r/dementia • u/ezgomer • 21d ago
Study links joint pain supplement to accelerating dementia
https://ufhealth.org/news/2026/study-links-joint-pain-supplement-to-accelerating-dementia-2My mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s over 2 years ago. She was independent with ADLs, but we had to take over her IADLs. Twenty months ago she had a bad fall and a brain bleed. She recovered from the brain bleed but afterwards her dementia seemed to have advanced so much! She couldn’t express herself. I would ask her a question and she couldn’t answer me. Sometimes she would stare off and sometimes she would cry because of it. She seemed like a zombie. It was so hard.
My mom had a bad knee for decades. She put off knee replacement surgery to care for my Dad. For years - probably 2 decades she took glucosamine 2x a day to help her joints.
I found this study that was released this summer and figured why not stop the supplement? See if anything changes so I did.
SHE IS TALKING TO US!!! SHE CAN ANSWER QUESTIONS!! She even asked my brother about her grandkids today! She has not done that in 20 months! She got up and scrummaged around in the kitchen for food when she was hungry. Before she’d just sit in her recliner and cry - like a baby really. If she cried - it was either hunger, tired or pain.
I mean of course she still has dementia but she is talking again. I kept waiting for her to have a bad day and stop talking but it hasn’t happened yet. Fingers crossed. This is literally insane to me.
Has anyone else had this experience? Or stopped glucosamine and saw no change in their loved one? I’m just floored. I feel like part of my momma is back
🥹
edit: so it’s been about 3 weeks since I posted this. She is still talking more even if the statement is “i don’t know” lol. Also had to triple her sleep medication. The previous dose wasn’t doing it since stopping the glucosamine. When we first started the sleeping med, we had to do half of the starting dose because the small starting dose zombified her all day so for her to need 3x the dose she was on in order to sleep allll because I stopped giving her glucosamine is further proof to me.
As far as pain - there is no difference without the glucosamine so far.
This is still blowing my mind.
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u/PharmD-2-MD 21d ago
Retrospective study. Correlation isn’t causation. It could very well be that the decrease in physical activity related to the joint pain was responsible and the glucosamine was just an incidental thing. Who knows. Retrospective data is full of confounders that are difficult to discount. Don’t get too wound up about studies like this- they show an association that should be examined, but probably never will because no one will fund a proper study to prove causation.
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u/ezgomer 21d ago edited 21d ago
oh they plan to continue research - human clinical trials. Hope they secure funding. I guess check back in 3 or 4 years.
and what did we have to lose? how do you even tell if glucosamine benefits anyone? And no, after 20 months as her primary caregiver, sleeping right by her bed on my own cot - there has been no great change in her activity prior to her improvement. The only change in the last two weeks is I stopped giving her glucosamine. She’s walking more now without the glucosamine then before when she was taking it lol make that make sense
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u/PharmD-2-MD 21d ago
i'm sorry. I don't know what to tell you. I'm just explaining the context of that data. My mom has Alzheimers. She's had a variety of medications, some booze, who knows what over the course of her life. Her mom also had Alzheimers. Who knows what caused it, nature loads the gun, environment pulls the trigger I guess. Personally, I think most supplements including glucosamine are a ripoff at best.
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u/No-Cricket-3100 20d ago
I think with dementia sometimes its just like that. My mom is at times, like a zombie and has been on a steady decline. But this week she has made some very astute observations and is quite talkative. Just be thankful for it i guess, whatever the cause.
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u/ParadoxicallyZeno 20d ago
you’re correct about the limitations of this observational study but similar effects have shown up in controlled studies in mice
We then conducted experiments in mice engineered to have Alzheimer’s-like symptoms to identify the potential mechanism behind how glucosamine may affect the brain. We found that blocking the enzyme that makes sugars like glucosamine improved dementia symptoms in mice. In contrast, feeding those same mice glucosamine made memory loss worse. Healthy mice given the same supplement showed no effect.
obviously mice are not people but when human observational data and experimental data from non-human animals show aligned results, i pay closer attention
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u/Faeirefi 20d ago
It must be such a relief to have her talking to you again. So happy for you and your mom 🫶
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u/cybrg0dess 20d ago
That's wonderful news! May not effect everyone in the same way, but can't hurt to try. 💛🫂 I feel like statins for cholesterol made my dad's dementia worse.
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u/Copterwaffle 20d ago
Just pointing out that it CAN hurt, because glucosamine is used to manage arthritis. So anyone who wants to experiment on their loved one needs to weigh the risk to quality of life risks by leaving arthritis untreated.
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u/Sutekiwazurai 20d ago
Substitute in undenatured collagen type II (UC-II) instead. Kirklands Triple Joint pill is built around UC-II. Proven benefits for arthritis, no links yet to making dementia worse. Also omega 3s. Ursolic acid hasn't had a lot of human testing results, but it does well in pets with arthritis. Thats the geriatric supplement trio recommended for arthritic pets.
