MRI not in yet but...vindication!!

[LewisLegion]

Doc just called me. She had a specialist go over the x-rays I had taken of my hip and lower back a couple weeks ago. Yeah, chew on this, you FOUR DIFFERENT DOCTORS who told me I was fine!

I have congenital hip dysplasia due to a birth defect malformation of my femoral head in my right hip. It causes ligament and tendon tearing, stress fractures, and due to the deformity the joint is wearing down further. It causes my pelvis to tilt and put undue pressure on my lower back and sacroilliac joint, which may likely have caused (still have to wait for the MRI and other tests to know for certain) sacroilliac joint disfunction.

But noooo...I'm just fine, remember? I just need to excercise a bit more and take an aspirin.

Butt-chapeus.

I love my new doctor

[teh_blumchenkinder]

I... this...
something similar happend to my father-- he hurt his back, and the recommended (doctor-admistered) therapy actually made things even worse. And he can't even sue, we've checked.
I'm glad you sorted this.

[Seshat]

MUAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!


YEAH!!!

[Der Cute]

*fist pump*
Yay! Kind of. My ex had a congenital hip disease...the socket didn't exist. One side, it was..sealed. The head of the bones were fine. So the doctors did something radical : drilled/cut a hole in the hip bone and put the joint in it. (1966, mind you).
So far he's doing ok, hip pain flares up occasionally and his legs are not the same length. BUT IT WORKS.
So- I will think happy thoughts for you and Doc to get together and do the best to fix this!!!

Booyah!

[LewisLegion]

I'm so happy and so pissed at the same time. When I was born, my hip was out of socket. The docs put it back in and my parents had to double-diaper me for a while (this was apparently before that M sling thing was put into regular use).

My LAST doctor, I even told her this. She took xrays. She proceeded to tell me it was fine, that I just needed more excercise. Ooh, I so want to wave this under her nose.

Growing up my sister used to tell me I walked like a duck; one sign of this is a 'waddling' gait. I've pointed out several times to doctors that my feet point outward, especially my right foot; yet another classic sign, but noooo. I've dislocated my hip several times which is not easy to do in a normal hip joint...but it's just a 'quirk' that I don't need to worry about.

Now I'm in my mid-thirties, in chronic pain, the joint is worn down, my back is screwed up, I walk with a cane, my hip and pelvis are probably lousy with osteoarthritis and at my age I may be facing a total hip replacement. I want to beat them with their medical degrees.

Yet at the same time, I'm so relieved to know I am, in fact, NOT crazy.

EDIT: Just as I hit post, my doctor called me with the results of the MRI. According to their findings, the spaces between my lower vertebrae are slightly compressed, and I have two mildly bulging discs. She's fairly confident that these can be resolved with phsyical therapy. However I am to go in and do another MRI strictly of my hip with a contrast study, to get a better idea of the damage in the joint/ prescence of any osteoarthritis or current muscle tears, etc. Then we'll decide how to proceed from there.

[Solumina]

I'm so glad that you have a doctor who really seems to care about you and your quality of life, best of luck with the physical therapy!

[Sandman]

May I suggest contacting a lawyer? You lived in pain for all these years and those dr's missed something BIG.

[Seshat]

Yet at the same time, I'm so relieved to know I am, in fact, NOT crazy.

I know EXACTLY that feeling, LL.

It looks like this is something that can be significantly relieved. Probably not cured, not at this late stage. ( for your sake.) But significant relief is

[Food Lady]

I'm glad for you. I am with you on the "I'm not crazy" thing.

[LewisLegion]

Relieved is DEFINATELY good

So there are apparently three options on the table that rely on the contrast MRI results.

Option one, HIGHLY UNLIKELY: I simply do physical therapy. Unlikely because a) the actual ball portion of the joint is deformed, not usually something that can be fixed with physical therapy and b) due to my age and how long this has been left unattended, physical therapy won't really do squat. Might have worked when I was say...seven or so.

Option two, more likely: A less traumatic surgery where they go in and cut out the socket portion of the hip joint, deepen it or move it to a position where the ball cannot move out/cause friction, and pin the hip back together. This is a stop gap measure that will likely result in a full hip replacement a decade or so down the road. This is reliant on several things: a) that there is no major osteoarthritis in the joint, b) the joint itself is strong enough and c) the socket itself is not deformed like the femoral head.

Option three, most likely: I have a full hip replacement done. This is if the joint is too damaged, too deformed, or too ravaged by osteoarthritis. If I have this done it's a significant surgery with an extended recovery period, and I will have to get the surgery repeated every 10-15 years. Considering I'm in my mid-thirties, that's AT LEAST two more hip replacements in my life time, and that's if I end up kicking it young.

As for the lawyer, I've been considering it. Honestly, if I thought it would do any good, I'd go after the stupid military doctor who treated me when I was an infant and DIDN'T take follow up x-rays to verify the hip was actually formed correctly/had healed correctly way back then. If he had, this could all have been so easily fixed when I was still a baby. Instead it basically went 'her hip clicks, double her diapers' **couple months later, follow up exam** 'her hip doesn't click any more, she's fine'.

And I actually have the medical records to prove it. Thank God Mom's a pack-rat.

[ralerin]

Hmm. I have lower back pain, my right hip clicks, my feet point outward...

[Seshat]

Considering I'm in my mid-thirties, that's AT LEAST two more hip replacements in my life time, and that's if I end up kicking it young.

And each hip replacement will make the next one a more severe surgery.

I'm happy for you that there IS a solution! I'm unhappy for you that the solution is one of the less desirable sorts of surgery.

And I'm really annoyed for you because if it had been caught when you were an infant, the osteoarthritis could probably have been prevented by a simpler surgery back then, and consistent physiotherapy.

Gaaah.

[Akasa]

I'm glad you finally got a doctor to listen to you and got a diagnosis. I'm sorry that this probably means surgeries for you.

[teh_blumchenkinder]

Why do hip replacements have to happen every so often? Does the stuff wear out?
... at least you get to be a cyborg. /pouts
(please note: I'm definitely not laughing at your pain-- I'm laughing at myself!)

[AccountingDrone]

Why do hip replacements have to happen every so often? Does the stuff wear out?
... at least you get to be a cyborg. /pouts
(please note: I'm definitely not laughing at your pain-- I'm laughing at myself!)

Sort of =) Depending on the type of mechanicals that get put in and exactly what has to be done ... it can range from metal on metal issues all the way to the bone around the implant starts crumbling. They have improved implant tech over the years, and are always coming up with little tweaks all the time.

Hope you are a good candidate, if that is the route that is best. I have FAI [bone spurs, more or less] in the sockets, and apparently the imaging shows that just going in and scraping them out is not an option, and I am a shitty candidate for replacement [can't sit tailor style, that is one of the few ways I am comfortable, chairs are purgatorial for me] so I get to suck it up and use pain killers.