I Know this is usually about our gripes with the NHS but i just wanted to tell you all about my Hubbys trip to the Docs yesterday, ...
he has been suffering for about 18 mths from a bad pain in his hip, on his right, its prob due to him being a cab driver and all that it entails sitting and pushing pedals...( and general wear and tear of a 52 yr old averagely fit man.) but none the less, he has had pain killers, Phisyo , but it is not helping, i have to do up his laces on that side!!!
he went to ask for referal, but thought hed see what she said first,
well she said mmmm " its just old age!did you find phisyo help? " "No" well you can go for physo upstairs here, (private!!) Der!!
"so as you ar only 52 there is not alot we can do as a operation only lasts ten years!!!!!!"
Hubby says ... "so you telling me nobody under 60 has a hip opp?? "
"oh yes" she says " if its a car accident or similar!!!" the she says with a wry girn..." mmm yeah i know! " as if she gets it that shes saying CRAP!!
So she says to him " well what shall i do ? do you want me to refer you?"
he said " yep! " by then he was fuming, and just wanted to get out of the surgery...
How rediculous is it, are they saving money here aswell? so he just has to be in pain for another 8 years?? beggars belief me thinks!
so he says he will speak to the consultant about what she said.., see what he says.
Rant over, thanks for reading this, anyone else had hip opp under 60? id love to know.
best wishes x
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mummyG
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Not just in the UK! I live in France and I had very bad left hip pain a few years ago. I'd had it for several days when one day I got up in the morning and couldn't move. Couldn't sit down, couldn't lie down, called the doctor and when he arrived I was just standing there crying, it was so bad.
Somehow they got me into an ambulance and whisked me off to hospital. They xrayed me but nothing showed up. So they lowered me into a hospital bed and tried to tell me it wasn't my hip the problem, it was my back!!! And they kept me lying there for a week! Well, the pain eventually went due to the pain killers in the drip and I felt ok but I still had to lie there... Eventually, they let me get up because I had to trot around the hospital doing tests, but I wasn't allowed to sit - just stand or lie...
And then they did the thing I can never forgive: they tricked me into seeing a psy! Told me he was a 'pain doctor'! And he tried to tell me that the reason I had had that pain was that my children had left 'the nest' (yeah, like fifteen years before) and I didn't know what to do with my life!!!!!!!!!! I soon told him exactly what I thought of him and his potty ideas.
The next day I told everyone what I thought of them and I discharged myself. I'd been there ten days!
They never did find out why I had that pain. Touch wood, I haven't had it since...
I am afraid I have heard from a couple of people one being 55 , where people under the age of 65 are too young for hip replacements... because it means that you MIGHT need another after 10 years costing the NHS! What an inconvenience we people are!*/+!
Has your husband seen an osteopath? I know I know they are mostly private but a good osteopath often gets to the root of these kind of problems far better than a GP or a physio......and often can fix it too.
I know many cannot afford it but I thought I'd still say, the usual fee here in London is £50 per treatment, quite cheap compared to the £100 a shot I pay to my myofascial release therapist! dong! LOL oh well, might as well laugh then cry, at least she's fixing me unlike the NHS.
I had a total knee replacement at age 54 because of arthritis. If you can't walk they have to do it regardless of age. My surgeon said he had replaced hips and knees in people in their twenties.
It would be worth your husband seeing a cranial osteopath- a very gentle form of osteopathy which can help reduce inflammation in joints as well as realignment of bones.I was led to believe that replacements last 20 years these days.
If the pain is on the outside of the hip then it is more likely to be connected to the Tensor Fascia Latta that extends from the lower back - out over the top of the outside hip - the Greater Trochanter - and then splits - part joining in the pubic bone area and the other into the thight muscles I believe. The TFL is the biggest tendon in the body. So how do I know this - had mine operated on - opened up and pinned back in a Greek hospital just a week after seeing the surgeon !
If the pain is in the groin then it is more likely to be the hip joint - where the femur joins the pelvis in a ball and socket joint. Maybe sitting on the bed in the morning - bend the legs and place the soles of the feet together and try to drop the knees carefully toweards the bed. Try lengthening the spine and taking the head towards the ceiling....flap the knees gently like the wings of butterfly - go on you can both have a go - it's fun. As long as it doesn't hurt too much. It's something we do in yoga - but don't tell him that !!
My knees were partially replaced when I was 41 and 43 (They wouldn't do both at once as easier physio and recovery if only one at a time.)
I had to fight for it as they trotted out the same stuff - "They only last 10 years and you can only have 3 - so by 70 you'd be in a wheelchair!"
SO?? I want a life now! Plus materials technology is improving all the time, so the 1st may only last 10 years (7 & 9 years for mine now and no problems - so maybe longer) but the 2nd may well last 12 - 15 years due to improvements. Then by the time of the third they may well be up to lasting 18-20 years etc.
I argued my case, took in lots of research and eventually got the surgery.
Best thing I ever did! I was previously walking with 2 sticks and taking high doses of pain relief. I was struggling to work and unable to be an active Mum with my 2 boys.
Now other than a couple of arthroscopies to remove debris, I have been fine and am able to live my life. I struggle a bit in very cold weather - as the low temp gets transmitted up the bone by the metal part - but other than that they are great. (OK so Hashis interrupted that a bit - but bad knees on top would have been even worse.)
Fight your corner and tell them, you accept their may be consequences in retirement, but you'd rather have your mobility and reduction in pain NOW!
Under the new regulations operations which used to be available are now being severely restricted. My friend has been told to go private or go without an operation for excrutiatingly painful and inflamed veins. Hip and knee operations are among the ones affected, I have heard. The money being put into the NHS is being used for massive restructuring, and front line staff are being lost. GPs are being told to gatekeep for savings, so please do not blame your GP, she is under orders and probably hates it. I really hope that your husband successfully fights his corner.
It's not just with hip operations, my boyfriends nan is 72 and she has cataracts which mean she can no longer read or nit as her eyesight is so bad (she's had them for years) and her doctor has told her that they won't send her for an op until it get's worse because it's too expensive for them!
My husband didn't have a problem with his age. He had a hip replacement done on the NHS over 2 years ago when he was 57. If it is bad, they will do it. They did keep calling him 'young man' which we found hilarious. They said that it is more commonly done on the over sixties but they said they did all age ranges, judging each case on its merits. So don't give up and if it is effecting his livelihood, then hopefully it will help them decide to do it if they feel it warrants it.
An observation that I've recently made leads me to believe that any GPs under the age of around 45 are idle. Have seen 4 GPs for my thyroid and not one has known anything about the thyroid instead preferring to keep doing blood tests rather than listening to me.
My elderly mother has recently needed GPs to make a home visit, two of them said there was nothing wrong with her and one is definitely under 45 years old.
Last week I had to visit a GP most reluctantly and after I explained what the problem was and what I would like done (non-thyroid), he laughed. I then told him very firmly that I was in pain and was not prepared to wait 9 months as I had to following my cycling accident.
Furthermore, if you read the Pulse online newsletter for GPs, all they ever do is moan about how the Government is making their job harder. No mention is ever made of suffering patients, it's as though we don't exist!
Your husband's Dr is being negligent.....Anyone with any pain that's ongoing should be being investigated. Just an X Ray at first then to a consultant. I had both my hips replaced when I was 57 and 58. Disgusting attitude, supposing it is something really bad has she got x ray vision then?
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