Speaking of Women's Health
The Speaking of Women's Health Podcast is excited to bring you credible women's health information from host and Executive Director, Dr. Holly L. Thacker. Dr. Thacker will interview guest clinicians discussing relevant women's health topics and the latest news and tips.
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Speaking of Women's Health
Is Your Pain Osteoarthritis?
Is that big toe pain osteoarthritis? Join Dr. Holly Thacker on the Speaking of Women's Health Podcast as she discusses osteoarthritis — a condition that could already be affecting you. Discover how this prevalent form of arthritis often goes unnoticed until later in life and learn about the genetic factors that could place you at higher risk, especially if you're a woman.
Listen for practical tips on how low-impact exercises and proper lifting techniques can contribute to joint health, and why balancing activity with rest is crucial. We’ll address common myths surrounding arthritis and offer evidence-based advice on managing it through diet and supplements.
Welcome to the Fit, Healthy and Happy Podcast hosted by Josh and Kyle from Colossus...
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
Welcome to the Speaking of Women's Health podcast. I'm your host, dr Holly Thacker, the Executive Director of Speaking of Women's Health, and I am glad to be back in the Sunflower House for a new episode On this new Speaking of Women's Health podcast. I'm going to be talking about osteoarthritis. This affects 80% of us. Some people have symptoms even in their 20s. Even in their 20s and certainly after 30, you can see x-ray evidence of it in joints. For some people, the x-rays can look pretty bad, but the person may not have symptoms, and OA or just arthritis are frequently used interchangeably, although there are many causes of arthritis, but osteoarthritis, or degenerative joint disease, is the most common, and arthritis encompasses over 100 different conditions that cause inflammation, swelling, potential deformities, lack of cartilage in the joints. As of May of 2023, it was estimated that over 32 million adults in the United States were suffering with osteoarthritis the most common type of arthritis, arthritis, the most common type of arthritis, and even though we can see it even in the 20s, like in the big toe, the MP, the meadow tarsal joint of the big toe, like the bunion joint usually most people don't start to complain about arthritis until about after age 40 to 45. But you know it's not a normal part of aging and there are some things that can be done to prevent or delay it. So let's just start talking about what it is and why is it more common as people age what it is and why is it more common as people age? Well, certainly, wear and tear and use of the joints can cause some breakdown, and the cartilage that covers the ends of the bones help cushion the joints and reduce impact and it allows them to glide smoothly. And it allows them to glide smoothly. Now there can be genetic predispositions. In fact, many women at midlife come to me very distressed about changes in their hands, in the PIP joints, or they become very knobby and there is an autosomal dominant osteoarthritis of the hand. That can be somewhat inflammatory and cause a lot of changes, particularly if somebody is always using the small joints of the hand. So I frequently ask women what does your mom's hands look like? I also like to ask people if they had anyone in their family with a joint replacement, and I've done a previous podcast on joint supplements and joint replacements and if you didn't listen to that one, that's a good one to go back to listen to. And, as I mentioned when I was doing research for the podcast, I was surprised to find out that women actually have more joint replacements than men and I assumed that, just due to football and sports injuries and maybe higher impact physical labor jobs, that more men would have joint replacements.
Speaker 1:But actually it's women and anytime there's inflammation, and certainly women are much more common to experience inflammatory arthritis, rheumatologic conditions, rheumatoid arthritis. There's other types of arthritis like psoriatic arthritis, lupus. Many autoimmune conditions are much more common in women than men because testosterone seems to have somewhat of a modifying effect on the immune system. But if you wear down your cartilage and you have inflammation, there can be significant pain. So age of course is a big risk factor and weight gain Of course. That's the biggest concern that women at midlife have, and it's not just for cardiovascular disease and diabetes and cosmesis and fitting into your skinny jeans and all the things that are important to women. But for every 10 pounds of extra weight that you carry around, it translates up to five times or more the pressure. So if you're 10 pounds overweight, that's like 50 pounds every time you walk, slamming on the knee joints and adipose tissue. An inflammatory diet can certainly lead to more structural damage.
