My right hip seems to have gone from not so bad, functioning but painful to barely being able to walk so quickly ~ has anyone else has this experience? My mother's hips took a year or more to gradually get worse, so I expected the same time frame.
For instance yesterday I could stand for longer than five minutes I am in pain when I stand, but I could do it at a push, and now I can't bear it. My hip keeps locking or collapsing. I can't get in and out of chairs I could use last week. What is happening? Am I doing something wrong?
I have been struggling to get in and out of the car for ages but now it is impossibly difficult.
I have also noticed I am limping, even though I am trying not to. Surely this should be taking much longer to happen than it is. My hip pain started around 18 months ago. Is there anything I can do?
Hello Rose, seems par for the course. Prior to my op I would have good days and then desperate days where putting weight on hip was awful. When I mentioned these discrepancies to surgeon he was not surprised. Seems recovery is the same 2 bad days followed by a better day. My mother would be blaming the weather she always knew when it was going to rain. God bless her she has been dead for 38 years. Hope my new hip is not going to forecast the weather particularly living in UK
Think you need a new one ASAP
Do you use a walking stick? I started to use one for security at the stage you are at. I had an x ray in November my surgeon said he had seen worse but needed new one, by the time I had op in April I was on 2 crutches and every step painful surgoen said after was bone on by then, so yes it can get worse quickly. Do you have a date yet for your op?
Hello again I had my op 7 weeks ago and recovery good days and not so good days. Still using 2 poles when out but no support indoors. Today I can go down stairs normally but not yet able to do this going up. I was given a 6 week window for op and called on week 4 with 24 hours notice. Was so scared as I had not been in hospital since birth of now 34 year old. At 66 you worry about surviving anaesthetic however I had a spinal block and it was marvellous
My hip just slowly progressivly deteriorated. I did not wait until I was as in bad of shape as you though. I went and had it done earlier.
I think once it starts it can deteriorate quite quickly. I went from having a slight pain in my hip at first, nothing major and painkillers did the trick, to 6 months later having pain all down my thigh and in my knee and it was painful to walk. Went for x-ray and the GP told me it was bone on bone and made an appointment with the Consultant, who told me that all the other pains in my thigh, knee and calf were due to my hip. I had the op and no pain anywhere since. Get it seen to now before you get any worse , you will feel so much better afterwards.
Hi Rose
My hip pain started in December 2013. I had an x-ray and was told I definitely didn't have arthritis. The pain continued so I was sent for an MRI arthrograph as a labral tear or joint impingement was suspected but results only showed inflammation. Had a hip injection in January and was then told the arthritis (that I didn't have) had got worse. At the follow up six weeks later, I had another x-ray and you could see what a total mess the hip was and that's when I was put on the list for a thr. I too was shocked at how much it had deteriorated in 14 months as, like yours, my mother lived with it for years before it was considered bad enough to operate. I asked my consultant about this and he said that a rapid decline is common in younger patients.
Are you on the list for a replacement?
If not then you need to be. If you are then maybe you could go back to your consultant and 'push' for an earlier date.
Good luck and keep us posted x
Yes I had a tumble on concrete in February and of course landed bad hip down and deterioration from then was rapid, just keep pushing for the referral and above all xray. Dealing with GP's can be like wading through treacle sometimes
Yes rose sometimes it is that quick.
I climbed catbells last April and was in a wheelchair by December.
Hi Anne glad you are progressing well I live ground floor flat so no worry about stairs here. I am on 1 crutch sometimes none indoors but still 2 outside. Know what you mean about good and bad days but still early on. Take care
The warm weather definitely helps my AS, but hasn't changed the pain in my hip which is very painful for the weather, I would agree with your mother the weather particularly the damp really causes pain ~ no one can tell us why though!
I haven't got a stick yet, I have been trying to avoid any movement which is probably not the best thing. I am glad I am not the only one who seems on a fast track version, as I was beginning to wonder if I had fallen down the stairs without noticing! My surgeon said I needed a new hip and I should come back when I felt it was time to get a new one, apparently it will be obvious when that time comes, it seems to be coming much faster than I thought...
Barbara that is exactly where I am at, my whole leg hurts, and my other hip and back etc. Did it get much worse? Could you carry on?
Think the time has definitely come
I didn't know that about younger patients. Why would it be faster in younger patients? I would think, it would take longer given their joints are newer, possibly younger patients are more active, causing the hip to deteriorate faster. No idea to be honest, only shocked at the speed this all seems to be happening. I was hoping to string it out for another few years until my children are older...
Really! That is fast, I haven't been able to climb anything in a long while. How did you cope ending up in the wheelchair? Do you think you should have had it operated on earlier? I am in a quandary about this....
hi rose yes I do think I should have had it operated on earlier, but that was the waiting list and I had no other option even though I kept ringing.if you've been offered it, take it, they wouldn't offer if you didn't need it.