Any of you young geezers take blood pressure medicine?

[ChessGuy]

The other day I had an epiphany. I've had some bad knee arthritis for 2 years now. I received the knee cortizone shots earlier this year. I'm 63.

I've thought about this for a long time. I've always been moderately active. have never had a knee injury, have never had to work standing up for long periods of time, etc.

My thought is that my arthritis is caused by the diuretic component (HCTZ) of the medicine. I took the same medication for over 17 years.

I remember that within 2 to 3 days of not taking my medicine, I would gain 5lbs without changing my diet at all.

That means that my body has been operating for 17 years with a water deficit of about 2 quarts!! I believe that this means that the fluids lubricating my knee have been affected and even reduced by the diuretic, thereby increasing friction and wear to the knee cartilage.

One major reason that I thought about this was that, before my knee shots, the arthritis pain would significantly diminish when I didn't take my meds. I also believe that operating 2 quarts low can adversely affect recovery from weight training and slow progress.

This is just my opinion. Please do not stop or change ny meds without speaking to your Doctor.

[carson]

I take a small amount of blood pressure medicine. I will ask some questions of my physician. I have no knee pain.

[SteveL]

Stop eating wheat for three months and see how that helps. Also look into synovial fluid injection into the knee. It really helped my knee! I use to have a very stiff knee after downhill skiing now everything is great.

[Mark E. Hurling]

I've been on Diovan HCT, a diuretic, and Hytrin for a few years now. In addition, I incurred a complex tear of my right meniscus at age 19 and X-rays show that I have signs of arthritis in nearly every joint. As long as I keep taking my cheapo Trader Joe's MSM-Glucosamine-Chondroitin blend, my knee feels OK.

[olddognewtricks]

My joint issues predate my diuretic prescription, so I really doubt if it's a factor. Besides, I thought one of the issues with osteoarthritic patients is that their synovial fluid tends to be *too* watery in later stages of the disease and therefore provides poorer lubrication and has lower viscosity. But then I'm a geezer so I may be misremembering ;-)