HIPS !!!

emmaadams
emmaadams Member Posts: 140
edited 2. Dec 2015, 19:23 in Living with Arthritis archive
anyone have any tips for managing hip pain PLEASE !!!! i have been really bad this weekend with my hips .... i have tried my Ibuprofen Gel,Hot water Bottle, Hot shower and even Ice packs ... nothing is helping
i am unable to move due to the pain , i cant sleep either. i have tried moving them (its both ). sitting . i have spent the best part of the weekend in the shower as this is only marginally helping .. pain meds wise i am currently being fazed off my Gabapentin so i am at my max dosage for thet and my Dihydracodine is not working and hasnt been working for a while now .. it is that bad i almost went to the hospital last night . but put it off as it subsided but its back ....


Please Please help ... i cant cope any longer ...

Comments

  • rayray
    rayray Member Posts: 115
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I am so sorry to hear about your hips. Yes I have had this with very severe pain. My right hip used to become so inflammed that I found the only thing I could do was to lie down and not move for days on end, even getting to the loo was a trial. I really can't recommend any particular pain relief that really dulls it. I spent three years like this, five ops until a THR sorted it. It was quite awful and like you I felt I couldn't cope.

    My one big regret was NOT going to A&E. I feel now if I had gone that the pain management or rheumi team may have got on top of things faster. I wasted three years of my life, spent days on end lying on the bed many many times, was on crutches and in a wheelchair and it was just awful.

    Please do go to A&E they may help you to improve your pain relief. Otherwise all I can say is that I found lying perfectly still, just moving to go to the loo is the only thing that seemed to help. Heat was good and made me feel better but not enough to move around.

    Please let me know how you get on. I feel so much for you. Have had pain in many joints but the inflammation in my hips was the worst by far as you are completely poleaxed.
  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,697
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Ouch! That doesn't sound good, Emma. I hope you managed some sleep in the end and that things are a little better today.

    When my original hips were dying on me I used an armchair with a very firm, supporting seat, sometimes supplemented with cushions, I made sure I got up and walked round regularly, however painful, and did my exercises at least daily to keep the muscles strong. After that it was just pain relief – cocos for me. (Dihydrocodeine is a strong med. If it's not working do tell your doc as it's pointless taking it but don't just stop.)

    Sorry, I can't be of more help.

    (I have to disagree with rayray here. A&E are grossly overstretched and chronic pain, however bad, is not, in itself, an emergency. Your GP can refer you to Pain Management and, as I understand it, you have OA not an autoimmune arthritis so a rheumatologist would be of no use to you.)
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright
  • rayray
    rayray Member Posts: 115
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Sorry have to disagree with you Sticky! I think it depends how bad the pain is. If it is so severe that you quite literally cannot function at all - I don't mean hurting a lot but still able to walk but unable to move around and completely incapacitating then A&E would be happy to assist.

    There is a level of pain at which a human being can still continue to function and one where you just can't. Certainly if I had been living on my own at that time then I could not have functioned at all. I had inflammation in and around my hip together with a deformed hip rather than OA but I don't know Emma's diagnosis. If she is under a rheumi for inflammatory arthritis then maybe this is the place for her to start - sorry I don't know the full story but do know how devastating those three years were for me with my GP saying he did not know what else to do. I was seeing a surgeon who was trying to sort out the deformity but he was 100 miles away and the inflammation was unusual for him to see.

    Funnily enough I did meet a lady when I was having shoulder surgery who was admitted due to very severe pain in her back. She had attended A&E and they admitted her for over a week until it was brought under control. She too could not function. Hospitals have access to higher levels of pain relief than is often obtainable via the GP in an urgent situation and I feel that sometimes folks have no option.

    On saying this this is not an option I have taken but witnessing the back pain lady who was being helped as an in patient by the Pain Management folk I realised that there are options which I hadn't known existed.

    Anyway, this isn't an argument about using A&E and I really hope that you get some relief soon Emma in whatever way you can. Please let me know how you get on.
  • emmaadams
    emmaadams Member Posts: 140
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    hi guys .. i did manage to get some sleep FINALLY i did have to Lay Flat on my back and not move though so i do see where you are coming from Ray .. i did NOT however make a trip to A&E i almost almost did but i couldn't bring myself to go just because of pain .... yes it Was the most worst pain i have EVER experience in my Life it was a lot worse than My knees!!! an ive had 2 kids too they were a walk in the park compared to this .. one was wit no pain relief at all ..

