A year and a half

optic8765

Going unreg for this....I'm not looking for medical advice, I'm under the care of a handful of doctors, consultants, physios etc

I'd like to hear if other people have experienced my story. I'm feeling pretty low and frustrated at the moment and I guess I need some support and reassurance that other people have come out of this the other end ok. Mentally and physically I'm struggling with my condition


My story could take days to type out but the very short version is I was/am a very active sports person. Dont really drink or do the pub thing. All my socializing is done through my sport and training, until Dec 2013 when I started having pain in my hip.

This pain is on 24/7, it never stops and it radiates down my leg and lower back. It has at times reduced me to tears. After a couple of months of rest, saw the GP, went to a physio who is very well renowned. He decided the issue was with my back, MRI confirmed I had a slight bulging disc.

8 months of physio, twice a week with personal Pilates classes and the pain had gotten worse to the point where I could no longer pull myself up out of bed. GP refereed me to the Mater private where I saw another very well renowned spine consultant.

Had a back operation in August. Was told the issue was 100% with my back and was told there was no need for an MRI of my hip. Post back Op woke up with the same hip pain. 8 weeks after my back operation it become apparent to renowned spine consultant that something is wrong and he orders another MRI on my back this time with the injection dye so they can see the nerves. Nothing shows up. I'm still in horrible pain all day every day so eventually he orders an MRI of my hip...

The MRI shows up a cyst in my hip and with that renowned spine consultant realized he had done an unnecessary spine operation on a young woman and he very quickly fobbed me off to an other surgeon who looked at my MRI, ordered X-rays and informed me I had a condition called FAI.

I went for a second opinion with Mr.McCarthy in the sports and spine clinic and he confirmed the FAI diagnose. He told me my hip is pretty bad for my age and the outcome for surgery would be unknown. I was left with a choice do nothing and continue to take large amounts of Tramadol, anti inflam, valium every day or another operation.

I'm 7 days post FAI operation. Mr.McCarthy confirmed that the hip was far worse than originally anticipated and it would be unlikely I'll get back to my normal sporting life style. At this stage I can almost accept that. It will be bitter sweet.



Previously to this I was very active, outgoing person and since I've become sick I just go to work, take lots of drugs so I can get through work and then I come home and go straight to bed. Mentally I knew I was struggling, so I started seeing a therapist about 9 months ago and its helped to deal with this big change in my life. My relationship of 5 years broke down, I dont particular want to see anyone and because I've been in pain all the time, going over to someones house/cinema/dinner/anything has become a pretty big deal for me physically and mentally. Its very unlike me, I started to not want to leave the house about 6 months ago. The GP stuck me on some anti depressants as I started having anxiety issues, lots of crying....basic good ole depression.

I've been through some really tough times in my life and my sport has always been something that has gotten me through and now my normal coping strategy and dealing with stress is gone. My family arent the best to talk to. All my friends are married with young kids and I dont really want to bother people with how bad I feel about being sick. I feel most people are really sick of hearing about it anyways.
I woke up this morning and felt really hopeless and frustrated about my situation (not suicidal) .... My hip is so incredibility painful and if I want the pain to stop, I have to take a heap of Tramadol which makes me high. I dont like that feeling especially as it makes me not care about anything and makes me happy to just lay in bed.

In summary, I'm sick and in chronic pain
-I'm dependent on opiates
-I dont know if I'm going to get to a pain free place again
-I dont know if I'll ever get to do any sports
-I've become socially withdrawn
-I'm single and dealing with a break up
-I've lost nearly 2 stone in weight, I didnt have 2 stone to lose
-I live alone so I've been taking care of myself etc. My family go to the supermarket for me etc

I know I'm only 7 days post operation but I would do anything for 1 hour of peace from my pain without being high. I'm happy to do the time recovering but I may not recover and I've been in my bed since Dec 2013.. I feel upset about my current situation and I'd like to know how other people have dealt with chronic pain and how people deal mentally with being sick and lonely.

Thanks for reading this and apologies if it rambles.

Spook_ie

Your poor sod !! I dont have hip problems, just herniated discs (2 microdiskectomies), 1st knee replacement at 40 (now early 50's) & underwent revision knee replacements last year so the only thing I can somewhat empathise with you is on pain ! I've been up in Santry Sports Clinic & find it quite good, I've seen a knee & shoulder consultant up there . You're only 7 days post op, however, no one in this day & age should be in as much pain as you are in, so I think a Pain Management team might be worth looking into, SSC have their own team & I've heard people talk about Josh Keaveny/Kathir Tamilmani - I wonder would it be worth a mention to your surgeon when you go for your post op check up or if you're doing physio up there, I dont think you have anything to loose.....

optic8765

I thought the SSC was excellent and Mr.McCarthy was very good. Very honest and straight up guy and I appreciated his honesty.

I'm due to see my GP this week and I'll talk to him about Pain Management (he had said I may end up in long term pain management), I'm also going back to Mr.McCarthy in 2 weeks so we'll see what he says, he had said that if this surgery fails then I might have a hip replacement, but I'm a 36 year old woman and he feels I'm too young.... I know all the drugs I'm taking are really not helping me. They did offer me Oxycontin but I've read horror stories about that drug so no thanks...The other thing I dont really get is my family are pushing and pushing me to stop taking painkillers, everyone in my family thinks I've turned into a junkie. They dont get it and how much it hurts. My mother just thinks I should just be getting on with it. My GP gave me the best advice, for the time being not to worry about taking medication and just work on getting better and being stress free.... And then my family arrives and want to know why I'm taking anything at all.

