I am sure I have seen turneric mentioned as a painkiller on here. I am looking for alternative painklillers for myself. I tried looking it up but got confused. Can anyone point me in the right direction about which tablets to use? thanks. Or any other natural pain killers. I have tried Glucosamine and devils claw with not much effect.

I haven't heard it directly mentioned as being a pain killer, anything I have read is about it being an anti inflamatory
I was told that it works particularly well combined with Bromaline, which I think is derived from pineapple.

[url=].http://www.bodykind.com/browse/470-Turmeric.aspx    [/url]

I take Tumeric as an anti inflammatory for knee problems. I feel it helps, but it's difficult to be absolutely sure. I also take Glucosomine and chondroitin. Not heard of the connection with pineapple before.
You could give it a try, but be aware that it's not instantaneous and may take up to a month before any sign of improvement is felt. 

I take turmeric for my knees.  It does help with the inflammation, but you need to take it for a few weeks before you feel the benefits.  When I didn't re-order some months back I could feel them getting worse.  And sods law, once I got back on them I had to wait to get back to where I was before.  Won't forget to re-order again

It is a natural anti-inflammatory, yes and a very potent one - I don't use it but I have several dogs on it and have seen very good results.  Bromelain is another anti-inflammatory - I've not heard of a connection with turmeric before either though, must investigate that!

The key with bromelain is to take it at least an hour before, or three hours after food - it's an enzyme and if there's protein available, it will break that down rather than working on any inflammation.

A natural painkiller I've just starting using for the dogs, which I found out about on a human forum, is DLPA - DL-phenylalanine.  It's an amino acid.  Brilliant results with the dogs so far and I've read a lot of very good reviews for people.

Ginger is supposed to be a good anti-inflam too, no experience of that though.  It popped up when I was researching this for the dogs last week.

I have used in the past and found it didn't help after taking for sometime to give it a chance.

I was told about the Tumeric and Bromaline combo by the chap who owns the health suppliment shop in Perth ( not H&B btw ) , I've never looked into it any further myself .

> A natural painkiller I've just starting using for the dogs, which I found out about on a human forum, is DLPA - DL-phenylalanine.  It's an amino acid.  Brilliant results with the dogs so far and I've read a lot of very good reviews for people.

I just thought I would update this thread. I bought some DLPA and have been taking it  regularly since. I am still taking my normal pain killers which were not helping sufficiently and I was still in a lot of pain to the extent that I was getting very depressed. Since I started on the DLPA I have noticed a huge difference. I have not been this free of pain for years. Even after a day of doing strenuous work such as gardening I am not suffering for days afterwards. I can now bend down and pick things up from the floor without discomfort. I am taking a large dose of DLPA but now it is working well I will start experimenting with cutting it down a bit.  Thanks very much Nikita for mentioning it. My life has been transformed.

Oh that's fab, I'm glad it's helped you so much!

I know that a lot of people don't use Face Book but there is a very good turmeric group on there extolling the benefits. It is run by a vet who has a lot of knowledge and also lots of scientific reference papers, always useful when assessing whether it can be effective or not. This group also gives information on the best way to take it, e.g. to enhance the bioavailability of it, take it with a good quality oil and freshly ground black pepper.

I don't personally use it for myself or my dogs yet but I am using it for one of my small exotic mammals who has a bowel tumour and so far, he has outlived the prognosis and no longer needs his convention NSAID, whether this is coincidence I couldn't say.

That is interesting about DLPA and Tumeric may give both a try since my knee op Sept last year my knee improved as in it does not lock or give way (both major benefits) but is still very painful cannot take Asprin. So gel type creams are useless. Do not want to use paracetamol constantly .

I have tried Glucosamine and devils claw with not much effect I do not think - hope to God this is not the pain with them working well. 
I am in the process of trying to loose weight about a stone to ease my knee too.

I have been giving my girl Puds who is 11 1/2 turmeric capsules for the last couple of weeks in addition to the fish oil and green lipped mussel extract which she has been on for a few years. My dog walker commented that she is doing so well on them as she took a ball with her yesterday and Puds was beating Bog and Betty eight and two year old Lab and her dog Wilf who is an eighteen month old Springer to the ball !!

I have also been giving my old girl turmeric golden paste for the last month on her food, twice a day. It has dramatically reduced the itching that she has suffered for several years, even though she is fed raw, she has issues with high protein and an allergy to chicken so it has been a constant battle. I am greatly impressed and have found that this is one of the only natural products that has made a difference to her. Her stiffness has also reduced quite significantly.

According to the vet on the turmeric group on FB, turmeric powder is better taken with black pepper added, this contains pipperine which activates the turmeric, alongside either olive, linseed or coconut oil. Turmeric taken in this way is up to 200% more bioavailable as when taken on its own, is not as effective. I mix all the ingredients together and cook it down into a paste for the dogs. You have to be careful what powder is used as some of the cheaper ones have the curcumin extracted, thus making it useless.

In saying all of that, I am not keen on taking the paste so am taking organic curcumin tincture, this is the root of turmeric that makes the difference. It is working for me as its uptake is still good, being soluble and bioavailable if also taken in alcohol, I grind some black pepper into it and take 3 times a day. I can actually walk my dogs for an hour now without coming back limping.

I was thinking about starting to take it myself as well so may just start to try it !