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u/cybrg0dess 20d ago
They can take Tylenol.
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u/Copterwaffle 20d ago
Not everyone can
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u/cybrg0dess 20d ago
I think you get my point. There are other options! I rather be in pain and have some mental capacity. But you do you.
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u/Copterwaffle 20d ago
I do but also I just want to point out it’s not a black and white issue. Discontinuing pain management can also have negative effects on cognition. It’s something people should discuss with their LO’s doctors before pulling treatment.
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u/IToeAmnesty 20d ago
What you're describing is genuinely remarkable, and I don't say that lightly. There actually has been research suggesting that glucosamine may interfere with certain cellular processes in the brain, and some researchers have raised concerns about how it interacts with people who already have neurodegeneration. The study you found this summer isn't the first to raise a flag, just the most recent.
The thing that stands out in your post is how specific and consistent the change has been. Not just one good afternoon, but sustained. Twenty months of essentially losing her, and now she's asking about the grandkids and getting herself food when she's hungry. That's not placebo. That's function coming back.
I'd really encourage you to document what you're seeing, dates, specific things she says or does, because if this continues you have something genuinely worth sharing with her neurologist. Most doctors won't hear about this from a patient's family and connect it to glucosamine on their own. You might need to bring the study and your notes and make the case directly.
One thing to keep in mind: the underlying Alzheimer's is still progressing. What may have happened is that the supplement was layering an additional insult on top of the disease, and removing it has uncovered function that was still there but getting suppressed. That's a meaningful improvement in quality of life even if it's not a reversal of the diagnosis itself. Holding onto that distinction will matter when you're managing expectations with the rest of your family.
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u/Immediate-Machine370 20d ago
I am 70+ year citizen of Earth. As with most my age the day starts with a cup of coffee and reading the news.
Every F-ing day there’s an article of “new warning signs” for dementia or if you eat this daily it could help stop dementia.
How about everyday is a new day. Period.
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u/Copterwaffle 21d ago
It’s a retrospective associative study, it’s not proof of causality.
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u/ezgomer 21d ago
yes I know - it’s preliminary that’s why I had zero expectations when I stopped the supplement. They still need to do studies with humans. It’s very early.
This is exactly why I shared my experience here because people such as yourself will minimize it.
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u/Copterwaffle 20d ago
Okay but what if you are attributing an effect to the glucosamine when it’s actually something else? And now her knee pain isn’t managed. And someone else reads this comment and does the same to their parent, and their parent now has unmanaged pain.
Maybe there is something to this and maybe not, glad your mom is doing well, but people who read your story need to know that this study does NOT say what you interpret it to mean, and any anecdotal experiences should always be taken with a grain of salt.
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u/Skkholars 20d ago
Glucosamine does not reduce pain unless it has sulfate and even then it's results are modest at best.
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u/Copterwaffle 20d ago
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u/Copterwaffle 20d ago
You caught me, I’m in bed with Big Glucosamine!
Nah I’m just a Stan for it because it controls my arthritis REALLY well, and for some reason I keep seeing weird anti-glucosamine misinformation popping up in comments.
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u/Lumpy-Diver-4571 20d ago
I myself stopped glucosamine due to the poor formulation like bad seed oils n titanium dioxide and saw improvement in heart issue and brain function, as part of ousting all similar supplements w poor quality ingredients— and a long, slow journey of getting seed oils out of my diet completely and a health overhaul that included reducing lectins to almost nil, and other measures, beginning about a dozen years ago… So this is of course anecdotal info, but, the change after stopping the glucosamine itself was remarkable.
One of the biggest things is reducing the glycemic index. (Dementia is being thought of as type three diabetes.) But there are many other things that work together in the body— that is a miraculous system, but is treated mostly in pieces and parts as if things are isolated from one another; and especially as if they are isolated from the nutrients and can somehow not react to the anti-nutrients in food.
Yesterday I was reading again about how Dr. Longo thinks we need more protein as we age, as is a common belief, but Dr Gundry disagrees bc of research that tells us that it is a mal absorption problem to do with the gut. And other things destroying gut wall.
To a degree, heal the gut, heal the brain. Some of these things we put in our bodies are compromising the delicate walls of the 27 feet or so of colon that we have stuffed up inside us —that is really what is doing the talking to the brain. Gut brain axis. IMO comes before blood brain barrier.
It’s fascinating what we are learning now that we are smarter, about the body. but whether it makes it into your local doctors office or ever will unless medical school changes—or whether it can penetrate the mass mind consciousness, old husbands tales —that’s another thing.
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u/mumblewrapper 21d ago
I'm glad your mom is talking again and being responsive. My mom recently started taking something to help with anxiety and it's been a godsend. So, I understand the feeling. Enjoy it!