She grabbed onto her hus?band, Robert, for support and slowly climbed the bleachers, wincing as pain shot through her arthritic knees.



As she sat down to watch her granddaughter's ice skat?ing competition, the 73-year-old housewife from Grosse Pointe Woods breathed a sigh of relief.

For more than a year, Sabo relied on medication to ease the pain caused by her No. 1 enemy - stairs. Now, she depends on a different pain reliever, AcheAway, a thera?peutic health remedy with mineral water produced by the Birmingham-based Geologix Inc. The 13-year-old company claims the product can safely and naturally ease the pain of overworked muscles and joint pain associated with arthritis.

While many people have flocked to the AcheAway products, doctors are urging patients to err on the side of caution when trying new treatments. It's not the cure-all to arthritis, the nation's leading cause of disability among Americans older than 15, said Nora F. Bass, acute care nurse practitioner for orthopedics at Providence Hospital in Southfield.

There isn't enough re?search behind all the 20,000 treatments for arthritis, which include medications, surgery

AcheAway products are made with mineral water from the only remianing mineral water well underneath Mount Clemens, said owner Susan Gans of Bloomfield Hills. The mineral water is concentrated with 34 natural minerals, including hydrogen seleride and calcium.

and topical remedies, she said.

?We don't always know enough about supplements,? Bass said, ?It may make you feel better, but it has the potential to interact adversely with other things you might be taking. You should make sure your health care provider knows.?

Sabo said she's willing to try anything a friend has recommended to ease the pain.

?You get to a point of say?ing, ?How long can I put up with this?? ? said Sabo, who began using the AcheAway ointment twice daily on her legs in November. ?It actu?ally seems to be helping me. The stairs, they're much better for me. I can bend down, and I don't have to have my husband pull me up.

?I've been like a different person.?

There are more than 100 types of arthritis, a disease that affects the musculoskel?etal system and causes two or more bones to rub together, according to the Atlanta-based Arthritis Foundation.

Arthritis-related joint prob?lems include pain, stiffness, inflammation and damage to joint cartilage that can lead to joint weakness and instability.

Arthritis affects more than 40 million American adults and 300,000 children. In Michigan, an estimated 3 million adults and 7,000 children, 16 and younger, have arthritis or its symptoms, said Dawn Hafeli, vice president for programs at the Troy based Arthritis Foundation Michigan Chapter.

The AcheAway products are made with mineral water from the only remaining min?eral water well underneath Mount Clemens, owner Susan Gans said. The mineral water is concentrated with 34 natural minerals, including hydrogen seleride, calcium, potassium chloride and sodium sulphite.

Mount Clemens, once called ?Bath City USA,? used to have about a dozen mineral water wells and 11 bathhouses that attracted millions of visitors with skin disorders and arthritis each year. Modern medicine closed the businesses by the mid 1970s. The wells were discovered in 1865 when an oil driller unexpectedly tapped the 600 million-year-old Michigan Basin.

The mineral water is drawn from an electrically operated sand pipe off North River Road in Mount Clemens, said James McCarthy, vice president of Geologix. The

Susan Gans purchased Geologix and the 1,4000-foot-deep mineral well in Mount Clemens eight years ago after ending her career as a commercial real estate broker in Birmingham.

About AcheAway

n Company: Birmingham-

based Geologix, Inc.

n Owner: Susan Gans, of

Bloomfield Hills.

n Products: AcheAway is a

therapeutic health product, made with mineral water from Mount Clemens, to help soothe the aches and pains from arthritis, psoriasis, tired joints and sore muscles. The company also offers Mineral Essentials body and skin care products that are used in a handful of spas and at the Wellspring Center in Clinton Township.

n Purchase: The Geologix products

can be found at several pharmacies in Mount Clemens, along with NutriFoods in Royal Oak and through mail orders.

n For information: Contact AcheAway Therapeutic Health Products at

(800) 820-0220 or at http://acheaway.com.

Source: Owner: Susan Gans and Detroit News research

hose connected to the well spews murky, black water that smells of rotten eggs. The mineral water is treated in the company's chemical laboratory in Troy to remove the color and hydrogen sul?fide smell.

After the refining process, the water is odorless and greaseless, he said.

The Mount Clemens water has one of the highest concentrations of minerals for any body of water in the world ? 3 pounds of miner?als for every 5 gallons of water, McCarthy said.

Gans purchased Geologix, and the 1,400-foot-deep min?eral well eight years ago after ending her career as a commercial real estate broker in Birmingham. She was looking for a change.

?I thought the beauty The AcheAway products

business would be exciting,? said Gans, of Bloomfield Hills. ?We know that minerals are essential for our well?being. People have just got?ten tremendous results from it.?

?You get to a point of saying, ?How long can I put up with this?? ? Jean Sabo of Grosse Pointe Woods says of arthritis.

can be purchased at several pharmacies in Mount Clemens, as well as the NutriFoods store in Royal Oak, she said. It costs $15.99 for a 4-ounce jar of the AcheAway Gel Rub at NutriFoods.

The product label states that it hasn't been evaluated by the Rockville, Md.-based United States Food & Drug Administration.