Am I on the right treatment for osteoarthritis?

Q: I am a 46 years old male suffering from osteoarthritis and am taking these medicines regularly - Rabezol 20, Diclonac-ER 100, Etocox-90 and Kondro acute. What are the side effects of the above mentioned medicines?

A:Rabezol (rabeprazole) is given along with pain killers to counter acidity. Diclonac (diclofenac) is a pain-killer. Etocox (etoricoxib) is also a pain-killer but should not be taken along with Diclonac, since both are meant for the same purpose and belong to the same class of drugs called NSAIDs. Kondro contains chondroitin and glucosamine. This product has no proven role in the treatment of osteoarthritis. The following information on these two agents may be of some interest:

Chondroitin does not reduce joint pain in people with osteoarthritis and its use should be discouraged, concludes a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine. In their meta-analysis of 20 trials comparing chondroitin with either placebo or no treatment, the authors found that "large-scale, methodologically sound trials indicate that the symptomatic benefit is minimal to nonexistent." Therefore, the use of this agent should be discouraged, particularly in advanced cases. Glucosamine does not give relief in pain due to osteoarthritis, as per a clinical trial reported in the American Journal of Medicine. Patients on glucosamine did no better on several parameters: pain, stiffness, function, overall satisfaction and pain-killers use. The Danish and Swedish drug regulators have alerted all doctors about Glucosamine's potential risk of developing:

• high cholesterol levels
• vision disorders
• peripheral oedema
• pulmonary embolism
• seizures
• myocardial infarction
• increased liver enzymes
• increased serum creatinine levels
• joints pain
• asthma
• diabetes
• colitis.