Pain in buttocks?!: Hi - I asked a while back if anyone... - NRAS

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Pain in buttocks?!

38 Replies

Hi - I asked a while back if anyone else experienced pain in side of hips/ outer thighs? Today I woke up with same pain but in my buttocks on the outer bony bit that meets the thighs. It's equal on both sides and really is very sore when I try to sit down. I think it's muscular but have no idea how I've brought it on or whether it's RA related. I think it must have started after a tai chi session when we had an hour of doing kicks - although I'm fairly fit so it shouldn't impact on my like this but that's all I can think of. It's got pretty intense though and it's making me hobble. Any ideas? Tilda x

38 Replies
Gina_K profile image
Gina_K

Do you think it's your hips Tilda? That sounds lie vigorous tai chi! An hour of kicks!

Gina

sciqueen profile image
sciqueen

Hi T

I think it might be to do with your exercise - tai chi?

Sorry I can't help :(

But I wish you better soon!

Jx

i think it seems like muscles Tilda, i used to do Tai chi, and though the movements were slow, the muscles were well worked and it was painful for a few days til they got used to it. I can't wait til i get sorted so i can start back and do stuff think i will do yoga first. Must get more info from you regarding your eating regime Tilda. That does sound like a good session though. Hope it eases up a little tomorrow.

Thanks all - I think it was those kicks although a lot of me is siezing up a bit now so am hoping I'm not starting to flare - I think tai chi would be fine but not on morning after my MTX perhaps?!

Mads I'm happy to speak about diet and excercise anytime in relation to RA. But please remember that I've been very lucky to get RA in check early enough and also for most of the trouble being in my upper body which has meant that I've been able to be rigorous with the bottom half for over a year. Then once the drugs were working with top half (wrists, shoulders etc) I started working on them too. There has been method to my madness and I've given up a lot of work time to maintain this exercise regime but it has paid off for me I feel. But if I was in pain I would leave well alone so you do need to be on an even keel with your meds before you can start properly. TTx

linnieh profile image
linnieh

Hi tildat.....yes I get the same. Have polymyalgia and RA. Was fine while on higher dose of prednisolone and methotrexate but GP has taken me off methotrexate as liver and white blood cell count not good. I try to walk as much as possible and my job has me on my feet all day so its so annoying to have this feeling in my hips and buttocks. The pain goes down my leg ,worse on the right. It's a bit like siatica but more in the hips as well . I don't know the answer but hope when I see my specialist next week he or she put me back onm

MTX.how long have you had that? Hope you find some relief. It's horrible when we can't do the things we enjoy or our daily stuff. Take care x

Thanks Linnieh - had it for a few months now in top of my thighs. My rheumy told me its not arthritis in my hips unless I feel the pain in my groin so I assume it's something else. From what I've read I think it's bursitis but I don't know if this is from the RA. I just don't understand why I get so much muscle pain if I do a new exercise or something different exercise wise.

The others who do tai chi with me are all older than me and generally not as fit but I've asked them if they suffer muscle stiffness and pain afterwards and they look baffled and say no. It makes me cross with myself as I like to feel pretty supple but it seems I'm not? I also notice I'm clicking loudly in tai chi where other ones all turn and raise eyebrows as its so noisy sometimes - but at least I'm making them feel younger perhaps?! I feel as if im turning into a lego or playmobile person! TTx

in reply to

AHA! You're spot on, Tilda. Most likely it is bursitis, but not in the hip itself. I had this last year..It was in my "sitter bone" on the right side, and the Ortho drew a sketch of where, it's the back, bottom part of the pelvic bones. He injected it with a 10 inch :)needle, right into where he sensed the bursa was..well that was painless, sort of, and it did get better! I had to lean to the left every time I sat for awhile. Also, as with all steroid injections, I had to lay still or sit still in recliner for 24 hours to be sure the drug stayed where he put it until it crystalized. Sure hope you get help soon. Loretxx

in reply to

Thanks Loret. And is bursitis caused by RA or not - is it relevant to the rheumy or is this something completely separate? I'm thinking it's not muscle strain caused the tai chi anymore because it's not gone away as it would surely have by now. TTx

in reply to

Yes, Bursitis can be a part of the RA systemic" annoyance".

He explained why it was causing pain, which involved some ligaments and tendons as they stretch across that back part of the pelvic bone (girdle) so it could very well be caused by kicking it up for an hour!! :) In which case, it might be tendonitis, also an RA associated factor. The treatment is the same, ie., an injection of a comination of Zylocaine and a steroid. The Zylocaine will work almost immediately, so he knows if he put it in the right place.