Speaker 1:Now overuse and we see this certainly in athletes and sports injuries, and it's not just trauma or injuries but weak muscles, and one of the problems that women have with their knees they have more ACL tears is an imbalance in the strength of the quadriceps and the hamstrings. So frequently if you have arthritis complaints, you will probably be referred to a physical therapist, in part to assess your strength, to give you advice on stretching and strengthening, and having someone who is objective and independent observe you and measure your strength can be very helpful. Now, sex is a risk in that females tend to have less cartilage in certain joints like the knees compared to men, and post-menopausal women are more likely to have acceleration of their knee arthritis as they lose estrogen. So we, of course, have had so many podcasts in season one and season two on the benefits of hormone therapy estrogen, how we can even use it in much older women, how it's good for osteoporosis, which is not the same as osteoarthritis. In fact, if you have really dense, strong bones, you're more likely to wear down your cartilage and have osteoarthritis, whereas if you have very thin, delicate bones that are more likely to break and have fractures or fragility, you're obviously going to have osteoporosis. Now I do, unfortunately, have some patients that have osteoporosis and osteoarthritis, but it's unusual.
Speaker 1:Now, any type of occupation or any type of high impact athletic activities can certainly increase joint strain and injury, your footwear being on hard concrete. In fact, that's one of the things I regret that I didn't pay more attention to when I was younger. Even if you don't have symptoms, really good footwear helps to support your joints and reduce impacts on your knees and hips and, just like during pregnancy, I didn't have any trouble with veins or swelling, but just based on the added weight that goes along with a normal pregnancy, I wish I would have immediately started using support stockings to help compress the veins and give extra support to the legs. And now, if I'm going to be standing in the kitchen, maybe making a big, big family meal like at Thanksgiving or something that might take several hours of me standing straight in one position, I always make sure I have great footwear on and good supportive stockings.
Speaker 1:Now there are other metabolic conditions that can increase osteoarthritis, and one of them is hemochromatosis, and about one in every 200 adults actually absorbs too much iron. Now, one of my first podcasts actually the first one in season one was on iron and constipation and the low iron levels that so many women have. But some people genetically can absorb too much iron and that gets deposited in places like the liver, which can cause cirrhosis or scarring, and also the joints. Now there are many nutritional deficits that I think accelerate arthritis. One of the big ones is vitamin D. One of the big ones is vitamin D, and anyone who's listened to me my patients, my fellows, my staff know that I am a hound on getting people to have normal vitamin D levels Optimal, actually, not just normal, and it's not a vitamin, it's a pro-sterile hormone and being low in vitamin D causes a lot more musculoskeletal symptoms. Now, certainly, being low in estrogen can, and a lot of women come back and they don't have joint pain after starting menopausal hormones and a lot of my patients I see are low in estrogen and vitamin D.
Speaker 1:Another nutrient that is lacking in many American diets is enough omega-3. And I've done columns and uh talked about omega-3s in prior podcasts and I've always emphasized that it's important to get enough omega-3s in your diet because our body doesn't make omega-3 and we don't make omega-6 and we usually get enough omega-6. Um so, if you like fatty fish like salmon and mackerel and cod and tuna, if you like. Nuts and seeds, particularly walnuts and almonds. Also, chia seeds or ground flax seed are another good source. Algae those that are really strict vegetarians many times have to work a little bit harder to get enough omega-3s.
