Kiwi - Oh that I could have regular massage for my OA - but it just sets off the darn PN . . . ice in small doses helps.
Re the independent studies - I mentioned to Caroline in a PM that if alternative therapies seem to be effective they eventually get picked up and studied by conventional medicine (eg: medical marijuana). It's early days for UC-II so maybe we'll see some independent research in the future - given the prevalence of RA & OA this would seem likely.
On a similar but slightly different topic this might interest others:
http://www.vitaminc.co.nz/pdf/THE-CO...US-PAULING.pdf