# Ok, so who has had hips done or is waiting for it.



## Wilberforce (Jan 25, 2017)

I would like to hear from someone who is waiting for hip replacement and to what extent they are struggling.

_I  would also like to connect to someone who has the hip done and find out how they got on, healed, got about, length of time  and downsides if any

Thank you Jeannine_


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## Warrigal (Jan 26, 2017)

I had my left hip fully replaced in August 2015. I was very incapacitated with pain prior to surgery but that has all gone now.
My surgery was performed from the front which is the minimally invasive technique because there is less muscle to be cut there.

After hospitalisation I received 2 weeks of inpatient physiotherapy - hydro and gym - and finally another twice weekly physio as an outpatient for another 4 weeks. 

I wouldn't hesitate to have the other hip done if that one becomes painful and I have had a knee replacement late last year which has also been very beneficial. Hip operations are more straightforward than knees but both of my operations have had very smooth recoveries and now my legs are strong and pain free.


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## Wilberforce (Jan 26, 2017)

Warrigal could you explain the pain you had before it was done and exactly where it was.

So do I have it right, you were in the hospital 2 weeks only..did you walk out?


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## Warrigal (Jan 26, 2017)

The pain from the hip was a shooting pain down my thigh when I tried to rise from a sitting position. I was also unable to stand for longer than about 10 minutes but that pain was a duller one. I spent a lot of time in my recliner chair and withdrew from all but the most essential activities.

I was in the hospital where I was operated on for 5 nights and I was briefly on my feet the day after the op. I was independent wrt toilet and shower as soon as the catheter was removed. I walked out of that hospital into a car and was taken to the rehab hospital where I walked with the aid of my wheelie walker for a few days, then a stick and by the time I left after 2 weeks I needed no aid at all but I continued to use the stick to steady me on rough ground. I need no aid now and can walk up and down stairs placing my weight evenly on both legs. Naturally I always hold onto the railing because a fall is not recommended.

I was driving again by six weeks after both operations. Before that time you could have insurance problems in the event of an accident.


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## Wilberforce (Jan 26, 2017)

Did you get a pain in your groin..did the shooting pain feel like an electric shock and did the pain go down the outside of you thigh to the knee


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## Warrigal (Jan 26, 2017)

It started out as pain in the hip area. My GP thought it might be bursitis and prescribed an anti-inflammatory. 

 That didn't work. 

 Later the pain down the leg manifested and it was a shooting pain from the hip to the knee at the front (thigh area) It was clearly running down a nerve but originating in the hip. It caused facial grimaces and made me hold my breath but if before I stood fully upright I kept my weight on the other leg for a while it subsided and I could eventually straighten up and put weight on that leg.

 When the doctor rotated my leg on the examination table it was obvious that the pain was caused by the hip. X rays confirmed the worn state of the joint.


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## Marie5656 (Jan 26, 2017)

*Jeannie, I had a total right hip replacement back in 2008.  I was having serious pain at the time, and went for it.  I had lost all cartilidge  in the hip. I went to a rehab center for about 7 days after, then had a PT person come to my house once a week for a couple weeks.  The change in pain level was amazing.  Best advice I have is if rehab is offered, take it.  Your insurance will cover.  Plus do as much as you  can on your own.  *


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## Butterfly (Jan 26, 2017)

Jeannine, I had both hips replaced in 2013, a month apart.  Before the surgeries, the pain was crippling -- not the kind you can grit your teeth and get through.  I spent several years in pain, because I had to be eligible for Medicare before I could afford to have it done.  So, I went from a limp (one hip started to go before the other one) to a cane, to two canes, to a wheelchair over the course.   I continued to work, and it was awful, the right hip collapsed and the socket was damaged.  From what I've heard from doctors and others, the pain can pretty much strike anywhere on your lower body.  Mine was mostly confined to hips and thighs and lower back.

Like Warri, I pretty much withdrew from everything except that which I couldn't avoid.

Getting my new hips was literally a new lease on life.  I can walk again!!! I was in the hospital two days for the first hip and 3 days for the second one (that was the one with the damaged socket and was a bit more complex to fix).  One bonus was that the surgeon lengthened one of my legs by adjusting the implant, so I am now free from having to wear big lifts in my shoes, which I'd had to do all my life.  Now I can wear normal shoes with no problems.  

My surgeon believes you should go home as soon as possible -- he says the longer you stay in the hospital or a rehab place the more likely you are to pick up an infection which can threaten the implant.  He, and most of the surgeons around here, sends you straight home, and a PT person comes to your house to do a bit of PT with you.  I live alone and was able to manage just fine by myself.  The surgery instantly (yes, instantly) relieved about 90% of my pain.  I actually cried with joy when they got me out of bed in the hospital.  The recovery was uneventful, easy -- you just have to do little exercises, mostly geared toward avoiding blood clots, and NOT overdo.  I  had one glitch in that I had been unable to walk for so long that some muscles had lost tone, but that was quickly regained, and I had to learn to walk again without a cane (which I found surprisingly harder than I thought it would be -- it's getting the rhythm back, mostly).

