Hip pain help | Arthritis Information

I was wondering if anyone can help me. All weekend I have been having problems with both hips and lower back. I am having a hard time standing straight up coming up from a sitting position. If I am lying on either of my sides sleeping I wake up in alot of pain on the side of my hip, thigh and butt. I mentioned it to my doctor the last time I was in (it was not waking me up at that time) and she said it was buristis in the hips. She also said that if was not better they would do an ultrasound and give me a cortaizone (sp??) shots in my hips. Is this the RA???

I was also told that I had buristis in my shoulder so I live with that pain too (before the RA) but it turn out to be the RA and screw up my shoulder. So I guess my question is could it be RA in the hip with buristis??? Inflammation issue???

Thanks for your help!

Renee

Well, I have hip problems on and off but regularly and yes, it is the RA. After being dxed for about 2 years...I realized that since I am affected with RA from my nose to my toes, just about everything...pain, aching, stiffness etc etc, is the RA.

My hips problems may be around for a few days or a week and then subside only to revisit again when they feel it is time too. I find the pain and stiffness with RA comes and goes. Also I have felt as you described with my hips.

On the road to dx...they thought I had tendonitis in my shoulder, not...RA. I think RA is often misdxed as tendonitis and burstitis...which of course, doesn't mean you can't have RA and things like burstitis and tendonitis as well.

The only thing I can suggest for the hip pain that has worked for me is possibly a heat bag on the sore spots when you are trying to go to sleep.
Oh... I HATE that problem.

Hope it gets better soon, if not cortisone injection will probably be the way to go... so I have read.

Renee,

You've been diagnosed w/RA? How long have you had it? Do you see a rheumatologist? Have you had xrays of your hips? That would show you if there's been damage to cartilage, a narrowing of joint space, that could cause pain. What would an ultrasound tell you? Inflammation of soft tissue?

I've had cortisone shots in my knees when I've had inflammation, they helped.

Hope you get some relief and help soon,

I have had the pain you describe in my hip (sharp pain, pain into neighboring areas from the hip, difficulty sleeping on that hip). My RA doc told me it was bursitis and he gave me a cortisone shot. The shot did not hurt. My hip greatly improved. This was about 3 months ago.

Now I have the pain in both hips. A new job causes me to get out of a chair off and on all day plus walking on concrete. I'm going back to the RA doc on Thursday and hopefully he will give me a shot in both hips. The pain causes me difficulty in driving in a car for a distance.

I am going to ask the doc if my new job is too much for me with RA - I was diagnosed one year ago and felt great for the past year until this bursitis problem started.

Hope you feel better soon.

I too suffer off/on with hip pain. Rd dx it bursitis and I had a cortizone shot in both hips. The shot didn't even hurt. He numbed it and the releif went on for a couple months. I go to rd on Thursday and plan seeing if I can get another shot. I think dr said you can have them up to 3 times a year.

I know how you feel. Give your dr a call. In the meantime, heat helps me.

take care

Hi Renee, just a thought, I have bursitis and RA of the hip, and recently it has been getting worse, I have not been walking normally for a long time but even moreso lately due to a fractured metatarsal in my foot, this has made my hip a lot worse and I have had to get some podiatric insoles to straighten the way my foot strikes the ground, due to ligament damage, fallen arches and plantar fasciitis, is there any way your posture may be making yours worse, mine has improved slightly and I only got the insoles last week. Best of luck and if its not then I would advise you to get the steroid shot, at least you know it worked before. Regards Janie. Joie-Yes I have been diagnosed with RA about 2 years ago. Yes I see a rheumatologist and she did x-rays of my hips the last time I was in and there has been no damage. At that time the pain was not waking me up. She said that they do an ultrasound before giving a cortisone shot to get it in the right spot. I have had cortisone shots to my shoulder and it has helped! I am just not crazy about having shots in both hips. The ones they gave me in the shoulder hurt like hell! But what CinDee and Flamingo are saying that it didn't hurt I guess I will give it a try.