I wondered at the time, what if I just treated it with cold and heat and rest and leave it alone? Sitting on the edge of a glacier while on your Alaskan Cruise would seem very helpful :)

Be kind to yourself! L.xx

in reply to

Thanks Loret for that explaination. I have no one to ask apart from my physio re what is down to RA and what is down to just ordinary wear and tear and getting older and pulling muscles etc so it really helps to have this wider remit of RA explained a bit. Bit baffled by the glacier part though - are you sure you aren't hallucinating about all things Alsaskan with the colossal high termperatures you're getting in your part of the world?! Tilda xx

in reply to

hahah, more like wishful thinking!! I am so sick of dripping sweat every time I move! The air conditioner is fine in the living room , dining room, but that cold air doesn't drift down this very short hallway and turn the corners to the bedrooms. My pc is in my room. At night, I set the floor fan in the hall, directed at my room, so it picks up some conditioned air and blows it in here.

This is what we were looking forward to all Winter? If this is global warming effect, it's working. The result being, we're still trapped inside! And yes, the glaciers are melting, the oceans will rise, our shoreline will be under water, cities will topple, Floridians will have to pick the oranges under water, from submarines! Oh, get me on a roll, I could go on!

Well, if you're not going to take my Rx and go on an Alaskan Cruise, then I hope you do get your bumm better. Better report it at your appt this week, it is attached to the rest of you. Let the doc decide what it might be. Cheers :) Lxxx

in reply to

Ah Loret you make me smile. You should come here where there's currently a force 8 wind blowing - but it's rather mild and lovely. Only too noisy to open the window which means my husband will snore the night away!

I will mention the butt pain to my physio - she the most knowledgable and sensible person I see on some levels - very measured and strangely kind.

I think what is happening to me is that very, very slowly but surely the RA is sneaking back or finding a way around the new dose of 17.5 MTX and Hydroxy. But it's very subtle and sneaky - I just notice each morning I'm a bit stiffer and my elbows ache when I stretch my arms and my wrists and fingers are all a little stiffer and vaguely aching now too. It's so subtle that it could be all in my head - but perhaps my ESR of 58 is telling a little bit of truth after all?!

in reply to

Yes, that ESR of 58 IS something to investigate, especially since it has been way up there for quite awhile. It may not mean anything more, maybe a little more increase in one of your meds.

Ohh, as I have said before, I would so love to visit you and your heavenly environment! Wouldn't it be neat to gather up Tinwoman and maybe another Statie and take a trip across the waves.? By plane, not boat! We must think about that, might take about a year to save enough quarters! I collect quarters, try not to spend any when I get them. The jug is getting there. BTW, your vaguely aching fingers, etc is likely due to all that rain and wind you've been getting!!

So be sure to let us know how your appt. goes. L

in reply to

I'm not increasing meds unless they agree to let me inject Loret. And my GP friend has explained that's a bit of a rigmarole here because it's a citotoxic drug so rheumy would have to agree to prescribe it and foot the sending up of it by special delivery and then there's storage and training for the nurse to train me - not to mention disposal of sharps. My pal said it has been done a few times but the ammount of read tape means that my GP won't be keen as lots of phone calls and additional paperwork. Ho hum I'm gonna be popular round here if I insist on it eh?!

But no way I'm going for an increase in dose otherwise. Maybe the 58 ESR is just one of those freaky things because I felt fine when it was taken - unless it's a predictor of things to come?!

Yes I'm blowing some cool air over to you and TW today - cant bear the thought of all that heat it would just kill me. I don't like cold any more either since the Raynauds started but anything too hot and I lose the will to live - but I am very fair skinned and heat makes my skin go nuts and my joints swell I find. Good luck and hope my Atlantic blowing pays off and you feel a fresh breeze soon! TTx

in reply to

Well, OMG! How ironic- I have been out on the patio deadheading three vining blossoming plants, little tiny pink or white flowers, so had to use tiny manicure scissors to nip the old ones off, and THE WIND PICKED UP! and whipped the table umbrella a bit too much so I put it down. I was working under it to stay out of the sun. So there we go! I caught your brezes, and they are still blowing the vines side-ways. Felt great5. However, this afternoon we should get a little rain cloud and then some more hot air coming from Christine's(TW) part of the country expected to hit 100 again today. Never did get a conversion table. Google doesn't go high enough! Nice talking at you, thanks for the breezes :) Lxxx

in reply to

OH! The MTX injectable is extremely simple to use. I believe it comes in 2 or 3 month amount in a vial. It does not need to be kept cold. You would need a box of 1ml "insulin syringes". they have a very tiny needle, and a box of alcohol swabs, packed individually. Your Rx will say how many ml to draw up, so once someone at your GP office shows you the procedurre, you can swab an area on the top of your thigh, stick the needle in and push the plunger. Done in 5 sec. Needle is so tiny you usually don't even feel it, not anything as much as jabbing your finger for a Glucose test. If they can send you a vial with enough quantity in it, they wouldn't have to do it very often.

