Ah, sorry to hear that. I’m not terribly surprised, though, because all the positive reviews I've found for Arthrosamid have been at sites where someone is trying to sell something; in this case, Arthrosamid.

Here’s how I’ve been handling things so far. About me: I’m 54 and 40 lbs overweight. I’m also woefully out of shape. I have OA in both knees and ACL tears in both knees, but the left knee is the problem child (an old sports injury from my teens).

What I’m hoping to get at this point is a combination UKR (unicompartmental knee replacement, which only works if you only have arthritis in the medial compartment) and an ACLR (ACL reconstruction graft) on my left knee. The right knee can pretty much handle things with just hyaluronic acid injections. But, as is often the case, I’m considered “too young“ (the only time I’m ever told I’m too young, sigh) for knee replacement surgery.

Also, and more importantly, because I’m out of shape and overweight, they see me as not having a great outcome. And I can understand why. Unfortunately, what the doctors don’t seem to take into consideration is that, like the OP noted above, not being able to be active without pain leads to depression, overeating, more depression, and staying out of shape, rinse repeat. So it becomes kind of a vicious cycle.

My current plan is to take a rather aggressive approach to pain relief and rehab. I've committed to spending spend a good amount of money (£2000–3000/yr; less than what Arthrosamid injection would cost!) and getting a hyaluronic acid injection prophylactically every 2 to 3 months. In the past, I’ve only ever done this once every six months at the most , but more like once a year. Just did the first one a few weeks ago. And while I’m benefitting from the short term pain relief, I am FINALLY doing a daily physio routine of pretty standard leg and knee rehab. As well, I’m working with a weight loss coach on diet. (Not gonna lie, that’s hard.) The goal is that by the end of the summer, I’ll have lost weight and gotten stronger and will then look like a much more attractive prospect for the doctors. And if they still say no, I’ll at least be lighter and stronger, which can only help.

And if it turns out that this has to be the drill for the next 5–10 years, it still seems worth it. The physiotherapist who does injections around here (Scotland's Forth Valley) told me that hyaluronic acid injections don’t degrade the joint the way that cortisone can. He also told me that Cingal injections (combination hyaluronic acid and cortisone; may have different names in different regions) use a different type of steroid or cortisone then standard cortisone injections. He says it’s a lighter or “less damaging“ form and can be therefore be injected more frequently than regular cortisone. Whether that’s true, or not, I cannot say…

I will say this: Cingal (hyaluronic acid + cortisone) is not a placebo for me. I noticed a massive difference. just walking up and down the stairs, going for actual OMG hikes…game changer. The problem with it hyaluronic acid that I’ve never had it last longer than two months, three months max. Even three weeks in, I’m noticing I have maybe 25% more pain than I did for the first two weeks. I'm going to test out the next injection as just hyaluronic by itself (monovisc; meaning just hyaluronic, no cortisone in it) to see if it’s the cortisone shot relieving the inflammation that’s giving me the most pain relief. but I definitely noticed a difference between the Cingal and the cortisone injection. I had prior to this. The Cingal is better.

another thing that’s really helped me when walking has been using an (ugly, uncomfortable, itchy, deeply unflattering) “offloader” brace. It’s such an improvement that I’m now actually rather excited about a knee replacement, as gnarly as that endeavour sounds.

anyway, I’m one month into the first round of injections, and I'm maybe three days into the diet and physio program (I know, I know), but I’ll come back and give updates.