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Experience with Hip Dysplasia Diagnosed as an Adult?

Posted by emo @emo, Mar 12 12:40am

Is there anyone who’s been diagnosed with hip dysplasia as an adult? I’d be really grateful to hear your experience: How did you manage the pain, were you able to manage with PT, or did you need surgery?

I’m currently being evaluated for chronic hip pain, and it’s looking like I have hip dysplasia. I feel really disappointed because I already have Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder or hEDS (borderline diagnosis), an autoimmune arthritis, and central sensitivity syndrome, and now here’s another chronic condition, only for this there don’t seem to be many options for treatment. And I can’t seem to find much information about managing the condition as an adult.

A lot of my internet searching points to surgery, which of course no one wants to do unless they must! There are already risk factors with surgery because of my underlying conditions, and I’m a caregiver for my father while working full time and trying to manage my health as well, so it would be really hard for me.

I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself; I’m still waiting for my doctor to follow up with me about next steps, but I’m trying to learn more about it and start considering options. Thank you for any help you can offer.

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hopalongnm3 | @hopalongnm3 | Mar 13 10:59am

Greetings. I was diagnosed with having hip dysplasia after 21 years of excruciating pain, in my 40s. Over those decades, I had gotten diagnosis of a bone tumor, arthritis., and finally hip dysplasia at age 45.

Over the years the pain had become longer lasting, not just in the fall months, but lasting into the spring, and eventually into the summer as well. Because the pain was bad and because at the time I was in a circumstance, where I had no health insurance, I was begging and nsaids off of the doctors that I worked with.

I decided to get my hip replaced after 21 years of using NSaids more and more because the pain became gradually more and more intolerable. As a result, I now have stage three kidney disease.

The hip replacement that I got in 1999 has been the best thing that’s ever happened to me. No kidding a year after I had it replaced I did climb to the top of the nearby mountain where I live. It took a while to get used to not having the pain or having to use crutches or if I went to the fair or there was prolonged, standing or walking - a wheelchair!

So if you’re having pain, I would encourage you to find a good couple of specialists that would communicate with each other, so that either your pain can be adequately, managed, or A surgeon with a good reputation at the private hospital.

Best of luck.

REPLY
hopalongnm3 | @hopalongnm3 | Mar 13 11:02am

Just in addition to the above. To give you some more support – I was also a single parent of two working full-time. When the pain is so bad that you’re considering narcotics, it’s time for an intervention with the pain or the disability.

REPLY
emo | @emo | Mar 16 2:48pm
In reply to @hopalongnm3 "Greetings. I was diagnosed with having hip dysplasia after 21 years of excruciating pain, in my..." + (show)
@hopalongnm3

Greetings. I was diagnosed with having hip dysplasia after 21 years of excruciating pain, in my 40s. Over those decades, I had gotten diagnosis of a bone tumor, arthritis., and finally hip dysplasia at age 45.

Over the years the pain had become longer lasting, not just in the fall months, but lasting into the spring, and eventually into the summer as well. Because the pain was bad and because at the time I was in a circumstance, where I had no health insurance, I was begging and nsaids off of the doctors that I worked with.

I decided to get my hip replaced after 21 years of using NSaids more and more because the pain became gradually more and more intolerable. As a result, I now have stage three kidney disease.

The hip replacement that I got in 1999 has been the best thing that’s ever happened to me. No kidding a year after I had it replaced I did climb to the top of the nearby mountain where I live. It took a while to get used to not having the pain or having to use crutches or if I went to the fair or there was prolonged, standing or walking - a wheelchair!

So if you’re having pain, I would encourage you to find a good couple of specialists that would communicate with each other, so that either your pain can be adequately, managed, or A surgeon with a good reputation at the private hospital.

Best of luck.

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Thank you so much for sharing this; this is exactly what I've been thinking about. My pain pattern sounds very similiar to yours--I've had chronic hip pain for years, I'm around the same age as you, and suddenly this year the pain started getting progressively worse more quickly, and more severe.

I had an x-ray (it was ordered by my physiatrist = physical medicine & rehab doctor), but she was out sick all week, so I'm waiting for her to officially interpret the x-rays. I'm not usually one to freak out about radiology reports because they have to report everything they see, and therefore they sound daunting. But just from the support groups I'm in, the language is very familiar to me...it looks to me like it's suggestive of hip dysplasia. It would explain a lot.

I took NSAIDs last week when the pain was at its worst, and it's better now. But you're right, it's not a long-term solution. It would be really hard for me to have surgery because I'm a caregiver to my father... =/ But if this is what it is, I'll definitely talk to my physiatrist about a referral to an orthopedist or orthopedic surgeon.

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