A place for patients (and prospective patients) of Stem Cell procedures related to arthritis and cartilage building due to athletic injury, wear-and-tear and arthritis.
My 65 yr old friend just had a stem cell injection into her hip.
wondering if she can take a water pill to help reduce the swelling in her feet.
She thinks it's related to water retention.
Does anyone know if she's allowed to take water pills?
Or will they mess with the work of the stem cells?
Well, I don't "think" it would mess the stem cell work. I take grape seed ex every day for the past 19 yrs and if any fluid builds up and it did 2 times I up my dose of Grape Seed Ex and it goes away.
I know about stem cells therapy....how is your friend doing, which joint(s) did she have it done?
I've had dextrose prolotherapy in my shoulder over 4 yrs and that gave me 3 good years of relief.....and it still does pretty good all in all.
I'm considering PRP (platlet rich plasma) injections for my right knee. Stem cells are too out of my price comfort zone....PRP injections are a bit high, but if they work and keep one out of surgery, they are worth every penny.
I keep dragging my feet on the PRP due to money but I could stretch it....just fear it may not work with one set of injections and could need another set.
Hope to hear back on your friend's progress. j
I'm in So. Cal. and we have a lot of this regenerative work here...
The doctor has told us that the swelling due to water retention can be treated with water pills. No conflict with the stem cells. So that's good news.
It will be one month Since the injection on Wednesday. They say she should have relief in 2 to 3 months. So far, there has been no change. Besides getting over the initial procedure: bone marrow extraction and other injections they due to increased swelling, She is feeling the same if not worse than before.
One lesson seems to be that she waited too long To take action. Hesitating, afraid to do the surgery, and then researching this stuff over the months, The arthritis has just gotten worse.
But we are hopeful, if only to be hopeful, and waiting the two months more to see recovery. The doctor, Dr. Bletcher, says sometimes people don't feel relief until all at once after two months. And statistically, 70% get some relief. Here's hoping we are not in the 30% that feels none.
Thanks for the response. Turns out you are right. Water retention is not related. Have been hearing about these injections you were describing. Definitely curious, hopefully in the future.
So that is discouraging to hear, no relief and a month soon......Are you in the U.S.?
I would love to try the PRP for my knee, but again no guarantees and $850 doesn't come real easy but I could do it.
I did a hip replacement in late 2010 and it's been a mess for me....lots of complications I ended up with from the Anterior procedure but many do good....I was one of the small percentage with femoral nerve damage, so I'm not a happy camper.... I'd like to hear more as you go along here...
I can't bear to do knee surgery. j
joy47826 I have been undergoing PRP injections into my knee for many months. I can't understand why it is so expensive! All they do is to take your blood (from the crook of the arm in usual fashion), place it into a centrifuge and then it is injected into the knee. That's all! Before the injection I am given a local anaesthetic into the knee and the doctor uses a catheter which dispenses with a second needle/injection. It is difficult to say whether these stem cells are working! I have read it can take over a year of injections. I would suggest you get more information from
thestemcellinstitute.com who are in the USA. Lots to read on there. I would do anything not to have knee surgery as it is most complicated. I heard from some who had the Op that the pain is just as bad afterwards. I hope you decide to give it a try. I have these injections every month. As always it is impossible to say if I would be better without them! An operation wasn't a real alternative since I have withered ligaments lower down in the legs due to age and these would not support a prothese.
jeffharms I guess by cartilage injections you are referring to hyaluronic acid? Like stem cells this is a natural treatment. We have this acid in our bodies and even in our eyes. For the joints these injections are believed to make a cushion between the bones so they move painlessly, mine were for arthritis in the knee joint. PRP (platelet rich plasma) is totally different. It is an injection of our own blood.
The lowest price PRP in my area is $850 per session, other docs and prolo people even charge more...there is a LOT of money in So. Cal and those who can afford it, can do it much easier than me.
I keep dragging my feet on this chronic knee as it could take more than one session and I need what money I have left to live out my life....
Why is it so expensive, because maybe it really works and people can be desperate, and many people do have funds...
The HA series and I had 2 different series did nothing for me.
When I had mineral labs done in 2005, manganese was very low, so was molybdenum and vanadium too.....all 3 are related to bone health. I ignored those results back then, now I know more.
Yes, I'm in the US.
Still she says her pain is worse every day. But yesterday there was a glimmer of hope with the physical therapist and Aqua Therapy.
In the water and suddenly my mom was walking, and at a pretty fast gate.
So hopefully this will build up the muscles that have been atrophied and this will help her recovery.
Of course today she'll be sore from the exercise, but the PT said "the motion is the lotion" in the long term. I hope that's true...
Oh man, keep us posted on how you progress.
I believe the Stem Cells are often used to rebuild ligaments... I don't know if that is an option for you...
The thing of it is, with the bone marrow stem cell procedure, at least in my mom's case and the "jock doc", they are used to young athletes that can take a month off using a leg or an arm. The rest of my mom's body hasn't really been strong enough to support one leg taking a "vacation" to heal. And the clinic had NO out patient literature for us. No exit plan. Just "stay off the leg". For someone who already struggles to walk, they need A LOT more help and care than the athlete who will just be out for a bit.