But if the tabs are really not bothering you now, then don't bother. My Rheumy says the inj. gets more of the drug into the body and is more usable, often at a lower dose.

I don't know how far East this Jet Stream will carry all this hot air, maybe it won't make it across the Atlantic, or if it tries, it will become massive storms over the water. So I won't try to send any your way, but thanks for the breezes :)

in reply to

Hey I'm delighted my blowing paid off Loret. I do feel for you with that kind of heat it must be quite horrible. It's still blowing here but it's mild and not doing any harm so I'll not moan - if I had to get a boat it would be a different matter though?

Talking about boats in storms - I feel like that about MTX now. I think I've got a phobia about those tablets and am already dreading them. It differs a bit each week as to how much trouble they cause but last Wednesday (I take them Tuesday nights) I ended up in bed for most of the day and then Thursday also felt really sick so that's 2 days where the stuff wipes me out totally. I've got lots of deadlines just now so can't afford to be out of sorts to this extent. So I really do hope that the rheumy suggests prescribing it by injection himself because otherwise I will have to drop a dose as I just can't face any more time feeling really sick. Then it gets sent up to my surgery and put to the pharmacy I think. My GP pal says she thinks the admin side of it will get them in a raffle because they still have to be licenced and the nurses won't like having to show my how to do this with a cytotoxic drug. But she did also say that once the red tapes been tackled for me then others can benefit and everyone will get used to it - but expect a lot of moaning as it is an administrative hassle for them and time is money of course in these straightened times.

Good deadheading - ours are going to die of cold at this rate! TTx

in reply to

You know how much I hate the stress you all have to go through to get what is justifiably necessary! Ideally, they quit msaking MTX tablets and make it all injectable. It is more effective and doesn't cause you to loose 2 days out of every week!! You need an ambassador to represent the entire NRAS to the gov. and plead the case!

Can't believe I have been at this comp 2.5 hours!!!! It really has gotten quite windy and clouding over, so here comes the rain, followed by more hot air! Maybe those politicians need to sit down and be quiet!! :)

in reply to

Ha ha - but I never blew politicians your way Loret I promise, although we have enough reekers of our own this side of the Atlantic of course!

To be fair this isn't about UK or NHS - it's about living on an island at a distance away from the main hospital - overseas. Things are just a bit slow to catch on here - sure it would be the same if it we were talking about .. Newfoundland say (I realise that's Canada but it's all I can think of really). And at least I won't have to pay for any of it or try to budget for it on my non-existent income... but let's not go there! People on the UK mainland can get MTX by injecton without all this fuss but if you consider this entire archipelligo has a population of 21,000 then there's only a pretty small amount of patients in each general practice area who is going to be on MTX and an even smaller number who are going to need it by injection? Tilda x

in reply to

Whew! That is a complex problen. Excuse the confusion, Probably my early Aultzheimer's. :)

note: This is insane...I'm at the keyboard, wiping pouring sweat out of my eyes! Just got out of my second shower of the day! Probably do it again tonight!!

in reply to

Oh yiuck re the heat and sweat - I've just put on a jersey and am enjoying it everytime I think of poor you. It's not not 'heimers (as my uncle calls it) it's global warming and you keep showering and I'll send some more breezes your way tomorrow I promise. TTx

in reply to

Thank you, I will be out on my patio tomorrow morning @7am with my first coffee, with open arms :)

It' is 10:40pm, temp in my room is 86!

Thinking about a free standing air conditioner, but gees $350 - 500.00 No way!!

hamble99b profile image
hamble99b in reply to

wouldn't hat cause polaroids lol!

sandra

hamble99b profile image
hamble99b in reply to hamble99b

oops! replying to sitting on a glacier - it would cause polaroids,,,,,,, oh forget it

in reply to hamble99b

LOL, LOL HAHAHA You had me there for a while, couldn't figure what was funny.

