Week 6

Six weeks seems like a magic number. I think that is the length of the trial of ginger supplement, the one that showed that about 2/3 of the people found ginger to be as effective as tylenol arthritis. I am starting week six and not too auspiciously.

It's snowing outside, and wet. There are so many variables to account for that I can't sort them out, can't determine if this program is definitively helping me or not, but I suspect that I need more time. Five weeks doesn't undo so many years of pain. Today, anyway, I am feeling extra pain, and I think it may have to do with the weather more than anything else.

supplements

I finished my bottle of glucosamine and chontroitin yesterday and moved to my new bottle of vegetarian glucosamine. I was not taking the recommended dose of glucosamine, I realized when I reread that section in Arthritis Rx. Now I am. However, I am now taking no chondroitin. Unless a vegetarian source is found I won't be. I am hopeful that the full dose of glucosamine will make a difference, though. My ginger supply is running low. I will probably need more before I leave New York.

This is the fifth week. I believe I am in less pain than I was when I was here last November. But I can't prove that definitively. Perhaps in a few more weeks the differences will be more noticeable.

good day

This morning I took some extra-strength excedrin because I had a headache. So I can't sort out what's happening. I felt less pain going both up and down the stairs this morning, and the walk was pleasant, if cold, because my knees did not hurt. I am tempted to keep taking the excedrin but I think it makes more sense to try again without it, to sort out what's happening.

Bed

Last night I slept in a bed for the first time since I've been in NYC. I woke with less pain in my knees. Getting up was not excruciating. It seems odd that the way I sleep would have an effect on my knees. I can understand it helping my back, but don't quite get the knees.

Fifth week

I start out my fifth week somewhat unhappy with my progress. It is difficult to measure changes in pain levels incrementally. I do not know if any objective measurements could be made at this point, either - measures of ligament improvement, for example.

I am in a challenging situation, with stairs and a cold outside. It's possible that when I return to Las Vegas, and then San Luis Obispo, I will notice more of a change. But at this point I suspect it may be another several weeks before I can say definitively that this program is working.

It would help, of course, if I followed the food recommendations more closely. I would be eating fewer inflammatory foods (I think the main transgressors right now are white bread or crackers, the wrong kinds of oils; I continue to eat many kinds of vegetables but not as many fruits as I could). If I were doing a better job on the food end I would also be losing weight, which by itself would make a big difference. Which, of course, leads us to the question: when the pain is reduced will it be because I lost weight or will the exercises and supplements take the prize?

I can only wait and see. Today is "rest day". But I will still be walking the doggie. I am sure that "rest day" does not mean one plops on the couch and stays there all day long.

Bad knees day

Today I am out of sorts physically. I made it through the exercise series this morning but it seemed to hurt more than usual. I made it down the steps and out the door with the doggie, and later out the door by myself, but my knees didn't get over hurting.

I suspect a ride on the subway last night did this to me. It wasn't such a long ride, but we stood up the entire trip, pushed on all sides by other riders. I gripped the bars and clutched the papers I was carrying and kept feeling the camera I had in a side pocket, in case anyone near me was an opportunist. So I was tense the whole way and standing up and that's not a good combination. Today I seem to be paying for it.

It sucks when one small thing like a subway ride can have such an effect.

How to measure

I don't know how to measure my progress with the arthritis program. I am currently in New York, staying in an apartment that is two slippery flights of stairs from the street. The stairs are a challenge. It is cold outside, there is snow on the ground, and I think the cold also has an effect on my arthritis.

I am still in pain, particularly when I wake in the mornings. I dread standing up for the first time. But do I dread it more or less than I did before I started this program? I don't know. I am sure not more, but because I am challenging myself with this visit to New York I know I have pushed the pain out there more.

I have done a few things, though, that seem to suggest there has been improvement. My daughter and I visited the site of the World Trade Center and walked about a bit the other day, and I noticed that I was walking all right. The stiffness was still there but I didn't go into pain mode. I had the sense to move to places to sit when I had the chance, though.

Last night I took the subway to Symphony Space to see a radio favorite: Selected Shorts. I had dinner, then went to the program and returned to the apartment. The last time I was in New York I felt too drained and in pain to do anything at night. It's possible that this excursion, too, means something.

But the real answer will come when the pain is gone. Will the pain go? Completely? Keep reading. And I'll keep writing.