Wanting to pick your brains guys :-)

To cut a long story short I suffer from arthritis in my hip due to a horse riding accident years ago when I fractured my femur.  I have Avascular Necrosis (sp ?) and will eventually require a hip replacement.  I try to keep very fit and I'm not overweight.  Lately I have been suffering a lot of pain, so much so, that my consultant asked me if I wanted to go on the waiting list for a hip replacement !  I'm only 30 !!!  My obvious answer was "certainly not" :D  I don't want it yet, I feel I'm too young and haven't even started a family yet. 

Last year I had hardly no pain at all and I believe this was because I was taking Glucosamine Sulphate, Swimming regularly, seeing an osteopath regularly and doing my boring hip exercises at home.  Due to laziness and lack of time I stopped doing most of these things although have still kept fit by going to the gym but not done much swimming.

As you can imagine I have suddenly launched myself back into this regime :D  My question is, does anyone here know of someone who has undergone a hip replacement ?  I'm trying to find out more about it.  I have looked it all up on Google but they only give me the medical facts and I'm wanting to hear from folk with a personal experience.

I appreciate you are all busy people but will be grateful for any time you have to share your thoughts :-)

Have you been hip scored yet? :D

I know a couple of (elderly) folk who have had hip replacements. One had 2 - he was an avid walker and he wore the first one out. The second one is my grandad and he had his replaced because they told him the pain in his back was down to his hip. He went private, it cost a fortune, it didn;t solve the pain (which has turned out to be severe arthritis in the spine). I seem to remember he recovered quickly (he's 89 and has always been active) but it did pop out once   :D

LOL @ ChloeH.  Your a bleeding nutter :D

Thanks for your quick reply.  I like the idea of the avid walker, sounds like I can still be pretty mobile then when the time comes.  As for your grandad, hmmmm brings a whole new meaning to the world of Body Popping

my husband has spondylosis in his spine and suffers awful pain in his hips. the gp says its referred pain from his back. after an accident he was told a few years ago that hw would eventually need a new knee joint. altho his knee frequently collapses under him he has been told they can do nothing for him yet as he is too young! (49). aparently you only get one go at knee joints and if it fails he could lose his leg from above the knee !.

I have arthritis in both hips and in my spine: people keep advising me to have my hips done, all saying it's very good.  However, none of them have had hip replacement themselves!  Also, the three people I know who have had it done have had either to have it re-done, or have had no relief from it.  I know that this is a very small sample on which to base an opinion, but it's 100% so far!

I am registered at a two-doctor practice, the partners are husband and wife, but one says "go for it" and the other says "keep the real one for as long as you can"!  It's also the first time in a long time that I've been told I'm too young for something!

AND - I doubt that it would do anything for my spine, because I don't think they can replace that wholesale! :D

In the meantime, I think I'll just go on putting up with it - until it siezes up altogether :(

Snorri
Twilight Zone
:D

Hi Snorri - thats what they told my grandad - it made no difference. The op was £7K aswell and he ended up in pain from that and the arthritis in his spine :(

My Father had a hip replacement about 15 years ago. He put up with the pain for several years beforehand but doctors usually refuse to operate on farmers until they retire anyway. When he woke up after the op he said that if he didn't have a row of stitches he wouldn't have known which leg had been the problem. The pain was gone. He has had no problems since. I know a keen hillwalker who is now on his 3rd replacement hip (over about 25 years) and he still climbs hills.
The lifespan of hip replacements is getting longer but the problem of having one in your 30 s is that you will probably need it redone in the future. I have heard of one person with an infection problem and one that dislocated the replacement. Both were soon after the original op and went on to make a good recovery. I know many more people that have had no complications. My brother has been told he needs one soon but he too plans to put it off for as long as he can bear.
Aileen

My friend had Perthes disease as a youngster, then went on to develop Rhuemotoid arthitis, she had her first hip replacement at 32, both hips done by 36.

It was then a very specialised operation as they didn't put the usual replacement hip in, they used what was then a new American style hip which they 'slotted' into her femur. They cut out the shape of the ball pin, looked a bit like an upside down Xmas tree shape with the ball on top, from her femur then put cadava bone marrow in to encourage new bone growth to cement the new joint in, normal practice for any type of hip replacements.  The reason they gave her this type of hip was her age and very young children, she had 2 under the age of 3 at the time and a 17 yr old, recovery was very long no walking on the leg for 8 wks to allow the bone to fuse around the ball part of the replacement, theory being that this type of joint would remain stable for longer than the regular one ergo she hopefully wouldn't need a new one for 15 - 20 yrs rather than 8 - 10 with a regular one with the amount of mobility she was used to.  Touch wood that was over 15 yrs ago and she's still doing well with the joint hopefully going to surpass the 20 yr maximum prediction they gave her back then.