Speaker 1:I think that most Americans get way too many inflammatory, industrially chemically altered oils, the so-called seed oils, like corn oil and canola and safflower and sunflower and palm and rapeseed. These are frequently in products, like a lot of my patients tell me. Oh no, I don't ingest any of that, I just use extra virgin olive oil, or sometimes I use avocado oil and occasionally coconut oil, and all those three oils are fine. But when I check omega-3 levels in women, which sometimes I do because of Joint pain, maybe dry eyes, eczema, mood changes In fact, omega-3s are a treatment for postpartum depression and when you're growing a baby, it sucks a lot of important nutrients out of you. In fact, I never understood why I had this penchant for Filet-o-fishes with my third son. Well, after you know, a number of pregnancies and breastfeeding the third one, I must have been a little bit depleted in omega-3s because, oh my goodness, I was always going through the fast food place and I'm like why am I doing this. Well, I was obviously craving omega-3s. The problem is, you know, if you're getting a lot of fried foods, if they're using inflammatory, cheap seed oils, that's not such a good thing. So, being mindful of getting a couple of servings a week and potentially having levels assessed Certainly medically, high doses of omega-3 can be prescribed in patients that have high triglycerides.
Speaker 1:I think it's most important to get your sugar out of your diet, do intermittent fasting and get the weight down, because that many times, will take care of elevated triglycerides. Dry eyes and dry eyes can be due to a number of different conditions autoimmune conditions, contact lenses, allergies. Actually, there was just recently a new eye drop to fight the causal agent we think of rosacea demodex, which is a treatment to eradicate that in the eye which can cause dry eyes. But certainly many ophthalmologists recommend higher doses of omega-3. Now it is calories, and you only have to eat a big apple 300 calories for six months to gain 30 pounds and make a baby. You only need to eat a carrot stick extra a day and be like 20 pounds overweight by the end of the year. So just swallowing, you know, 40 or 50 calories of fish oil, it can add up. So I think it's best to try to get your nutrients in whole foods. Now, vitamin D is the sunshine vitamin. Many people work inside, live in northern climates, wear sunscreen to reduce skin aging. So I just see so much vitamin D deficiency that I really think that most adults with levels being checked may need to be supplemented, and increasingly I'm getting more liberal about omega-3 supplementation, particularly those with a lot of body pain joint pain, low levels, elevated triglycerides, pain, low levels, elevated triglycerides.
Speaker 1:Now it's very important for your physician or healthcare team to know about your general health conditions and if you have other conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, whether it's seropositive or seronegative. Diabetes, a metabolic disorder, and gout can also increase the risk of having joint pain and joint problems, and some people can have two or even three types of arthritis at a time. If you've ever had psoriasis, your physician should know about this. You have been listening to the Speaking of Women's Health podcast and I'm your host, dr Holly Thacker in the Sunflower House talking all things osteoarthritis. So what are some of the signs? Well, joint pain that gets better with rest is a tip off.
Speaker 1:Joint stiffness that lasts about 10 to maybe 30 minutes in the beginning of the day with joint use. Certainly, the older I've gotten, the less I can sit still. Now I'm sitting for this podcast, but as soon as I'm done I'm going to jump up and do some physical activity, because when you move you end up moving blood and oxygen and nutrients, because our cartilage does not have blood vessels, so it only gets oxygen and nutrition through movement and that's why a lot of people feel really stiff when they sit too long, Like I would have a hard time going back to medical school and sitting in the lecture hall for hours on end at this stage of my life. Now, if you have decreased range of motion, you can't totally flex or extend your joints. That is a concern. If you've got some joint instability, that's another concern. So if you notice when you're walking the gait is unstable and you have pain and you feel like your joint may give out, that's a concerning symptom Crepitus or crackling of the joints, a grating sound. Your joint might feel tender when you touch the joint line and apply mild pressure to it, and some people just notice loss of flexibility. And some of flexibility does have more to do with your tendons and just your connective tissue in general.
Speaker 1:So what are some of the things that you should be mindful of if you have been diagnosed with osteoarthritis. Well, there's a few things that generally are recommended to reduce further joint pain and injury and damage if you have knee arthritis. Running or doing high impact exercises, particularly on uneven surfaces, definitely aggravate knee osteoarthritis. Any unnatural twisting or turning of the knee joints Much better to walk on a track or a treadmill or, even better yet, an elliptical to take the pressure off the knees and the hips the pressure off the knees and the hips. So it might be time to hang up your soccer cleats, your hockey ice skates, your football pads or anything that you've done maybe in your younger years that were super high impact.
