Recently diagnosed with moderate osteoarthritis in both hips

kellyanneb

Hi everyone

I'm 46 years old female and just been diagnosed with moderate hip osteoarthritis in both hips total shock as initially the doctor thought i had sciatica. I have lower back pain lots of sciatic type pain on and off , burning hips and muscle soreness around groin area doctor has prescribed naproxan and amitriptyline but not much effect . Has anyone had better results with other medication . Going for first physio session tomorrow.

Trish9556

Hi @kellyanneb

I would say welcome to the hip club but it's. not necessarily a club anyone wants to be a member of!

I had my right hip replaced in May 2024 after it decided to give up on me in November 2022, Nothing worked for me, at the end I was taking a mixture of very strong pills and patches just to keep me going. My pain in the last 9 months was totally unbearable but the NHS have this delaying tactic of hoops you have to jump through - xrays>physio>steroid injections>mri>back to GP or referral to hospital and depending on which hospital you get referred to leads to the amount of time you're kept waiting for treatment. If you have to go down this pathway and live in England, I would suggest you choose your hospital via NHS choices. My lovely physio referred me to my local private hospital as it had the shortest waiting list. It was still 9 months though from consultation to steroid injection to surgery.

I would have an honest conversation with your physio about where you need to be, hip pain is unbearable and I spent most of the last 9 months doubled up in pain unable to do anything. Not something I would wish on my worst enemy.

Good luck

Trish

kellyanneb

Hi Trish

I'm in Scotland but the whole process is the same I'm paying to go privately to my physio as I can't afford to wait for my GP to refer me . I've had 6 weeks off work to try and get the back and nerve pain under control and I'm not really any better ive had to go back to work in retail so not ideal but I can't afford to not work . My GP was so blasé about my diagnosis but they genuinely have no idea how this affects out lives just happy to dish out pain relief .

Trish9556

Hi Kelly

Your GP's reaction doesn't surprise me. I had a lovely GP who was very supportive. He however left and when I phoned one Friday morning for help after a week of no sleep and debiilitating pain got put through to the lead GP. A good job it was a phone call. On explaining that my painkillers were not working and I literally could not cope with pain and no sleep, she told me, Mrs B, you have Arthritis and should be used to living in pain, there's nothingi I can do. Seriously? Good job it was a phone call, I would've thumped her if it had been in person!!!

I left a message for my physio who got back to me asap. She brought my MRi's forward and had me in the machine for an hour doing various scans and referred me immediately to the surgeon when I next saw her.

I hope you have a good physio!

Good luck

trish

kellyanneb

Hi Trish

The physios I'm seeing have opened up there own practice but also still work within the nhs as advanced physios so they seem to have more access to referring their clients to the proper nhs services . I was diagnosed through pelvic xray but no mention of an mri even with all the nerve and back pain related symptoms it's a joke . Fingers crossed the physio I'm seeing tomorrow will steer me on the right path .