She would probably recommend you have any children you want before opting for a replacement to give you a longer life span on the new hip. She hadn't planned any more children but when they changed her drugs she fell pregnant with her 2nd son, then a few mths after he was born she was more than a little shocked to find out she was pregnant again this time with her daughter.  Her biggest problem with the kids was them running off with her sticks, you wouldn't believe how often I'd not even get home, after minding them whilst her husband was at work, before they'd hidden the things, wouldn't have minded but I only lived 6 doors away at the time lol.

How about hydrotheorpy with your dogs :D :D :D

This is a big help, thank you everyone.

Schip - does your friend have to use walking sticks all the time ?  or was this just whilst she was recovering from surgery ?  I was interested to hear she could go through pregnancy even though she had her hip replaced.  Was everything okay then ? :-)

Hi Schip, my son has Perthes and the Consultant has said he may need a hip replacement when older.  Can I ask whether your friend had an operation on her hip when younger (when she had the Perthes) and also, how bad her hip joint/socket was at the time.  I have been told my sons is making quite a good recovery at the moment.  Thanks

Fiona

I'm sorry about your son Fiona such a frustrating and horrible disease for them to cope with early in life, unfortunatley my friend wasn't diagnosis until well into her teens as back then, early 70's they believed it was a disease that affected only boys not girls.  They told her parents she was an attention seeker just suffering growing pains, boy were they red faced when it showed up on X-Rays with some pretty nasty area's of permanent damage.  Things are a lot better now, her youngest son also has Perthes and has done a lot better than his mother with treatment and early diagnosis, he hated the time in plaster mind, can't blame him for that but it has hopefully prevented problems later in life.

As she grew they took bones out of her toes to help her walk better to compensate for one leg ending up shorter than the other due to more damage, at one point they wanted to remove both big toes and got short shrift from her and her parents.  When they did the hip replacement it made the shorter leg longer - not sure how mind but that then created problems with her spine as it had by then curved due to the loss of length.

Claire she had the last of her children BEFORE they did the replacement, she was also only on sticks with no load bearing at all for 8 wks as they wanted the bone to grow around the new femur piece it literally did just slot into the bone from the side rather than being hammered in via the top like normal, then another 6 wks physio and learning to walk with her new stature.  She still has a limp but that's more to do with her posture and of course her feet when they took the bones from her toes.

Hi Schip, thanks for your reply.  What an awful experience your friend had!  Thank God things have progressed - it has not been nearly so bad for my son (and hopefully never will be.)  Thanks again

Fiona

Claire,

My other half had a hip replacement last July {aged 52} & it's been a complete success. He wrecked his hip in a motorbike accident when he was 19, spending over 3 months in hospital then & knew that a hip replacement would be on the cards sooner than the average person has one. He had the full works, metal pin into the femur, had it done on a Wednesday & was out the following Monday. He was the biggest sceptic going too!!!!

My mum's had both hips replaced, my aunt's just had her first (which is terrifying my sisters because its pretty obvious from that history that its going to be coming our way in the future! :-) )

My mum couldn't wait to have her first hip replaced, the arthritis was so bad at that stage (NHS waiting lists) that she could hardly walk.  Like others have said, the effects were immediate and a great improvement.  However, the other leg then began to decline very rapidly and I think it was about a year later she was put on the waiting list for that one to be done - again she was on the list so long that by the time she was finally admitted the pain was excruciating and she couldn't wait to get in there.

Again, immediate relief after the operation.  They key (if you choose to have it done) is to be determined to make a good recovery, do all the exercises etc.  The Nurse came to see my mum a week or so after she'd been discharged for No 2 op and said she was very pleased with her progress and that she could start walking down to the lampost that she could see from her window, once a day.  My mum nodded and smiled.  Decided it best not to tell her she'd been round Tesco's with my aunt just the day before!  I remember with No 1 op, I took a week off work to be with her after she came out of hospital and run around after her, as it was I spent a lovely week doing cross-stitch and watching telly with my feet up, with her bringing me tea and food all day, because she just wanted to keep busy and keep exercising!