I'm doing physio with the SSC as well...I would never go back to that other physio. They could see I was getting worse and worse, yet I was worth 120 euro a week so why would they bother referring me to the hospital. When my GP saw me, he flipped out and said the physio should have sent me to the hospital months ago. But thats in the past, all I want is a way out of this and back to some kind of normal life.

cassid

If you are on facebook go to arthritis under 50, great support. We all suffer pain every day. Sometimes it is hard to tell where the pain is coming from the back or the hip, I was under a neurosurgeon and orth surgeon in sports clinic and they worked together to assess.
Swimming is an exercise you will need to take up. I had my first back surgery at 19 and could only swim a width at a time, can do 120 lengths without stopping. It improves your body, gives you the only time you won;t be in pain and it is good mentally. Pop over to that board or send me a pm. x

cassid

36 is not too young, am in my 30's and had one, 10 days ago. I could not walk without crutches, pull up my own knickers or put on shoes/socks. You recover quickly when young. Sports clinic is great

Family don't understand chronic pain, they just trying to protect you.

optic8765

And hows your pain since you got a your hip replacement?

I find it really scary that I have an raised toilet seat, a little grabber thing, crutches...its all very upsetting.

I know my family want the best for me, but they are relentless with the drug thing, I just have no one else to talk to about all of this, so its them, my therapist and thats it. I dont talk to my parents anymore about how I feel as its not worth it, I found its best to just tell them the pain is ok and I'm doing ok, but I'm not

Spook_ie

optic8765 wrote: »

I thought the SSC was excellent and Mr.McCarthy was very good. Very honest and straight up guy and I appreciated his honesty.

I'm due to see my GP this week and I'll talk to him about Pain Management (he had said I may end up in long term pain management), I'm also going back to Mr.McCarthy in 2 weeks so we'll see what he says, he had said that if this surgery fails then I might have a hip replacement, but I'm a 36 year old woman and he feels I'm too young.... I know all the drugs I'm taking are really not helping me. They did offer me Oxycontin but I've read horror stories about that drug so no thanks...The other thing I dont really get is my family are pushing and pushing me to stop taking painkillers, everyone in my family thinks I've turned into a junkie. They dont get it and how much it hurts. My mother just thinks I should just be getting on with it. My GP gave me the best advice, for the time being not to worry about taking medication and just work on getting better and being stress free.... And then my family arrives and want to know why I'm taking anything at all.

I'm doing physio with the SSC as well...I would never go back to that other physio. They could see I was getting worse and worse, yet I was worth 120 euro a week so why would they bother referring me to the hospital. When my GP saw me, he flipped out and said the physio should have sent me to the hospital months ago. But thats in the past, all I want is a way out of this and back to some kind of normal life.

I'm still doing physio with the Inpatient/outpatient team with the SSC & they report back to my consultants & generally find them good (the odd time I feel that they get fed up if you dont make progress quickly enough for their liking). I think your GP is right re taking medication, one of my consultants said to me that as long I was taking pain killers for pain then he had no concerns, he said its the patient who takes pain killers in case they might get pain are the ones he worries about. The odd day I take Tramadol but thats all, your pain sounds terrible so my heart goes out to you. As I said, I had a knee replacement at 40, so if Tom McCarthy feels a hip replacement is the way to go, so be it. The way I looked at it was that I'd rather be out of pain NOW and deal with the long term consequences down the road. I am lucky in that my family understand how much pain I was in & were supportive.

Try & hang in there for the next 2 weeks until you see Tom McCarthy & discuss the pain management team with him & let us know how you're doing.

optic8765

The way I feel about a hip replacement is that if its going to get me back to a pain free life then I'd go for it. Mr.McCarthy would like me to keep my own hips for as long as possible but if the choice is hip replacement or long term pain management, I'd rather get that surgery done now when I'm young...although hips need replacing every 15 years so I understand why he's reluctant to go down that path just yet.

I've never taken my pain killers just in case, I know my families constant pressure about taking drugs just makes life a bit more difficult.

skallywag

Your post really resonates with me OP!

I also have FAI and can really associate with your story, as my doctors were also convinced it was my back until I pretty much demanded a contrast dye MRI on my hip, as the research which I had done myself pointed me towards this. I'm also relatively young (40) and do quite a bit of sport, this is actually the usual proflie for those with FAI.

Anyway, I had surgery last August (mini-open as opposed to keyhole) and am recovering since. I also went through a difficult time post op when the pain was telling me that the op had not been a success and that I was going to have to put up with this pain forever. Things improved though, slowly, and I am now in pain far less often than before, and when the pain does come back it is not near as intense as before. I'm even back running and cycling again.

I know only too well that getting your head around all of this is very difficult, especially when you go through other testing times in parallel. In my case I was going through the process of being made redundant after the best part of 20 years of employment with the same company, and was actually officially fired about 2 weeks post op!

Re the Tramadol, you mention that you are only 7 days post OP, no surprises that you are going to be in pain at this stage. I would advise you to keep taking it for now. There is also another effective painkiller called Narproxen, perhaps you could ask your doc about that, it's non opiate. All in all you should start noticing little changes soon, from being a lot nimbler on your crutches, etc. I personally thought that I would never run again if you had asked me last September, but I am proof that it can be done.

By the way, one thing for perhaps later down the road (your hip needs to be pretty well healed before you can do this so maybe 4-6 months from now) could be a cortisone injection. I found it fantastic pre-op, and I got ca 5 months without pain afterwards.

All in all OP keep the head up as well as you can, and feel free to ask me anything at all be in either on open forum or PM.