OK - I'm going to try this again. No one answered my last post. Things have changed since I wrote 2 days ago anyway. Started out having back pain that lasted about a month. The pain finally "went away" and then rt. hip started hurting. X-rays showed osteoarthritis in both hips and back. Ortho doc said he could do a steroid shot and if it helped hip that would tell him it was my hip - If it didn't help that meant the pain was coming from my back. I told him I would get back to him. Now my left hurt has started hurting and I am really worried. I can barely walk! My whole life has drastically changed overnight. Anyone out there in the same situation with some insight on what do do next. My Ortho doc is suppose to be good but he does not spend much time with me and offers nothing much in the way of support.Moving this back upbumping
Hello,
I'm not an expert. I'm not an MD. I have arthritis in my hips. I'm pretty well educated, and I've studied up, consulted my doctor.
There are lots of home remedies circulating around the internet. I don't know of any that have a good scientific foundation. There used to be hope for glucosamine and chondroitin, but it's fading as far as I can tell. No one knows why some people get OA and other don't, except for obvious risk factors like age and obesity. Many years of hard labor can be a risk factor, too, I think.
I think most experts encourage exercise, starting with a little, and working up to harder or longer. If you get severe pain, you're probably doing it too hard or too long. Mild to moderate pain might improve if you keep doing it over a period of many weeks or months.
Beyond that, there's the question of pain control. Acetominophen is actually a pretty good pain reliever. If you take too much for too long you can get liver damage. Aspirin is the traditional pain remedy for osteoarthritis. It's surprisingly good, too, though you might have to take a pretty big daily dose, under an MD's supervision. Aspirin can cause stomach ulcers and other serious gastric problems, too, so you have to be careful.
NSAIDS like ibuprofen and naproxen are pretty good pain relievers. They can cause stomach ulcers, so you have to be really careful about that. They also can do some harm to digestive tract and might be a risk for heart disease, so you have to balance cost and benefit. Probably ought to discuss with your MD.
If you need round the clock pain relief, naproxen is probably better because you only need one tablet every twelve hours. Some MDs might prescribe more. But there might be more risk of ulcers and other problems.
Some people seem to respond to one NSAID but not another. There are more than a dozen on the market. Some require an MD's prescription. MDs sometimes prescribe doses quite a bit larger than the OTC dosages.
AFAIK, steroid shots give temporary relief, sometimes lasting several weeks or months, but they are not curative.
If all else fails, a lot of people are getting hip replacement surgery these days.
As far as I know, I've stated the obvious here. This information is widely available on the internet, and probably elsewhere on this site. Don't take my word for it. Check it out yourself.
Hope this helps.
If you have other questions and no one else replies, maybe I can answer, maybe not.
Sorry to hear about your trouble. Good luck with it.
Timbo
I have bursitis in my hips and I get cat scan guided steroid injections when needed. They help a lot. Are you taking any medication for the inflammation/pain?
VHi, Avia,
I had steroid injections in both hips a little over a week ago, and I highly recommend them. I was in so much pain, I could not sleep. Even my pain meds couldn't stop it all the way. I have BAD knees, so my gait is off. That issue has caused Tronchiatric Bursitis, and it is very, very painful.
I met the ortho at the hospital after he was out of surgery. He used a cat scan to identify the placement of the needle. He injected a pain killer and then injected the steroid.
I have had steroid shots in my left hip three times now. This last time was the first injection for my right hip. If this problem persists, my ortho is going to remove the bursa in my left hip.
Hope this helps!
VDo you know this is curable?
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