Here I go on making a fool of myself I think but hope not!
I have an osteo-arthritic knee joint which the surgeon recently described as bone on bone, no cartilage. He was amazed that I was walking on it. Now I am basically a coward, and yes, am fully aware of the options as my wife has had both complete knee joint replacements.
Yesterday I was chatting with a chap who is a wee bit older than me. He tells me that his knee joint was similar but that he was put onto gelatine by an even older woman G.P. nearly a year ago. He claims to have full mobility and relatively pain free. He takes 1 teaspoon of gelatine a day dissolved in half a cup of hot water but has a mate who simply sprinkles it over his morning cereal.
O.K., can anyone tell me if I am being led up the garden path please?

Gidday

Well mate you aint making a fool of yourself, that's for sure.

Yes I have heard of using that and in fact I did for ages but it didn't do me any good on it's own. What gelatine is, is simply cartilage of animals, normally cattle I think.

You sound very much like me as I had exactly the same thing told to me. I was told that glucossimine would be worth taking but would not cure or even stop the deteriation but merely slow it down.

And I am probably a bigger bloody chicken than you when it comes to the thought of some bugger cutting bits out of me to replace with spare parts made in China.

I did quite a bit of research and bought some books and decided that any one of these so called cures may work for some people but not others as everyone is different. So I decided to hit bloody old Arthur with everything I could that anyone claimed worked for them.

I started taking 2 or 3 teaspoons of molassas a day, glucosamine,shark cartilage,vitimin C (very neccessary, 2000 units daily), and 3 drinks of cider vinegar and honey per day.

I was due to have my knee replaced in June this year but instead I postponed it and now I have 100% movement in the knee, can walk up and down hills, wrestle with bulls twice my weight to drench them and any bloody thing else I want to apart from squat right down with all my weight on my knees. Yes, I know my knees still have some weakness and they do hurt a bit now and again, but bugger me dead I sure as hell don't need any Chinese spare parts.

good on ya ol' Jack..you did the trick..as you say not everyone will react the same to anything.
BTW I get gout from cider vinegar!! So there's a difference for a start.

Doug I had not heard of the gelatine trick before and I hope it helps. Do let us know OK?? it could be months I suppose before you would know.

Also many talk about Glucosamine, but don't forget about Chondroiton which should be taken at the same time for an all rounded treatment.

Gidday

Great to see you back Bobbity.

I was reading on some propaganda for some Chondroiton that it was extracted from shark cartilage so thought that my body can extract it just as well and it works out cheaper.

That Yankie doctor who was a vet and sells a munti-mineral reckons that all yoiu need is orange juice for the vitimin C, and the gelatine and his expensive minerals and you will cure any arthritis.

I have several friends who have had amazing results from glucsomine but it has to have MSM in it to get the full effect. I started using it myself for a sore back and its like a miracle! If I stop taking it all the aches and pains come back. Glucosomine on its own doesn't work, chondriton helps but the MSM seems to be the magic ingredient - its a sulphate. I know someone who went to a physio who gave her sulphur to take every day - this way is much easier! Chemists often have specials so keep your eyes open. You need to persevere and take a high dosage to start off with - at least 4 tablets a day. It can take 2 - 3 weeks to have any effect - with me it was about a week and a half. Now if I give them up for a few weeks I get a couple of pain free weeks then take them again and they kick in right away. I only take 2 tablets a day now and could possibly cut it down to one.

I was telling a friend about it and a couple of months later he told me he didn't like my advice any more - he had a couple of old friends he played golf with. They both had bad knees. He passed the information on to them and they started taking it - now they are bouncing around like mountain goats and beat him every time they play! lolol

Doug50, how did you get on? Did taking gelatine help you at all?

I use gelatin quite regular (in cooking) but am wondering if I should be taking in my cereal too now.

By the way, ladies, if you want a lovely recipe book get hold of Davis Gelatine and they'll send you one out. I've now got 3 recipe books dedicated to gelatine but the latest one is fantastic!

Davis Gelatine ... they're not called that now ... company names begins with a `V' I think, but googling Davis Gelatine will bring the contact details up.