Speaker 1:Any repetitive motion can further damage the knee joints and it could involve certain tasks, hobbies, exercise or work-related activities. If you have to do repetitive physical activity, it's important to try to take some breaks and also use good form and also make sure that your muscles are strong and balance out those joints. That being said, we don't want you to be a couch potato or a blob, because exercise does help and keeping the weight at an optimal level is also very important. Lifting heavy objects can put unnecessary strain on your joints, but if lifting is unavoidable, you must use proper technique to reduce joint damage or ask someone for some extra help.
Speaker 1:Now that I have grandchildren with more on the way, I'm a lot more mindful of my joints than I was when I was a young mother carrying two babies around I had. My two sons were 18 months apart and frequently both wanted to be carried. They somehow never wanted to be in their double stroller. I wish I was a little bit firmer about that, because I've lugged around a lot of extra weight that wasn't my own body weight and now I encourage my grandchildren to walk or get in the stroller. Also, just simple things like not lugging in you know five bags of groceries at a time, making more frequent trips, not carrying as much, maybe going for a smaller purse or clutch. I know that's hard for us women who carry pretty much everything in the kitchen sink, in our bags and designer purses and whatever we're carrying around with us. But having a stroll cart if you're going to be carrying lots of things will take off less pressure of your lower joints.
Speaker 1:I do want to talk a little bit more about knee arthritis, because 10% of all women will go through a knee replacement and it is one of the top causes of disability in American adults and a study done by the Osteoarthritis Initiative recently looked to see if those grating noises caused by the knee was indicative of future osteoarthritis. And this study looked at people between the ages of 45 and 79 and found that those that had noisy knees or that crepitus were much more likely to demonstrate findings on x-ray consistent with osteoarthritis. So if you have crepitus when you flex your knee and you feel that cracking, crunching sensation and sound, it may be predictive. Also, know what your family history is. What your family history is Super young patients. It doesn't necessarily apply to Now. The OA initiative, which was a multi-centered 10-year observational study of both men and women, was sponsored by the National Health Institute and it aimed to look at resources to help provide information about prevention and treatment of this very common debilitating condition.
Speaker 1:Now I will tell you that I have had patients who thought that they were going to sign up for bilateral knee replacements and they got super serious with weight loss. Maybe they saw a weight management physician. Most did intermittent fasting, most drastically reduced carbs and sweets and any unnecessary gratuitous calories from their diet, and those with significant weight loss many times had significant improvement of their symptoms. So how do you know if you're at risk, if you've got these so-called noisy knees, and what can you do about it? Well, you should talk to your physician. Uh, weight and diet are very important. I've had several podcasts on healthy eating. Uh, I did a column and a podcast on food freedom and the hundred substances that are banned, uh, in other countries. Uh, that we have in our food supply. I think becoming much choosier about what you're using to fuel your body is very important and I think understanding a variety of different physical activities, balancing muscle strength with some aerobic activity, but not excessive joint wearing down activities activities.
Speaker 1:Now, treatment of acute flares or an acute injury is the good old RICE, rest and ice compression and elevation. So resting an injured joint helps prevent future injuries and gives you some time to heal. Both hot and cold treatments can give some temporary relief. Ice is usually used if there's a lot of swelling and there's an acute injury, or as heat stimulates blood circulation and helps alter pain perceptions, and since you need blood flow to the area to help heal, things, that can help. Cold reduces swelling because it constricts your blood vessels and it can provide some numbing. In terms of options for heat therapy, obviously the good old heating pad or warm packs, warm baths, you know, soaking in a nice hot tub with Epsom salts, which is magnesium, can help relax the muscles Using cold packs of either frozen vegetables or a frozen water bottle or frozen packs. Compression helps reduce swelling and elevation of the injured part of the body above the level of the heart if possible helps. And then, after the acute injury, undergoing physical therapy and strengthening of the muscles using pain relief under the advice of your healthcare clinician.
