Just diagnosed

Samm

Hi everyone,

It was a big shock to me a couple of weeks ago when what I’ve flippantly been calling my ‘dicky hip’ has turned out to be osteoarthritis.

I’m 36 and up to now I’ve enjoyed a very active lifestyle - getting up to black belt in karate, yoga, dancing, roller skating, running, cycling……etc!!

I always assumed pain or stiffness was due to overdoing exercise or a problem referred from my sacroiliac joint as I had a bout of sciatica a long time ago. I’ve used heat and strengthening/stretching exercises and modified activity to make it suit me.

I eventually saw my gp because side lying at night had become painful and turning over in bed was more difficult (after changing my mattress blaming this) and driving the car gave me vague but quite severe hip/groin/knee/shin/foot pains (I’d also tried modifying my car seat thinking it was the seat).

I was referred urgently to rheumatology who were lovely but are forwarding me on to orthopaedics for assessment as it is osteoarthritis not RA. The consultant talked about likely needing hip replacements at some point.

While I wait to hear from orthopaedics I’ve made a face to face appointment with my gp to initiate regular contact and try to establish a loose plan.

I’m feeling shocked and worried about my diagnosis and unsure of myself. It’s like the ground shifted.

I don’t want to obsess about arthritis but I feel the need to get my head around it and move forward more confidently- most importantly I want to carry on as active a lifestyle as I possibly can!!

PeterJ

Hello @Samm and welcome to the community. We are a friendly and supportive group and I hope that you will find that as well.

I understand that you have recently been diagnosed with osteoarthritis and it is good to hear that the medical profession is helping you. I also understand that you want more information and I would recommend having a look around our website as a starting point. It contains information on arthritis, treatments, hints and tips and other people's stories. To help I've put a couple of links in below which may be of use.

https://www.versusarthritis.org/search?query=Hints+and+tips

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/osteoarthritis/

Please do keep posting and let us know how you are getting on and I am sure that others will connect with you to share their thoughts and experiences as well.

With very best wishes

Peter