Thanks everyone for all your help!

Renee

hi jake i do have erosions in the hips and arthritis of the spine and can relate to your
pains. but i wonderd do you have knee ankle problems.. early on trouble whith my knees
and ankles affected the way i walk putting pressure on my hips and back.. i do not know
what bursitis is. and i have never had injections in my hips. though i have had injections
in my ankles knees and shoulders and elbows and have never felt a thing.
Boney Jake03

I just went through all of this. My hips and pain in the butt area . Doc thought it was bursitis. It wasnt. Got xrays. It turned out to be Degenerative Disc Disease.

My Disc number 4 is getting narrower and basically wearing down.

I was hurting and going around thinking it was bursitis for 4 months or maybe more.

I have RA also and am finding that everything that happens to me is not RA related.

My hips didnt hurt while I was sleeping though. Just while I was walking. Now my back hurts too. Tylenol for Arthritis is helping.

I am going to Physical therapy starting on thursday and I guess they will be teaching me how to lift and give me some exercises to keep my back strong. There are also, some DVD's re: the proper exercises and I ordered a book on exercises for back pain.

Good luck and I hope you find a solution for your pain.

Thinkthinn2008-04-30 06:11:30The hip pain is no fun. I went through a year and half with hip pain. Got so bad that I couldn't walk standing up straight. Stairs killed me. The shots helped but after a while it wasn't working for me. I found that putting heat on my hip helped and placing a pillow in between my knees when laying on my side helped too. Finally had to have a total hip replacement as the joint was gone.

Hope that yours doesn't get that bad. The shots can hurt when you get them but it depends on the person who gives them to you. Hope that this helps.

marisaAn update regarding the pain in both my hips....

I went my RA doctor yesterday. He said it was bursitis in both hips. He could not give me a shot in my left hip because I needed to wait another month since I had one recently. He gave me a shot in my right hip. First he presses on my hip to find the most sore spot, marks the spot with a pen, then "freezes" the spot, next injects a steroid and lidocaine mixture, then rubs the area and holds pressure on it for awhile. Other than when he first pushes on the bursa to find the right location, I don't feel any pain from the shot.

I explained to him that my new job requires me getting up out of my chair numerous times all day long and walking or standing on concrete. He told me that people with RA tend to get bursitis - - both joint area problems. He said that if I continue to do this new job, I will continue to get bursitis. He said he would write a letter to my employer regarding my situation.

Looks like I am going to have to give up this new job and return to my old job that was 90% sitting at a desk since he said I need to be at a "sitting" job. I don't mind giving up the job or the money, but I feel bad that I no longer have choices about what kind of work I am going to be able to do.

Today my right hip feels somewhat better since the shot; the left hip still hurts. Since the shots can only be given every 3 or 4 months, I don't want to run the risk of getting bursitis and not being able to get rid of the pain with a shot. I need to take care of my health so I can keep on working for as long as possible.

I have no knee problems and never had hip problems until the last couple of months. I am due to have my Humira shot on Monday and it always seems like my hips get worst right before I am due. I also start running a low grade fever too. I go to a new doctor on Monday.

I am up early because my hips and lower back woke me up. My question is when you have bursitis is the lining in the joint also inflamed?? The problems that I had with my shoulder for years they said it was bursitis and it ended up that the lining of my shoulder joint was a mess from the RA. Maybe the inflamnation just spreads all over.

My job also has me sitting alot plus up and running around. I always thought it was better to keep moving.

Thanks everyone for your feedback!

Jake03 - I don't know a lot about the bursitis I have other than I have a very sharp pain, like a knife stuck into my hip. The pain (inflammation) seems to spread down my leg and all over my hip/butt area and into my lower back.

I, too, had always heard that it was better to keep moving. However, I am constantly getting up out of my chair many, many times throughout the day and I guess it is just too much movement for my hip area.