Now, that is very clever! and Yes, sitting on a glacier surely would ......:P

dmc12 profile image
dmc12

Hi,

I have had a pain in my buttocks but more in the fleshy part and it can travel down my legs. It is painful to sit and walk but walking on my toes does seem to help. I saw my GP re this and have been told it it sciatica and have nerve blockers now to use when needed. Hope this helps. Donna

Hi Donna - thanks. As I read your description I was thinking that sounds like sciatica. At my video link consultation 6 weeks ago I described the pain and the physio said that sounds muscular and it could also be your back so maybe mine is sciatica too although it does feel more thigh and hip related somehow. If it carries on I'll mention it again when I see my rheumy but it doesn't burn like RA pain. It's very awkward having pain in the bum though as it's making me waddle and I have to sit down very gingerly! TTx

Judi profile image
Judi

Hi, my sciatica comes with pins and needles one side and just a tingling feeling the other side .......... along with the pain and everyone is different re the pain apparently, some stronger than others. It's a nerve paiin (it's a trapped nerve) so does feel different to RA at least that's what I've found. Hot and cold bags help. Cant remember who but someone posted a link recently to an exercise which I have found helpful (sometime during the past few weeks) so if you do a search on here you may find it, think it was in the general blogs rather than questions.

Judi xxxx

Thanks Judi. I am really not sure it's sciatica at all - it's not sufficiently painful for that and it's more outside of my bum and thighs where they join and then slightly into the bottom of my bum cheeks - really not that near spine at all? I just am not sure whether to mention it again on Thursday when I see my consultant because I have so much I do want to ask him to advise on and this may be irrelevant to RA I think? It went away when my dose of MTX was increased but is back with a vengeance now. I see my physio tomorrow and she did give me exercises for it last time but they haven't made much difference. TTx

Hi Tilda,

I posted some info about a stretch which has really helped my sciatic pain. It was a stretch for piriformis syndrome. There is a muscle running from the base of the spine to the hip joint which encases the sciatic nerve. When that muscle goes into spasm or contracts it compresses the nerve thus causing the pain. It could have been aggravated by the high kicks.

I posted a link to a you tube video. I can't remember whether it was a blog or question I'm afraid but if you click on my name you will find all my posts. xxx

Thanks Creaky I will look - I'm seeing my physio tomorrow so will ask her more and see if it could be sciatica. Tilda x

hamble99b profile image
hamble99b

I have buttock pain and don't do high kicks. mine is mainly muscular - maybe my fibromyalgia; but also pain in my coccyx.

sandra

hamble99b profile image
hamble99b

Tilda an ESR that high needs investigating further. what does your dr say? [sorry if you've already said, I'm new and skimming messages]. sandra

minka profile image
minka

hi relate to this to

my bum has realy gone down and can feel my coccyx

even swimming again has not helped

Hi - the bum pain went away as my physio predicted - it was just muscular from those kicks. The ESR is more of a mystery to me - but my rheumy said to ignore it myself (let him and my gp work it out) so I'm trying to! Tilda x

Nikk profile image
Nikk

I had very similar pain to what you described Tilda a few weeks ago accompanied with numbness and weakness/ an odd wobbly feeling in my legs. I immediately thought the RA was affecting my hips too and was worried enough to make an appointment to see GP.

My GP explained that "hip" pain caused by RA would be felt around the pelvis as that is where the joints are and after examination diagnosed greater trochanteric pain syndrome (Previously known as hip bursitis) She gave me this link to look it up:

patient.co.uk/health/Greate...

Treatment would be anti- inflammatories but as I am already on NSAIDs I didn't need any more. She said it was most likely linked to RA as they are both inflammatory conditions and wrote a letter to the consultant which they had not received last time I saw them but hopefully will before I see them next.

It can be brought on by over- exercise- so you may have had a bout of it too- Just sounds incredibly similar to me :-)

Thanks for that Nikk - I'm on my iPhone just now but will look at this link later. I'm just back from tai chi - kicks again so I'm expecting buttocks and hips to play up tomorrow plus.my physio explained it same as your GP - said athletes and fit people get this type of pain too and it's probably because I am quite fit but have RA - the soft tissue is tighter with extra muscle but also more sensitive with RA. Hey ho at least we are getting there with explanations and she also said not to worry about overdoing it with this kind of pain because it's not damaging in the way that pain in joints can be.

Thanks for sharing at least it's good to know its not just me that's a win in the bum! Tilda xx

Nikk profile image
Nikk in reply to

I must admit I had a little giggle when the GP said that it is sometimes bought on by exercise- I do walk the dog daily but I'm certainly no gym bunny!

GP did also say that her advice would often be to lose excess weight as being overweight doesn't help with it- I could have kissed her when she said I didn't need to worry about this as myself and the hubby had been ribbing each other about carrying a few more pounds than when we met. I should have got it in writing...........!!

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