I was back on my feet in about 2 months, overall.  No marathons, but able to walk.  I continued to carry a cane in the car, just in case, for another month or two.

If you are considering this, don't delay, and don't be afraid of it -- it really isn't anywhere near as bad as you think it will be.  I was terrified about the first surgery and felt like I was going to the guillotine , but when when I got the second one a month later, I wasn't even worried at all.

It literally gave me my life back.  I can do anything I want now, except my surgeon says no bungee jumping and no jumping out of airplanes.  Also no long distance running on pavement.


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## Ruth n Jersey (Jan 26, 2017)

Mu hubby had his left hip done about 10 years ago. He had trouble walking because of the pain and also getting out of a chair. The X rays showed the socket of the hip to be oval instead of round because of all the wear and tear. The surgery went well. I think he took the pain meds once on the first day which he said he really didn't need but they wanted to keep ahead of the pain should he have it. The next day he was up and walking. He came hone after,I think, two or three days. Had PT at home for a couple of weeks and he was fine. He never regretted it.


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## Wilberforce (Jan 26, 2017)

I am not afraid to have this done.

I have a spine problem which is making the cartilage in my spine calcify and become rigid. The pain in my hip started about a year or so ago but my doctor said he didn't think it was the hip joint because the pain is in the wrong place. Apparently I would get pain in my groin which I didn't. The pain is in the hip then goes down my leg to my knee at the outside. This is very typical of a inflamed cartilage that is getting immobile. The thing is the pain is getting more and more all the time. It was always a tough pain but was not tough all the time and rest would ease it a bit, now that has gone.It is painful in the night and some days I can barely weight bear. The trouble is I am like that for a lot of my spine anyway so I think it has got lumped together by the Doc.

Something is telling me this is different.

They tell me I also have fibromyalgia which I don't accept. my pain is not symmetrical and I have no depression, both are typical of fibromyalgia.

As I have said before, I am not much of a Dr botherer but I think I need to have him take a closer look at this hip now. They frequently x ray parts of my spine but not the hips specifically.

Thank you for the help, I need to go and see my Dr about this but wanted to be prepared. If in fact it is the hip and they suggest correcting it, there is a strong chance I might say no. I am not afraid of pain or surgery but I am afraid to be off my legs for anytime as being immobile could make me lose some flexibility in my spine which I cannot afford to lose. I guess it is a trade off so I need to be fully ware on what it what.

I incur the wrath of Jonathan, ( my doctor) all the time because I will not take the meds he wants me to take for pain. He is aiming as he says for quality of life, but I find if I take the meds he wants me to take I get too drowsy if I take enough to help the pain. I would rather be in pain than be drowsy.

Thank you again, I will repost when I have seen him..


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## Butterfly (Jan 26, 2017)

Jeannine, my hips were positively shot, and I never had pain in my groin, even after the one collapsed.


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## Wilberforce (Jan 27, 2017)

Thank you, now I feel I can go to the Dr and say the groin thing is not always there


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## Butterfly (Jan 27, 2017)

The x-rays will tell the story, not where the pain goes.  My ortho guy said it can take all kinds of forms and go all kinds of places, depending on where the most damage is.  Even though my right hip was basically mush, no groin pain at all.

Ask for an ortho referral if you're not comfortable with what your primary care is telling you, or for a referral to a different ortho.


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## Wilberforce (Jan 27, 2017)

I get on very well with Jonathan my Dr so he will give me the tests I ask for. I think it is hard to get a good idea of a new problem when I have so much pain anyway. Also I am bad because most times I will not be referred to a specialist, but I am going to ask to see a rheumatologist . I am supposed to go for some Gynecology surgery  too but I have been tardy on going for 2 years., plus a camera down my throat which I have refused. It was the same surgery that put me off my legs for two years after there was problem caused during the surgery, then when they tried to fix it they damaged another area so I am reluctant to go now. the original problem has returned after 7 years, they did warn me it might and I don't want to risk it making me worse again. The last one was in the UK though. It is getting much worse so I will have to go eventually.


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## Butterfly (Jan 28, 2017)

Well, you'll have to see an ortho surgeon for your hip replacements.  A whole buncha tests are not needed to see if hips are shot and need replacing.  An X-ray tells the story -- that's all I had, except of course the presurgical stuff like blood work, chest x-ray, etc. Oh, yeah, and a bone density scan to be sure my bones were strong enough to hold the implants.


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## Wilberforce (Jan 28, 2017)

I need the rheumatologist for the other reasons and I am hoping he says the hip is different too.   Jonathan has been trying to get me to one for sometime now. I will aslo go for the hip X rays to see what is what.


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