My life with Arthritis - GOPO Joint Health Supplement trial

Since being diagnosed with Arthritis at the age of 10, one of the most common responses I get when I tell people that I have Arthritis is 'My grandma/grandpa has that'. And even though I'm now in my mid-thirties rather than 10, I still get this reaction.

Arthritis is something that is often associated with the elderly and yet it can affect people of any age as I'm all too aware of. And whilst it hasn't always been easy living with Arthritis, over the years I have learnt my limitations and learnt to manage my pain with pain relief and have needed minimal intervention from doctors for many years.

However, over the past year or so the pain has worsened. Although it is primarily my left hip joint that is affected, I get a lot of associated lower back pain and occasional ankle pain too. It is the back pain that became really bad last year. I started having episodes of severe pain leaving me unable to go about my day to day life.

Whilst the mega-bad pain tends to come and go as 'episodes', the stiffness in my back seems to happen daily. I wake up with a sore stiff back and some days the pain wears off, other days it doesn't.

So when the opportunity arose to try GOPO, the 'only food supplement in the UK to contain a natural component of rose-hip, gopo, and is known for its natural anti-inflammatory and pain-killing properties' I was keen to try it out.

I have tried various supplements previously with no noticeable effect and so I am under no illusions. This is no 'miracle cure'. Yet if it can help to improve the joint stiffness, then I will be really happy and that is my hope for this trial - fewer days of joint stiffness and hopefully fewer episodes of severe pain.

Here's what the makers of GOPO say:
GOPO has been extensively studied in large-scale clinical trials involving hundreds of long-term sufferers of difficult-to-treat joint pain, searching for an alternative to ongoing consumption of conventional painkillers. 

The extensive evidence base demonstrates that GOPO:

• Reduces joint pain – with 8 out of 10 osteoarthritis (OA) sufferers reporting pain reduction after just 3 weeks of treatment
• Improves joint mobility – by reducing joint tenderness and swelling in patients with rheumatoid arthritis
• Reduces the need for painkillers – with almost half of OA sufferers able to reduce their consumption of paracetamol
• Rebuilds joint tissues and cartilage

The results of latest research from Sheffield Hallam University also suggest for the first time that GOPO has beneficial effects on pain and joint mobility in healthy, physically active individuals in just 12 weeks.

I have been advised that most people start to feel the benefits after 4-6 weeks. The dosage states to take three capsules twice a day for the first 3-5 weeks, which can then be decreased to a maintenance dose of 2 capsules twice a day. 

The good news for those who don't like swallowing pills is that the capsules can also be split and sprinkled over food. Having taken pills of various sorts since my diagnosis at the age of 10, I have no problems taking the capsules with water - but I know some people (yes I'm thinking of my husband) really can't take pills this size whole. To give an idea of size, the length of the capsule is similar in length to a 2 pence piece. 

I will be trialling GOPO for 12 weeks giving updates throughout at various intervals. 

Disclosure: I have been sent a 12 week supply of GOPO capsules to trial and then describe how I get on.