Kyburg

My yellow lab is on it and I have seen amazing results in him after one month. It got me thinking about trying it myself for my knees (human version, not his biscuit form, lol)

Anyone out there who has tried it have an opinion one way or another?

kc0bbq

My doctor has me taking glucosamine/chondroitin every day. I think it is helping with my osteoarthritis, I haven't had as much of a problem with my knees and a few other joints. It's hard to judge what is really causing the benefits - losing a third of my body weight can't be hurting, but I haven't had improvements in not-weight-bearing joints in places like my index finger, so I'm not going to stop.

Willbird

i have a friend who is an ortho surgeon, he said some folks get some benefit, and nobody knows exactly why it works.

chasm54

I tried it for a while. Couldn't discern any difference, so stopped.

Turzy

I have no experience with glucosamine, but my parents have been taking it for a few years. They told me it really helped with their joints.
I was going to give it a try when I was working out a lot a few years back, but I hurt myself and slowly drifted away from the gym after that.

linnefaulk

It is one of those things that help but slowly. I take it every day and really only notice a difference when I run out and stop for a few days.

linnefaulk

Also, dosage is by weight so if you don't take enough, you won't notice anything.

gforeman 

I take it everyday. Made a big difference for me. Neighbor has his dog on it too. Poor think limped terribly when walking it, now almost normal!

sstorkel

I had the same result.

gl98115

I tried it. Made my wallet lighter.

rm -rf

Glucosamine seems to mostly be a placebo. But it's there's still some ambiguous study results.
This wikipedia page on Clinical trials on glucosamine and chondroitin is useful.

MacNasty

I tried it along with a product recommended by my local vitamin store called "Seven". Ended up having my knee replaced and it feels much better now. YMMV.

Kyburg

Picked some up from the local CVS. We'll see how it goes

Cognitive

I have an appointment with Dr. Quack, my personal physician, in a couple of weeks and will ask him. Dr. Q never saw a food supplement he did not like so... He's pretty good with such things, but the warning label flags HBP and Blood Glucose, and I'm borderline HBP and sort of borderline BG so...

I have had some serious trigger finger and the death grips on the bike don't help. joints don't feel bad but if I'm cycling 100 miles a week one gotta wonder if the warranty will run out...

Judi

I take glucosamine and it doesn't affect my BG. Exercise is great for helping with BG control.

I haven't noticed a big difference in the way my joints feel taking glucosamine/chondroitin. I'm still taking it because I've also heard it can help with saggy skin after major weight loss.

Little Darwin

My opinion is that they work for me, but I cannot be positive.

I have taken glucosamine periodically, starting when my knees hurt more than usual (osteoarthritis in both knees), and I usually feel better pretty quickly.

However, when I start taking it, I also many times get serious about doing other things to help my knees, like replacing my shoes which often wear unevenly, getting appropriatre levels of exercise and rest for the joints etc... so it is difficult to isolate the impact. I have decided to keep taking glucosamine (I am actually using Osteo-Biflex which includes a couple of other supplements) and so far, no severe knee pain. Although I am not pain free, whatever I am doing (exercise/diet/weight loss/cycling etc) is working, so I am reluctant to change anything.

I do still have moderate pain on some days when I have been on my feet a lot, or not on my feet at all, but it is definitely manageable with some Naproxen...

Armyofscipio

I worked in a pharmacy for a long time when i was younger. Glucosamine always was one of those things (just like rogaine) that some people swear by and others think its a load of garbage. Even if it is placebo, if it makes you feel better than who cares. The only downside is that it can get very expensive for an experiment to see if it works. A Lot of pharmacists will tell you if it doesn't work, it is because you need more time on it, which can be true but it also may never work at all and by the time you figure that out it can cost a small fortune. It's really a tough call and one of those things that if you ask 5 people, that's how many different answers you'll get

Rich Gibson 

I used it for a year but it messed up my liver figures. The doctor tested three times eliminating various supplements and meds and when I mentioned taking glucosamine & condroitin, and stopping it cleared up. No recurrence since then. Now I use bromelain/quercetin and turmeric, with infrequent application of Voltaren gel to the sore knee. No knee pain outside of overdoing it.

Rich

Axiom

I just use high quality fish oil; Barlean's. About 3-4 grams a day.

look566 rider

Have been taking Glucosamine-chondrotin with MSM for over 15 years now.

Initially started when my doctor said take Advil for my joint pain, great, just tear up my liver! Asked him about Glucosamine-chondrotin, he said might work but give it six weeks to build up in my system. Local health food business agreed with this. I did start with 9 tabs a day spread over the day for six weeks. Joint pain went away. Backed off and now do 3 tabs a day. Strength for three is, 1500 mg glucosimine, 1100 mg chondrotin/MSM.

If you are allergic to shell fish, you can't use this. Made from crustaceans. Also keep you vitamin C up as this will help with absorption.

As for cost, mail order vitamin company Puritan almost always has buy one get one or better. Sometimes they do buy two get three. So you can control the cost.

Also, if you trust your grocery store, check there. I usually shop Kroger and they ALWAYS have buy one get one.

Good luck!

rllipham

About 15 years ago I was playing golf early one morning with and placed with a threesome. One of the golfers noticed how stiff I looked on the first tee. He was a trainer for Ohio State University on vacation and suggested I start taking Glucosamine. He said do not stop if you think it is not working just continue taking the pills. I had problems getting out of bed, stiff joints and soreness. After about three months I woke one morning and realized no stiff joints and soreness. I have umpired baseball for 40 years. Knees are fine.

My boxer with two knee replacements and 14 YO German Shepard with a hip replacement takes it also. It seems to help them.

Swear by it!!