    Yes you are right i do have OA sticky . i am waiting on new bloods taken last week to come back to check for RA and any other tests they did

    i am still in pain with my hips it is now mainly my right one ... but it has settled down some what i am now getting lots of sharp shooting electrical pains in and around my groin,outer hip and to the inside of my buttock , as well as server burning !! it is now no longer radiating to my back or my other hip .. Thank goodness ...

    i feel really fluish this time round weather that has added to the extra pain or not im not sure but i feel awful .. i am going to see if it improves again tomorrow if not than i will be going back to my GP .

    i have made sure i move around little and often even though it is painful and done some of my exercises all though not many ..i could not concentrate on anything at all .. no matter what i did . i just couldnt sit still . but every time i went to move it was horrendous .. i eventually had another shower and had the hubby help me and stood there for nearly an hour then had all my meds and got in bed and didnt move a muscle all night ..


    thanks for your help and advice Ray and Sticky ... hopefully i wont have a repeat !!!

    Emma xx
  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,697
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Well done on working out your own solution, Emma. I'm glad you got some sleep in the end. How were things last night?
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright
  • emmaadams
    emmaadams Member Posts: 140
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    they were a lot better again last night .. the only reason i even thought of going to the hospital was because id had a fall on the friday morning on the Stairs and landed on my Left hip.. then i had all that pain and not being able to move much i sort of panicked ... i have been much better today ...still the odd twinge here and there but its deffo on the mend xxx

    how are you ?? hope you are keeping well Sticky xx and thanks again
  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,697
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I didn't know you'd had a fall onto that hip. (Sorry, if you'd mentioned it, I've been away.) I think that would make the matter of A&E a definite 'to be considered'. However, it sounds as if it was just badly bruised and is now, thankfully, on the mend. I do hope so.
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright
  • emmaadams
    emmaadams Member Posts: 140
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    not to worry Sticky .. i dont think i did mention it .. hip has been a little bothersome today but nothing too major .. i managed to tidy round before it started up ...

    i did however wake this morning to not being able to get up it took me about an hour or so before my Back would move .. i couldn't lift myself up at all .. my lower back had Seized up .... ive felt a bit out of it today and very flu ish ... my GP seems to think i may have Ra as well as OA .. is that even possible ?? to have both ?? just waiting on bloods to come back all though i dont think its going to show anything ..
  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,697
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Oh it's certainly possible to have both an autoimmune arthritis and OA. I rather wish it wasn't! But those of us who have both usually start with the autoimmune one and the OA sets in later because the autoimmune one wasn't dealt with quickly enough.

    I do recall at least one person on here who did it the other way round but I don't think it happens often. And RA usually (but again not always) starts in small joints eg fingers. Mine started there then moved on to wrists, ankles and toes before heading for my shoulders and knees. Hips were a bit of an afterthought and my back's still pretty good.

    I'm glad your hip's on the mend and I do hope the bloods show nothing untoward in the autoimmune area. When will you get the results?
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright
  • emmaadams
    emmaadams Member Posts: 140
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Sticky .. i havent the foggiest when i will get the results . i had them done few days ago so im going to give it until Monday and see whats what by then ..

    all is well on the Hips side of things today i even managed 2 lots of my Exercises today :)

    im still a little iffy and have mild to little pain but i am soo much better than at the beginning of the week .. i am really glad i put off going to the hospital ...i have been a lot like my old-self today ...a bit batty to most but finally feel like me .... if RA starts first and usually in smaller joints i think i may have dodged that bullet as my hands are fine . i do have fallen arches in both feet and i also broke my left foot several years ago so the only pain i get i presume stems from that .. it is nothing like the pain in my knees ,hips and back so i think i may be RA free ...(fingers crossed ) just the pesky OA for me will be enough ....

    hope you are well and enjoyed your time away xxx

    Emma xx
  • rayray
    rayray Member Posts: 115
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Emma,

    I am glad and relieved that the hips have eased up. I hope things improve for you. Are you under the care of a hip surgeon? Just wondering if they can do anything for you like a hip injection, I had several and I felt 100% better after each one.

    Take care.

    Rayray
  • emmaadams
    emmaadams Member Posts: 140
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Rayray .. im not under any surgeons any more .. i got discharged from them in May after my lateral release ( tendon being cut as it was to tight and pulled my knee caps out of the socket)

    i have also just been discharged from my physio as he cant give me anything else to do to help he has written to my GP and told him that i need to be seen by the pain management team .. luckily for me i had already been referred to them but im on one hell of a waiting list (6 months)

    im sort of stuck in limbo now though as im waiting for several appointments i doubt im going to hear anything untill after christmas now though to be honest ..i just hope i am as pain free and mobile as possible over the Xmas season ...


    thanks Emma x