My mum does have a kind of limp now - not really noticeable to other people but I notice it - that's just something that doesn't bother her - if she hadn't had the replacements she wouldn't be able to walk at all and would be housebound by now and in constant pain.  As it is, she's out all the time - I never ring her anymore because she's always out somewhere gallavanting and I know she has absolutely no regrets whatsoever.  Its a pretty foregone conclusion that she will have to have them done again, I think they say they only last for about 7 years, but that's something she's prepared to do, for the ability to walk easily, the only thing that ever bothered her about the whole thing was the fact she contracted MRSA during her second time in hospital.:-o

I'm holding my breathe :) Had badly broken femur after being hit by a car when I was 13, spending 4 months in hospital :( Fortunately, I have no sign of arthritis yet - touchwood. despite being told by my GP to expect it and being overweight :(  :( I count myself very lucky !!

Daisy

I know several people who have had hip replacements,having been in the caring profession for several years,only one had problems but she also had several other ailments which contributed to her problems,in the main she had an allergic reaction to the materials used in the joint replacement.

Most of those I knew were of retirement age not so young as yourself.
I think you need to seek more professional opinions as to the outcome,considering you may want to have children etc. and you have to take into consideration the possible effect it is having on your spine and other joints,as bad posture can cause numerous difficulties! You are bound to favour one leg more than the other when the pain is bad.

When my Dad broke his hip in a car accident at about 49yrs he had it pinned and suffered terrible pain,but when he went for corrective treatment the first thing they did was to place him in front of a mirror and point out to him how he stood and walked.Then they corrected his posture and within a couple of sessions he was walking better,standing correctly and no longer in pain,all without intrusive surgery.

I suffer with arthritis in my knee joints but 'touch wood' the hips are holding out so far! I believe knees are far more difficult to replace and recovery from them is far worse and less successful than hips,so I wish you well!!
:)

Please be assured that after a successful hip replacement, someone of your age and fitness would be walking on 2 sticks before leaving hospital, and with no sticks after about a month. Naturally you are concerned about the length of time a new hip will last, but it is also important to understand that allowing the hip to become too bad may make surgery technically more difficult, and you may lose muscle strength before the op, affecting recovery. When all is said and done you should be asking these questions of your surgeon, and also the physiotherapist who works for the consultant. Its all very well asking advice from people who have had a hip replacement, , and they will be able to tell you a bit, ....but most of them only have their own experience. They havent seen YOUR Xrays, they havent examined YOU, they havent got the benefit of seeing hundreds of ops and patients, or the knowledge of the percentage success rates, types of prosthesis etc. By all means listen to the tales of others, but do not be tempted to decide for or against on the basis of others whose circumstances are not the same.
Cathy

Thank you all very much for your replies, you are very kind and I do appreciate them :-)

I know not to base a decision as big as this on just what everyone says, of course I will be speaking with my consultant etc.  I am due to see an osteopath on Monday who I saw on a regular basis about 18mths ago and she was extremely good.  I've also been to the hospital and got the x-rays that were taken about a year ago, I thought it would be a good idea to show these to my osteopath.

I guess I just wanted people's personal opinions and experience to give me more to go on, and of course your replies have given me more questions to ask my consultant which can only be a good thing :-)  I suppose I was also surprised that my consultant even offered me a hip replacement at my young age, since my accident 16 years ago I was always told that they wouldn't do the op until I was at least in my 50's so it came as a bit of a shock :-(

Edited:  forgot to say, my experience with physiotherapists has never been good, perhaps I'm unlucky ?!  The last one I saw was supposed to be a senior physiotherapist and I ended up telling her all about my hip problem and what I was faced with, she didn't seem to have a clue :-(  So now I am very wary of physiotherapists too !  Oh, and I'm not the sort of person who is easily convinced about anything, I'm very suspicious :D so I guess thats why I'm wanting to ask loads of people about this and not wanting to stick to just one person.

Well I am a senior physiotherapist, but ill go back in my hole cos im obviously trash.

>>Well I am a senior physiotherapist, but ill go back in my hole cos im obviously trash 

Cathy and your point is ?

I only mentioned my experience with physiotherapists because you mentioned they would be working alongside the consultant.  I'm not having a dig at you !  For goodness sake, I didn't even know you were a physiotherapist !!  So please, come back out of your hole and share your knowledge with me :-)  I didn't say all physiotherapists were rubbish, just the ones that I have been treated by.  I'm sure you know of people in your profession who aren't as good as others !

Hi Claire. I am sure you will have a lot of time to make up your mind - I truly hope so - but I have known people who have had HP and they have been brilliant and both of them had to have both hips done. One a lady in her 50's had to have a knee done too and it worked out fantastically for her. My dad (65 at the time 2 years ago) however was very unlucky (4 ops in 5 weeks as they sodded it up the first time and even when he was in traction his hip still came out - I wouldnt have thought that possible unless I had first hand knowledge of it) and they forgot to give him any physiotherapy - he didnt realise he needed it and when he realised something wasnt quite right and GP sent him back to the hospital they said sorry too late for us to do anything. So seems it depends on the hospital etc. Just like physiotherapists and I have had some brilliant ones but also a couple not so great. The NHS ones were the best which is lucky for me because in this job I dont have BUPA any more.

