. I think she is getting our message. I'm not sure if she will pass or veto the bill, but I'm convinced she knows the previously silent majority is speaking out through the Tittabawassee River Voice and our friends at Midland Matters.

Last week my friend Len and I had radio spots running on WSGW, a local radio station, all week long. The clincher was Wednesday, when Len had an interview session on the Art Lewis show on WSGW. Len's amazing when it comes to explaining such matters. I think he really got our message across because Thursday and Friday Art Lewis had call-in's all in support of the legislation. Folks this is democracy at work!!!

If you are a Michigan resident please contact Governor Granholm today

... and tell her to sign HB-4617S-4. Referred to as Homeowners' Rights legislation, it passed in the Senate last week - thoroughly upsetting our opponents who want big bucks from Dow and don't want logical or legal resolution. Last week the local environmental extremists flooded local airwaves with their reasons why the legislation should be vetoed by the governor.

By Friday we raised enough money to get our two cents worth in. We recorded our plea to residents asking them to phone, email or write to Governor Granholm and tell her to pass House Bill 4617 as revised and passed by the Senate. We will be on the air several times a day all of this coming week on WSGW in Saginaw and in Lansing as well... an affiliate of WSGW.

Some background: A couple of years ago our whole area was impacted by the goals of a special interest environmental extremist group, which is funded by big national money. I am co-founder, along with Len Heinzman, another resident, of an honest to goodness grassroots group known as the Tittabawassee River Voice. We were able to get enough local support via signatures to jump-start the homeowners' rights legislation and get it all the way through Michigan's House and Senate. Now the special interest extremists are worried and pressuring Governor Granholm to veto the bill.

If you live in Michigan please contact the governor today and tell her you want your residential property protected from being called a 'facility' without actual proof that it is contaminated. Tell her to sign HB-4617S-4. Please ask your friends to do so. The bill is currently on the governor's desk & it is expected she will make her decision, maybe before week's end. It's not about Dow or dioxin. It's about being 'guilty' of owning a contaminated property without having that property inspected.

You, too, could be guilty of owning a toxic waste facility if the Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality decides, for instance they don't want weedkillers used on lawns... or find lead paint in houses in your neighborhood... and I could go on. MDEQ is already controlling your property if you own property in wetlands, lakefront or river front, sand dunes, any place containing ground water... well that just about covers the whole state, doesn't it?

In our case, the company involved, Dow Chemical, is already in the cleanup process and will continue according to their work plan with MDEQ and Michigan Lieutenant Governor Cherry. All you have to do is go to http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-21995-65331--,00.html - fill in the form and submit it. Granholm's office will be tallying the responses. Just fill in your real name, city & state, the issue is Homeowners' Rights legislation, HB-4617S-4, you are FOR it... and in the opinion section, something to the effect 'Please sign HB-4617 as amended & approved by the Senate. I believe the state should not be allowed to say my property is contaminated unless it has been tested and proven so.

Please do this today. For more info go to my Tittabawassee River Voice website.

More frivolous litigation...

The New Litigation Against Teflon Won't Stick By Elizabeth M. Whelan, Sc.D., M.P.H. What next... a class action suit against all manufacturers of aspirin?

Replace cookware for everybody who owns Teflon pans! I remember reading once that aluminum cookware can cause Alzheimer's disease. The husband insisted we discard all our aluminum pans. Now that's the American way. ...but sue somebody for making the pans? This once agains shows the greed and pomposity of tort lawyers and their everlovin' greedy clients!

Diet Soda Makes You Fat...

..or so they say now. Last week the big news was that diet soda makes us fatter than regular soda. They postulate the reason is because the sweet without the calories just makes us hungrier. In the article Diet (?!) Soda and Obesity , Registered Dietician Ruth Kava points out that everything we've read about this diet soda study sounds illogical. She suggests that part of the problem could be because this was a preliminary report (not peer-reviewed) and perhaps only part of that report shared with the public.

About all those plastic stories...

.. How can people believe all that crap? Here's the straight story from medical people about that old 'Johns Hopkins' urban myth. Heat's on plastic containers

Doctors Dispel Myths About Microwaving Food In Plastic - Yahoo! News

Doctors Dispel Myths About Microwaving Food In Plastic This myth is still running around the internet about 'dangers' involved in heating foods in plastic containers in your microwave. Here is another article - this one about an Oklahoma oncologist who explains it is more dangerous to eat some of the foods reheated in the containers.