Prior to your joints degenerating over the months and years, you lead an active and fulfilling life – morning walks, active travels, enjoying sports, caring for your grandchildren even. You were the one people turned to, to cook for a family gathering, to holiday together, to hike with… you were living active and mobile in the prime of your life.
As your joints degenerated as arthritis progressed, all that has changed. Each day ends with an unbearable ache in your knees while each morning begins trying to get your stiff knees to warm up. It is not the sort of pain from a broken bone that eventually gets better, but a festering ache and stiffness within your joints that is always there.
Each day is a struggle with joint pain as you battle between ability and disability. You wish you could walk in the mornings as always but you only need to take a few steps to be reminded of your limitations. You would love to join your family at the mall over the weekends but just the thought of the staircase and you retreat back into the grip of joint pain.
You used to cook for the family but shopping and even standing for long is something you can no longer do comfortably. You may have lost some friends as your joint pain limits your ability to join in outings. Soon, your joint pain erases those many social engagements you were once a part of.
Yet you are unable to share how you really feel even with your nearest and dearest. You don’t look sick and yet you feel alone, defeated and trapped within your joint pain. How would anyone understand? Arthritis has robbed you of your ability, mobility and normality. No wonder you feel down and out.
But you try to help yourself. Painkillers are not what you really want but neither is the daily joint pain. So you compromise and opt for pain-relieving medications every other day. This is in addition to the other medications you are already on, be it for your high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes.
You have already been warned of the side effects of your painkiller medications to your tummy, heart or kidneys. And you feel that gastritis and the sharpness of these drugs… and yet you bear it. Because some hours of being pain-free, is still better than living every day in torment.
You then learn that the painkillers you have been taking, commonly Non-Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drugs, or NSAIDs, have been shown to accelerate arthritis progression on top of their side effects (gastric bleeding, heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure amongst others). Studies have even shown that patients taking NSAIDs require joint replacement surgery sooner than patients who don’t take them.
At this point, you are ready to give up. The joint pain paradox is a battle you cannot win, either way.
Arthritis is Degenerative
Unknown to many, arthritis is not merely an affliction of ageing. Arthritis, of which osteoarthritis is the most common form, is an active, degenerative joint disease which causes the tissues of the joints to break down at an express rate. Without treatment, arthritis usually becomes worse over time and can be to affect all of the major joints in the body, including those in the spine, hands, hips, and knees. The risk of developing degenerative joint disease increases with age as is being of the female gender and being overweight.
Joint pain is a major bane of arthritis sufferers. Joint pain affects the patient physically and mentally - worsening arthritis as well as the patient’s perception of their condition. According to a research conducted by Arthritis Research UK, 80% of patients suffer from joint pain on most days, whilst 60% of patients suffer joint pain every day. Joint pain is as much a physical disability as well as a mental strain as it increases stress, distress and depression amongst arthritis sufferers.
Conventional Pain Management
The painkiller medications NSAIDs (ibuprofen, naproxen, celecoxib, etoricoxib) are by far the most prescribed group of medicines to manage joint pain, making them part of a multi-billion industry worldwide. Indeed, it has been estimated that as many as 70% of individuals over the age of 65 years take NSAIDs at least once a week, with about half of this group taking an NSAID daily.
With arthritis being a chronic, degenerative disease, it is no wonder that many patients rely on these painkillers regularly to manage their joint pain. While NSAIDs work to relieve the symptom of joint pain, new evidence has emerged of it adverse effects taken on the long-term. In 2006, Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) formed an international committee to review all relevant guidelines and scientific evidence for the treatment of osteoarthritis. Based on the evidence that showed a worsening decline in joint function, and increased need for hip and knee replacements in osteoarthritis patients taking NSAIDs amongst others, the committee has advised against the long term use of NSAIDs to treat osteoarthritis.
Unravelling the Grip of the Joint Pain Paradox
This leaves patients with arthritis firmly in the Grip of the Joint Pain Paradox. You want to relieve your joint pain, but the comfort of painkillers are actually worsening your condition. Living this reality is thousands of joint pain sufferers without hope for an effective or safer alternative solution.
Until Lanconone®.
Lanconone® is a clinically researched herbal joint pain formula which has been tested against the NSAID painkiller ibuprofen. It was found that this herbal remedy worked as quickly and as effectively as the NSAID to relieve joint pain whilst supporting joint recovery at the same time. Comprised of seven authenticated Ayurvedic herbs in one patented formula, Lanconone® is now available in Malaysia, which was the basis of the media event.
The research on Lanconone® started a decade ago with the latest study against Ibuprofen published in the journal Trials 2016. Lanconone® demonstrated its ability to provide joint pain relief as quickly as Ibuprofen. Beyond pain relief, joint function amongst real patients with osteoarthritis was also found to improve after 12 weeks of treatment with Lanconone®. These results demonstrated Lanconone’s capacity to enable the joints to repair itself. This herbal formula is suitable for vegetarians and most importantly, it has been proven safe.
Lanconone retails for RM160 for a pack of 50 capsules and is available at Guardian, Caring, AA and other leading pharmacies nationwide. This article is brought to you by Nuvanta’s Nuvaceuticals division.
For further information, please contact 03-5636 3758 or email pharmacist@nuvanta.com
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