I would have a good think, get yourself into gear again and find out as much as you can about the hospital/consultants/physios before you have any operation in the future. I am sure it will work out fine for you.

Gina x

That was my initial response, as I felt angry at your generalisation, its rather like saying dont trust any doctors because of Harold Shipman. I tried to edit that message but it wouldnt let me. However your generalisation about physitherapists is irrational. You may not be aware that ANYONE can call themselves an osteopath, without any qualification, and it is not illegal? I am not saying that your osteopath is one of those, and may well have some training, but no osteopaths may work in hospitals as their training courses are not nationally regulated, like physiotherapy. therefore it is a physio that you will see in hospital following your surgery, and that is the person to speak to, the expert. I would advise that you do not get a second opinion on your x ray from an osteopath, (or a physio.) You have absolutely no way of knowing if they have had any training to read them, as it is not something that is necessarily part of their training.  Although they may have some experience, giving an opinion on an x ray is outside their scope of practise...if you want a second opinion, got to someone who is legally qualified and to interpret x rays, i.e. another consultant.

Thank you Gina, Cathy and Ship for your replies.  Apologies for the delay in responding but I have been offline and just back today :-)

I don't feel I was generalising about physiotherapists at all, I stated that MY experiences' with physiotherapists was not good and perhaps I had been unlucky !  I didn't say ALL physiotherapists were useless ;-)  Gawd I hope they aren't cos its sounds like I'm going to need one at some point :D

My osteopath is qualified, I know she has an Hons degree and numerous other letters after her name but I can't remember what they all are now.  I initially went to see her a couple of years ago due to back pain as I had fallen down some stairs a few years ago and thought it was that, however she immediately diagnosed my pelvis was out of alignment and my x-ray last year proved she was correct.  I'm only taking my x-ray with me so that she can see just what damage has been done to my hip.  I will be asking her advice with regards to hip replacements but I certainly won't be basing any decision on what she alone has to say.  The only reason I am going back to my osteopath is because when I was seeing her every couple of months I had very little pain in my leg.  I think this was down to the fact that she spent a lot of time working on the muscles surrounding my hip as she felt that they were going into spasms and were the cause of a lot of my pain.

Why is it that NHS staff do not like osteopaths and chiropracters ?  From my experience, GP's, consultants, physio's always seem to have negative things to say about osteopaths and chiropracters and I've never really understood why.  I appreciate you will get the rogues and I'm not a fan of chiropracters but I have to say that my experience with osteopaths has been second to none :-)  But Cathy you are right, in that my decision on whether to have a hip replacement now or later will be made once I have spoken to my consultant again in great depth.  I think I was so shocked at him suggesting I have one done now (well waiting lists permitted I guess) that I just forgot to ask him loads more questions.  He also didn't have my x-ray to hand because my notes weren't updated to say I had had one done !!!  Therefore they were kept in a hospital some few miles away :-(

Cathy what is your experience with people who have had hip replacements ?  I know you can't possibly comment on my individual case but one thing that is worrying me is, if I have the hip replacement before having a family can I still carry children/go through pregnancy and labour with a hip replacement ?  I understand if you feel you can't answer my question as you really know nothing about me :-)  FYI I asked my last physiotherapist this question and she said she wouldn't have a clue how pregnancy can affect my pelvis & hip !!  I did briefly mention it to my consultant and he seemed to think there wouldn't be a problem being pregnant with the way my hip is now (although he hadn't seen my x-rays) but we didn't discuss how I might be affected if I had a replacement.

Dear Claire,

My grandfather had a THR last year and despite a few complications due to his age it has transformed his life, without the pain he is like a different person and he has no regrets.
I believe that in people of your age there are now options to have prosthetics which last much much longer than the 'older' ones, i am not sure of the exact lifespans but its decades. Only you can decide when the time is right for you but it may be worth discussing with your surgeon what the potential drawbacks of a 'wait and see' approach, I am not sure how things work for 'younger' people but I know that from my grandfathers situation he put it off for so long that there was a lot more generalised damage to the whole joint and socket and that made the op more difficult.

Oh and I myself work for the NHS and have have had good experiences with both chiropractors  and physios, it is a real shame your experiences with physios haven't been good but as in any profession there are  excellent, good and bad and its so important that people are able to express their experiences honestly to enable positive change to be made.

Good luck

Dillymum.