Hiya!

[Osteopot]

Just sayin’ hi. Found the community through IG, where I follow a lot of arthritis-related accounts. (I have OA in both hips, which is super fun.) Don’t really have any questions or anything - I just kinda keep on keepin’ on. Hope everyone has a good day!

[Hidden]

Hello, nice to meet you.

[Osteopot in reply to Hidden]

Likewise!

[Hidden in reply to Osteopot]

You have it in both hips, will you get hip replacements?

[Osteopot in reply to Hidden]

My doc told me yeah, at some point I'm going to need them. I'm rockin' bone spurs and joint space narrowing and the whole shebang. Thing is, I'm only 39, and I know those replacements don't last super long, and there's only so many times they can chop off your bone and shove an implant in there, so replacements are something I'm game to postpone as long as humanly possible.

[Hidden in reply to Osteopot]

So you are willing to stick the pain for as long as possible?

[Osteopot in reply to Hidden]

Well...yeah. I don't really have options here. There are the steroid shots, which I've heard aren't awesome. Opioids don't work on me, so those are out. I do live in a state where marijuana shops are on every corner, so that might be an avenue to explore at some point, but I'm not big into drugs or meds. I try to exercise a lot and I ignore it a lot. *shrug*

[Hidden in reply to Osteopot]

I have it in my neck and foot, I don't take stuff from the doctor for it as I don't like it. I do take turmeric and black pepper capsules that seem to eliminate mostof the pain, I exercise too.

You are very brave 🙂

[Osteopot in reply to Hidden]

I was taking turmeric for awhile, but didn't notice a difference, so I stopped. I started taking collagen - I'll try that for awhile and see if it makes a difference. It's awesome that the turmeric and black pepper alleviate your pain! As far as me being brave, I think it's more stubborn.

[Hidden in reply to Osteopot]

With black pepper?

You say stubborn I say brave 😏

[santisuk]

Hi osteopot. That's a bummer if you're only 39. I was diagnosed in Feb-17 with OA in both hips and one with cam and pincer issues. I had a breakdown of one hip after doing a lot more walking than usual and was crawling around the house and garden for 10 days so knew it was something I needed a good ortho consultant for. I live in Thailand so drove up to Bangkok to see a consultant in a large ortho department at a big international private hospital. He wanted to do micro surgery but I suspected his quote was way OTT (which my UK insurer later coinfirmed it was), so I consulted another Bangkok hospital and a UK consultant by phone and e-mail. Both looked at the MRIs and disagreed with the surgery need anyway, saying manage it out another few years then have a hip replacement in your early 70s and that might do you for life.

And that has been a good call. Have been lucky enough so far to have had an easy ride. Occasional twinge and some careful management of my exercise program plus a little use of Celebrex, prophylactically when I know I'll be walking 6-8km, which I do once a month and in response to any twinge I might get if my daily exercise programme goes a little too far. On average I reckon I take Celebrex once every 4-5 days, but sometimes need it for 2 or 3 days running and then sometimes not again for 2-3 weeks. My routine exercise programme (which is also good for my bronchiectasis lung condition) is to walk 3-5km or swim 750m-1km daily> my lung condition also seems to be milder than the usual experience so I guess I'm just lucky but I also work hard on a maintenance plan which is helpfully similar for my two conditions; the exercise is one part, the others are having an non-+ anti-inflammatory diet (for just over a year now) plus supplements recommended by the UK ortho consultant (cod liver oil and chondroitin* plus self selected anti-inflam supplements (circumin - essence of turmeric - capsules). I also seem to have cut down my alcohol intake but I think that was part of getting older not a conscious effort for health reasons.

4 weeks ago the other hip 'blew up' - again crawling around and again off to Bangkok when it did not abate. Was certain it was my hip even though the pain this time was coming form my buttock not my groin. I was wrong; the ortho guy grilled me on the precise nature/location of pains and mobility and played around flexing both legs reasonably aggressively and waiting for my to cry out in pain. No pain whatsoever, despite the fact I can hardly walk and only with pains and aggressive tingling flooding down my leg. He concluded that I was describing a back/spine pain. To cut a long story a bit shorter I now need spine micro-surgery for a prolapsed (aka slipped or compressed) disc, which is trapping a main nerve. So the bad news is I do need surgery, albeit it's fairly routine from what I can gather. The good news is that I'm still on-track for delaying a replacement hip for a few more years.