Speaker 1:A lot of things like ibuprofen, acetaminophen, aspirin are over the counter. Ibuprofen, acetaminophen, aspirin are over the counter but it doesn't take very much acetaminophen, tylenol to damage your liver and aspirin can, in low doses, raise uric acid and make gout worse. And high doses can help maybe reduce uric acid if you've got that elevated problem, and we have a nice list of high and low uric acid foods on our speakingofwomenshealthcom site. But high doses of aspirin can be bad on the stomach, kidney bleeding. So just because something is off the shelf that you don't have to get a prescription for doesn't mean you don't need appropriate medical advice. Now that healthy diet that's colorful, rich in fruits and vegetables, those omega-3 foods we talked about, selected supplements like vitamin D, glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate for those that are not shellfish allergic does seem to improve the OA symptoms in at least 50 to 70% of people with knee OA, not so much hand OA, unfortunately.
Speaker 1:The other area. I've had some benefit with recommending glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate, sometimes with or without MSM, sometimes with or without SAMe. S-adenylmethionine, sometimes with or without Boswellian extract, turmeric, which is an Indian spice which many people find as anti-inflammatory, as Motrin, without some of the side effects. But these supplements that are over-the-counter are not regulated and there was reports of arsenic poisoning in some turmeric supplements from Bangladesh. So whatever you're taking, you should bring in your bottles with the lot number, expiration, the dose, don't just wing it or think, because it's not a prescription that you don't have to tell your doctor Now.
Speaker 1:Referrals to physical therapy and occupational therapy can be very helpful. Sometimes cortisone is injected. There are joint lubrication injections such as hyaluronic acid, which gives some cushioning, and increasingly many athletes and many performance-focused people are seeking out PRP, which is plasma-rich platelets that have growth factors. So they draw blood out from your own self and it's spinned down to get those growth factors that then are injected into the site of injury and I hope to have some anti-aging physicians or sports medicine and or orthopedic rheumatology physicians on the podcast, because this is really an exploding area. It's usually not covered by insurance and it can be kind of pricey, but I'd like to get some more information out about this to our listeners Now.
Speaker 1:Even just five pounds of weight loss could translate to 25 pounds of less pressure on your knees and hips, and a lot of people could tend to lose five pounds. Some people need more weight loss than that, um, and if you're 30 pounds overweight, just think you're stressing your joints by 180 pounds all day long walking around. That's a lot. Now, um, it's sometimes easier said than done to lose weight and that's why it's exciting that there are increasing options. I think, for many people going into ketosis, where they are really limiting the carbs many times this needs to be done under a physician supervision, because your electrolytes need to be checked can help burn fat and also reduce hunger.
Speaker 1:Now, surgery that's usually one of the later options. It's certainly not a first line treatment, but realigning the bones, sometimes doing full joint replacements, sometimes partial joint replacements, sometimes doing full joint replacements, sometimes partial joint replacements. Sometimes the joint is fused like, particularly in the feet, and certainly just run-of-the-mill osteoarthritis is the most common reason why people get either hip replacements or knee replacements, but there can be other confounding factors. Avascular necrosis from high dose steroids can cause destruction of the joint. Women with inflammatory connective tissue problems seem to have more acceleration and need for joint replacements.
Speaker 1:Now, if you have had a joint replacement, I tell my patients that are post postmenopausal that there is research showing that menopausal hormone therapy after having had a joint replacement was associated with almost a 40% decrease in the rate of subsequent revision surgery compared to menopausal non-users. Compared to menopausal non-users and those women that were regular users for at least six months after surgery had a 40% reduction in the risk for implant failure. According to Dr Nigel Arden and colleagues at the University of Oxford and I wrote a column about this when this research came out, because it's a big deal and we've known for years that menopausal hormones are great for the quality of the bone and the bone architecture and mineralization reached about 50% for those women who continued on menopausal hormone therapy for at least a year, as reported in the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases back in 2015. And the most common cause of joint failure within that first year is because of bone loosening. You don't want the implant to be loose, want the implant to be loose. That's a bad, bad situation and having to have a redo joint replacement is major surgery. There's a risk of infection, blood clots and then any type of problem that you might have with anesthesia. So menopausal hormone therapy is bone positive. So even if you don't have osteoporosis or hot flashes, it still be. May may be something that you want to consider.
