Reply #51: Re: Glucosamine & Chondroitin [View All]

Tried glucosamine with no results. Can't afford to risk taking chondroitin, since a huge percentage is made from shellfish & I'm severely allergic. FWIW, steroids also had no effect on my RA. I've had no significant success with methotrexate and limited success with Enbrel (I'm currently taking 2x the FDA approved dosage and not se4eing any improvement). At least I'm not allergic to IT. I think the rheumatologist said Remicade is what we try next.

The only things that "help" are Vioxx and Bextra. Celebrex was completely useless (almost worse than nothing). I tried the naproxen route, but the stomach bleeding at the dosage needed to control the pain was too much.

Maybe I'm a wuss, but I've been in pain for most of the last 6 years, and it gets fatiguing after a couple months (yes, months not years). If I can take something that controls the pain, lets me sleep and still have some ammount of mobility (limited though it might be), I'm going to use it. I'd like to arrest/reverse the damage of the RA as well, but I've not found anything that seems to help with that yet.