I take my hat off to you living with pain - the last few weeks have been hell and like you I don't favour taking bucket loads of NSAIDs or opioids. I do take 300mg Gabapentin before going to sleep to give me a reasonable chance of 80% of my normal sleep and take 2 ibuprofen a day but that all should stop within a week when I get my surgery. I think I'd be going for the replacement if I were in your shoes - us OA hip sufferers will probably all have robotic AI lightweight slimline powered pelvis/thigh supports or something similar within 20 years anyway!

Keep on living the life. I can no longer run or jog and I seem to have naturally cut my alcohol needs significantly. Yet I still run a social drinking and running club ('hash house harriers') here in Thailand. I like to find and set the 6-8km trails for others - marking them up in white powder, which I can do walking as slowly and leisurely as I want. I then truck the beer around the 'run' on the day for the others to consume.

*The chondroitin comes with glucosamin but my read from the internet is that glucosamin is discredited by science now whereas the jury is still out and studies recognise that sufferers think it's helpful. Dunno how that can be - I can't tell whether any of my singular meds/supplements etc has a beneficial effect or not.

[santisuk in reply to santisuk]

For avoidance of doubt, the starred footnote should read:

*The chondroitin comes with glucosamin but my read from the internet is that glucosamin is discredited by science now whereas the jury is still out and studies recognise that sufferers think {insert} chondroitin {close insert} is helpful. Dunno how that can be - I can't tell whether any of my singular meds/supplements etc has a beneficial effect or not.

[Osteopot in reply to santisuk]

Re: Diagnosis

Interesting that ours presented in the same way - not so much with pain, but loss of mobility/inability to put any pressure on the area. My doc was fairly blasé about the whole thing too - "eh, you'll have to replace them both sooner rather than later". Yeah, that's not going to happen. I'm glad your other two doctors opted to postpone surgery; that seems like the best course of action as long as you can continue to do the things you enjoy doing (and it sounds like for the most part you can, which is awesome!)

Re: Age

I definitely got the whole "Wow, you're really young" spiel from all the doctors I've seen, as well as my physical therapist ("You're the oldest young person I know!"). However, on IG and Reddit I've found quite a few people in their 20s and 30s who have OA, mostly sports related (American football, weightlifting, soccer) and a few from accidents. It will be interesting to me to see how the landscape changes as we continue to focus on kids playing competitive sports in the short term without thinking about long term repercussions.

Re: Prolapsed disc

OUCH. I have no advice for you on that front. It doesn't sound like it's that horrid of a surgery, but any surgery carries risk. Hopefully they can get it sorted out for you without any added drama.

Re: Supplements/meds

It doesn't really seem like there's research to support taking any of the supplements we're told to take for OA. I don't know if they just haven't found the right chemical mix yet or if there just really isn't any truth to it or it's just wishful thinking. *shrug* I feel like I'll just keep trying things until I hear one way or the other, as long as it doesn't cause further damage.

It's great that you have a regime that works for you! In addition to not being able to take opioids, I can't take NSAIDs either due to my family history (dad had a heart attack at 50). So I exercise as much as I can (swim 1x/week, walk or elliptical 4-5 miles/week, weight lifting 4x/week, and hike 3-5 miles 1x/week weather permitting) to keep all my muscles strong to support my joints, and I stretch every day on top of all of that. I know it's a little overkill, but it helps me feel better, like I'm actually doing something to combat the progress of the arthritis.

Re: Hash House Harriers

I love love love that you set the course for your running group and then truck the beer around for them - that sounds like a blast! I used to run prior to my diagnosis, and I do miss it. My running wasn't nearly as fun as yours, though!

[Sillysausage234]

Just saying hi 🙂 widespread pain myself 🕊

[Osteopot in reply to Sillysausage234]

Wish I had a fix for you...

[Sillysausage234 in reply to Osteopot]

thanks you too,✌🏼