Speaker 1:And estrogen is so critical for bone strength. We've had several podcasts and we osteoporosis and while I said that heavier women tend to have denser, stronger bones with more degenerative arthritis, whereas thin women tend to have weaker bones and more osteoporosis but less degenerated knees and hips, you can be heavy and have osteoporosis. You can be thin and have osteoarthritis. So it's not a direct, complete correlation by any means and it is unfortunate for people suffering from both conditions, although both conditions are improved with vitamin D and exercise and especially the menopausal hormone therapy. Now estrogen is critical in maintaining bone strength and obviously strong bones and healthy joints are important to maintaining mobility and staying mobile is one of your best weapons against aging and nursing home placement. Fall risk becomes much higher as people progress in age, especially over age 80 or 85, and there can be corresponding sarcopenia or loss of muscle. So, according to researchers, currently we don't have a way to completely prevent osteoarthritis and we don't know of any medication to reverse or stop the progression.
Speaker 1:But eating right, having a healthy lifestyle, judicious use of supplements and vitamins, physical therapy and working with your healthcare team can help quite a bit. And controlling your blood sugar. I mean sugar is the root of metabolic problems lots of hypertension, lots of diabetes, fatty liver, osteoarthritis, cognitive decline. So there's no such thing as an essential sugar or an essential carbohydrate. There's no such thing as an essential sugar or an essential carbohydrate. And if you compare the amount of ingestion of plain old sugar that we Americans ingest now compared to, say, a hundred years ago, it's shocking.
Speaker 1:Stay active. You need at least 30 minutes of exercise daily. Make sure you stretch before and after exercise. Be mindful of pain in your body. Pay attention to what's going on. You want to push yourself, but not to the point of injury. Practice good posture. Our assistant, julie, who is our administrative assistant in the center she was on that terrific podcast that we did on how to get an appointment at the clinic. She gave great tips. She had a working stand-up desk installed, so a lot of times when I go in the office to talk to her, she's standing up and moving around, and that, I think, is very important for sedentary jobs, and be sure to seek medical attention if pain and swelling do not improve with rice therapy.
Speaker 1:Now, other types of arthritis I want to just briefly mention include rheumatoid arthritis. One of the old-fashioned treatments for this was estrogen and vitamin D, and so those are still important. Unfortunately, it can really damage the synovial linings of the joint. It can affect other organs like the heart and the skin, the lungs and the kidneys. It can run in families. Psoriatic arthritis is also an autoimmune disease and it can attack the skin and joints and tendons and you could possibly have psoriatic arthritis without the skin manifestations of psoriasis.
Speaker 1:Interestingly, and I do see a lot of patients whose psoriasis get better when they correct their vitamin D and treat their fatty liver. And we've got a lot of good information on fatty liver, including the experience that our founder and chief strategist, the wonderful Diane Dunkelman, who's been on our podcast to talk about clever crazes for children, which is her latest passion, and she details her experience with having kind of ignored, untreated fatty liver that progressed to the point where she's in complete remission, and I have a lot of patients in complete remission. Some of the things that are good for the fatty liver are getting the sugars out of the diet, doing intermittent fasting, black coffee, green tea, same as a supplement, and acetylcysteine, which increases glutathione, which helps protect the liver and the brain. Some people will drink milk, thistle tea or boost their vitamin E intake, and vitamin C is an antioxidant and can be helpful for joints. Now, another type of arthritis to talk about is gout, and we've talked about uric acid levels in the past and we have a list of this on the website.