I really don't understand such a high cost. If you opt to do these PRP injections without an echography it should be far cheaper. I don't have an echogaphy with mine and all I do is have my blood taken from the crook of the arm as usual, then it goes into a centrifuge for several minutes, then out again and the rheumatologist then injects that into the side of my knee. Now that cannot come to $850! More likely half that amount if you opt to have it done without the echography. Ask about it. The important thing is to get your plasma injected into the knee joint. I have had about 8 sessions. I am still in pain! It is said you need them sometimes for longer than a year but I still maintain anything is better than being cut open... the rehabilitation from such an OP can take many months and might entail opening the hamstring to pull through healthy ligaments in the hope they can be attached to those in lower leg which are likely to be whithered. In which case: NO ligaments to hold the prothese in place! Remember one important thing: NO NSAID'S CAN BE TAKEN DURING PRP TREATMENT. So you get pain you can't relieve from them, which work...
An alternative to PRP May be prolozone.....injections of B vitamins, some MD's use homeopathic in the injections and lidocaine and Oxygen.....evidently this treatment came from Germany. And it's less pricey than PRP depending where you reside, as usual.
I'm getting some RELIEF I think and hope from the ligament/tendon support I'm taking now over 5 weeks....also back on glucosomine and will stay with it.....it all needs to build up in our body and joints.
I'm in the UK and all of this information is totally alien to me. We are not even offered these kinds of treatments for OA. All I have ever been advised is to take otc NSAIDS, which I unfortunately cannot tolerate due to really nasty side effects. At best doctors here will prescribe opiates (we have Tramadol, not sure what the constituent drug is for that trade name). Surgery isn't even an option for me as it's my ankle and there isn't an available effective joint replacement procedure for that, with joint fusion being the only offer and that would bring permanent disability. I will be reading up on the injections you've all mentioned to see if they are a) available here in the UK and b) recommended. Cost is prohibitive it would seem, the rich get fitter the poor get sicker......so unfair.
loxi: NSAID's can't e taken during PRP treatment. They are anti-inflammatories and PRP begins by creating its own inflammation so the one knocks out the other. Tramadol is opiate based. I had terrible side effects and reported not to my doctor, but to its manufacturers. Its a strong morphine drug and not to be played with! It can be taken during PRP treatment but I don't think that is available yet in the UK. PRP injections can be given in any part of the body but I don't know about the ankle as its very delicate. Write to StemCellinstitute and see what they have to say. Someone suggested vitamin B injections as an alternative. I stress that PRP can have NO reactions as it is your own plasma that is injected. You mght try hyaluronic acid injections - again a totally natural component which is found in our bodies, notably in our eyes. So no adverse reactions. Hope you are not in too much pain. Try flexiseq. Best wishes
Thanks Mayday. pain varies - weather is cold and damp right now so it's worse than usual but it's in a manageable range. I'm trying out various natural remedies right now. Was advised to try ginger which has natural anti inflammatories, so ginger tea infusion and using more ginger in my cooking, I actually can't stand the stuff but will do it if it helps. I already take high dose vit B complex as I'm vegetarian and don't always get enough B12 in my diet naturally. Got a friend who was using flexiseq, very expensive here and she reports that it's had nil effect so I probably won't bother trying it, too high a cost for hit and miss results. Next visit to the doctors I'll ask about the PRP and hyaluronic acid and no doubt get met with a look of disgust that I should mention anything so costly - we'll see.
We have a LOT of alternatives to surgeries in the US and YES, money is a factor, all these alternatives are pretty costly to the lower income folks.....I'm a fairly lower income senior and I drag my feet on doing the prolozone injections which are less money, but still costly....
The cost of living is high and the upside down world will give surgeries under health care programs, but the side effects to all these surgeries, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
So more side effects, more drugs, it's a vicious cycle. Weather is a major factor and I'm fortunate to have landed in Southern Calif and much easier on joints in general.....Keep things warm. J
Just as an update. It's been almost three months and it looks like the stem cell procedure is not offering enough relief of pain. She's had to start taking anti inflamatories again just to deal with the pain. She was afraid of hip replacement, but now it's starting to seem like the best and only option.
Fact of the matter was, the stem cell procedure with Dr blecher in LA went fine, but they had no outpatient plan for my moms recovery. It was like take your money, here's the procedure and best of luck to you.
I'd recommend it for the young and for athletes. But my friend was not a proper candidate for it. Her femur xray looked like a tabletop no amount ofnew cartilage will help that I suspect. I'm not a doctor, but it seemed clear that blecher was using the newness of the tech to justify working on our case.
Just a pamphlet on how to walk after surgery would have helped. They gave us NOTHING.
It was a waste of time and money and prolonged her pain.
Should have gone straight for the tried and true hip replacement in a hospital where a system is set up to assist a person recover.
Our long drive to and from LA in hopes of getting easy relief was soooo painful. And caused more damage.
I say all this to whomever is considering alternatives when all the docs say hip replacement. Do the hip replacement. Stem cell isn't for bone yet. Fix your body. Don't be afraid.
Also the hip replacement is less invasive these days. There's a new style out. Less cutting. Ask about it.