Glucosamine: Natural Treatment for Arthritis

Glucosamine is an important constituent of many of the Arthritis treatments today. Available easily, and shown to be extremely effective glucosamine is proving to be a boon for Arthritis sufferers. Arthritis is still, more or less, a mystery to the medicinal world. The causes of arthritis are not clear, and some of the cases have remained unresolved for years now. However, even though the causes of arthritis are not very clear, the effects of arthritis are very well documented. The recent search for treatments for many conditions, included arthritis has led to the discovery (or more appropriately, re-discovery) of many natural treatments. One of these treatments for arthritis comes from glucosamine.

Glucosamine is an important constituent of the cartilage between joint bones that is a jelly-like substance. When the cartilage between the bones wears away for any reason, the bones start rubbing against each other resulting in damage and pain, or what we call arthritis. Glucosamine is available at many drug stores and studies showed that the patients received the same kind of relief from using glucosamine that they did from prescription anti-inflammatory drugs. However, glucosamine doesn't have any side-effects, and is much cheaper than the prescription drugs that most doctors recommend.

In extensive studies glucosamine proved not only to be a good pain reliever and a deterrent to further spread of arthritis, it can actually potentially treat arthritis if included as a part of a comprehensive treatment. This is generally achieved by using glucosamine with a healthy diet and regular exercise. A vast majority of people would never experiece arthritis and won't need to get extra glucosamine supplements, if they only got enough exercise and ate properly.

Availability of Glucosamine:

Glucosamine is widely available in a capsule form and is found at many drug stores. It is also available in a liquid form. The liquid form of glucosamine should be preferred because it is absorbed in the body to a much greater degree. It is available as glucosamine sulfate or glucosamine HCL (HCL stands for hydrochloride) and is generally available in either of the two forms when in the capsule. The HCL form of glucosamine might be more effective according to some recent studies, while some other studies claim that sulfate is better. The sulfate and HCL are both the carrier molecules, and have no bearance on how glucosamine performs in your body to work against Arthritis once ingested. However, there are also NaCl (sodium chloride) and Kcl (potassium chloride) forms available. It is recommended that these be avoided because of the large table salt amounts in them which can cause problems related to high blood pressure.

Important things to consider with glucosamine supplements:

Some arthritis patients are allergic to shellfish (such as lobster). Just about all the glucosamine available in the market today is made of shellfish, and if you are allergic to it, you should consult a doctor before taking glucosamine in any form.

Chondroitin sulfate is an additive that has been shown by many studies to be extremely effective at increasing the effectiveness of glucosamine because of its healing and pain-killing effects. Even though glucosamine capsules that have been enhanced with Chonroitin sulfate might cost as much as 3 times that of plain glucosamine capsules, it really is overall much more cost effective. Consult your doctor about the appropriate dosage.

Glucosamine is a sugar, and as such any Arthritis patients who have sugar problems should be cautious in its use. If you suffer from Arthritis and have a high blood sugar, please consult your doctor before using any glucosamine supplements.

For the best and the cheapest Arthritis treatment, please continue on here.