Speaker 1:Typically, the big toe, pedagra, is affected, but it can affect the ankles, the elbows, the fingers, even the wrist, and it's very painful. Hallux rigidus is a common type of arthritis of that big toe and usually by changing your footwear and avoiding direct pressure on the joint line can help. Some people do need orthotic devices done by a podiatrist. Several types of arthritis can lead to degeneration of the arch and bone. Spurs or osteophytes can definitely affect the nerves of your feet and cause burning and tingling, and you should seek out a podiatrist or foot specialist and bring your footwear to the appointment.
Speaker 1:So I want to go over some myths about arthritis, and this was shared by Dr Elaine Husney on our website. She's in the Cleveland Clinic Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Center in Orthopedics and Rheumatology. Myth number one is all joint pain is arthritis, and that's not true. Tendonitis, bursitis, soft tissue injury, so you do need to be evaluated.
Speaker 1:Another myth is that rain and damp weather worsen arthritis. Many people believe a twinge in the knee or knuckle predicts the rain, but we don't really have scientific evidence for this that humidity intensifies arthritis. I think one reason why older persons with arthritis like warm environments is that, um, when your body is warmer and you're getting more blood flow to a joint, some people feel a little warmer and looser. Another myth is to take it completely easy if you have a flare-up and you may need to limit some joint activity, but we do want to maintain activity, just like when people throw their back out. We don't put them at prolonged bed rest by any means. If you haven't heard my podcast on sciatica and low back pain, that was a real popular one.
Speaker 1:Another myth is that handicap and loss of function are going to be inevitable if you have rheumatoid arthritis, and that's not true. We have so many advances in treatment, that seeking treatment sooner rather than later is very important. Another myth I hadn't heard this one is that rum, soaked raisins oh gosh, I like rum grapefruit, eggplant or nightshades are cures for arthritis. Oh gosh, too bad. They're not, because I kind of like all those foods. For most people not all diet doesn't usually have a huge effect, but I always encourage people who are worried about any association to definitely keep a log. A lot of people think that they're gluten intolerant and they have a lot more inflammation, but when they're tested, they don't have celiac disease. I think some of this has to do with the substances and the bleaching and some of the substances that are added to bread and pasta, because people will go to Italy and not have any symptoms. Another myth is that ice is less helpful than heat, and they both each have a role, as we discussed. Um.
Speaker 1:Another myth is that the treatment for RA is dangerous, and early treatment for this progressive disease does lead to a better quality of life and improved outcomes. So don't be afraid, and don't be afraid to seek treatment. Um. Another myth is that only old people get arthritis, and that's not true. Young, growing children can have significant arthritic problems. Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis is one, and young adults can develop arthritis as well, because we have 40 different types in the groups.
Speaker 1:Another myth is that glucosamine helps everyone. Well, it does help those some people, particularly with knee OA, in terms of helping with regrown cartilage. You've got to take it for at least three months to know if it's going to work and then be on the maintenance. Uh, you've got to take it for at least three months to know if it's going to work and then be on the maintenance If it doesn't work after three months. Don't, don't waste your money.
Speaker 1:That being said, I think is reasonable to try, and I remember one of the first times that I um recommended osteoarth uh glucosamine to one of my patients several years ago, and she said my dog takes it Cause, apparently dogs get a lot of osteoarthritis.
Speaker 1:In fact, my son, emerson, who has a couple of dogs, was telling me how, even though he likes to jog and um, when Shirley Temple his dogs are named after drinks, shirley Temple is his golden doodle and uh, the little yipper is Stella Artois, the beer. But he was telling me how he didn't want to overrun Shirley as a young puppy, you know, as she was still developing, because the vet, you know, said that they need exercise, but you don't really want to damage the joints. So I thought that was very interesting because there are certainly some overlays with veterinarian health and and human health. But again, seek out your human healthcare team team. So thank you so much for joining us for another podcast and we're so grateful for your support. And certainly give us a five star rating. If you haven't, maybe share the podcast with others.
Speaker 2:It's free and they may get some helpful information and be sure to join us again and wherever you subscribe to podcasts, spotify, tune in. We don't want you to miss any future episodes. So thanks for joining us and I'll see you next time in the Sunflower House. And remember be strong, be healthy and be in charge.
