LESSENS OF THE RUDE

LESSENS OF THE RUDE

 

       Usually I’m not up before 7 a.m., but this morning it could have been 5 a.m. At least an hour and a half passed twisting and turning, flipping and flopping pillows and other bedclothes, trying to find a position that would end the arthritis pain in my right hip. When I found one, on my right side, the left shoulder started to hurt, since it was sagging and my upper body was bending into in a curve. I found out about the shoulder a few years ago trying to ring the bell at the county fair as in the past, and pain rang my bell instead. Note to any younger person who’s delighted to be tall: you’ll pay for it./ The bed now looks as if a dust devil had slept in it.

       Why does my right hip ache but not the left? Here’s another one for the younger set: probably because that has always been my carrying side. Over the years I strengthened it lugging loaded five-gallon buckets, firewood logs, landscaping rocks, and other representatives of what my late mother used to call the inate perversity of inanimate objects. But building up that side meant more pressure on the liner in the right hip’s ball-and-socket joint. Putting on my pants in the morning, and listening to bone thudding on bone, I realized: never mind the cars, I have become my own old clunker. I used to be able to sock the ball quite a distance; now if I go quite a distance, my balled-up hip joint socks it to me.

       On the advice of a knowledgeable friend, I am trying a glucosamine-chondroitin product called Flexicose. Yesterday, I got out of the car and walked to a store and realized I was moving almost normally, not limping and gimping and hitching and twitching along. No pain (though it returned later). I hadn’t taken any unusual painkillers or extraordinary doses of painkillers, so maybe Flexicose, the only other significant variable I could think of, does what some people say it does—though I doubt it will spare me the need for hip replacements.

       The friend said, “Your hip is a mechanical joint, and mechanical joints need to be lubricated. Flexicose helps you make synovial fluid.” I did know the word synovial, but not enough about the stuff, so I went to the indipensable Wikipedia.

       “Synovial tissue is composed of vascularized connective tissue that lacks a basement membrane. Two cells type (type A and type B) are present: Type B produce synovial fluid. Synovial fluid is made of hyaluronic acid and lubricin, proteinases, and collagenases…. Normal synovial fluid contains 3-4 mg/ml hyaluronan (hyaluronic acid), a polymer of disaccharides composed of D-glucuronic acid and D-N-acetylglucosamine joined by alternating beta-1,4 and beta-1,3 glycosidic bonds.”

       Well, there’s the glucosamine. Continuing,

“Hyaluronan is synthesized by the synovial membrane and secreted into the joint cavity to increase the viscosity and elasticity of articular cartilages and lubricate the surfaces between synovium and cartilage.”

       “Synovial fluid contains lubricin secreted by synovial cells. It is chiefly responsible for so-called boundary-layer lubrication, which reduces friction between opposing surfaces of cartilage. There is also some evidence that it helps regulate synovial cell growth. Its functions are:

--Reducing friction by lubricating the joint, absorbing shocks, and supplying oxygen and nutrients to and removing carbon dioxide and metabolic wastes from the chondrocytes within articular cartilage.

--It also contains phagocytic cells that remove microbes and the debris that results from normal wear and tear in the joint.”

The original Wikipedia article has a lot of references to books that I’ve left out. “Two cells type” rather than “two cell types” was copied and pasted; doubtless the regular Wikipedia cleanup team will deal with this. (How many cells typing would it take to create a passing exam in the course Middlebury College pre-meds call “Cell Hell”?)

The word “synovial,” the Wikipedia says, is related to the Latin for “egg,” and refers to the liquid’s thick consistency.

Through the years, I’ve learned about various details of auto mechanics from service station personnel who had spent bent-over-fender time (not to mention my money) diagnosing my vehicular woes. Looks like I’ll learn about the human body with thickening consistency.

To quote a well-worn saying for which I can’t  give any attribution other than experience, “The golden years aren’t for the faint of heart.”

 

Comments

[Jason]

Good story

[Fiberglass Shower Stalls]

Awsome post. I hope that works out for your hip.

[catherine elmore]

Ed I knew your family for years,especially Walt.Since I am old enough to be your mother and in good (make that excellent) health,I would like to give you some advice.You are your own best doctor. Spend some time thinking about your body then if need be see an MD who specializes in natural medicine.

[catherine elmore]

Ed -- just an additional comment. your friend is on the right page regarding the glucosomine chrondroitin sulfate.I know from experience that it works .