sever nerve pain 3 years after right hip replacement

Hi

how awful. Hope you can get some help soon.  Will be thinking about you.

hilary

Hi Bridget

so sorry to hear of your bad experience. Can't your gp give you anything for the pain?

Oh Bridget! I am so sorry to hear this! Poor you! Can you get your gp to refer you to another consultant? Good luck regards Amanda

Hi Bridget,

So sorry to read your post and to hear how you have been in pain for so long along with suffering a DVT.  I am in a similar position to you and have suffered with this like you for years.  If you read my posts you can see what treatment I have tried to date, unfortunately nothing has worked for me as yet.

I just want you to know you are not alone, this forum is great for offering support when needed.  Please keep me up to date with any progress you may have as this might also in turn help me with resolving or getting answers to the pain I have.

Wow Bridget you have had a terrible experience.

The electrical pain means usually nerve damage.usually femoral nerve damage. There are medications specific for that kind of pain codeine doesn't work as well for nerve pain. However gabapentin helps so much for nerve pain.

I also wonder if maybe your hip replacement hard ware is the right size for you.

I have read sometimes the head or top of the hip can be too big for the placement.That can cause a lot of continued pain.

I feel so sad for your suffering.Sending hugs to you.

Hi Bridget,

Your pain is what we would all like to avoid.  I have hip pain but no replacement yet. I don't use any drugs- personal choice. I use a hot water bottle at night in bed.  I have also used it during the day when the pain was too great to continue working.  It works for me.  I also use a tumeric with blackpepper pill.  It is called Curcuma by Botanica.  It seems to work for me as an anti-inflammatory.  You may be able to find the same concoction where you live.  I also use crutches to help keep the weight off of the injured hip.

Hope this helps a litte.

Mikey 

I question that it is nerves and deep vein thrombosis.

I bet it is tendonitis. Look up tendonitis of the IT band. 

I had that on both legs. It is a pain that goes from just above your knee to about the middle of your thigh. The pain is on the outside of your leg. Using a few fingers you can trace the exact path of the pain. Usually Tendinities of the IT band is experienced by runner and I am not one. I got mine a different way which I will not go into.

I suspect that groin pain is not a deep vein thrombosis either but rather tendonitis of the psoas muscle. Look up Iliopsoas Tendinitis. It is an orthopedic surgen to treats Tendonitis as tendons and bones go together. I would see a different orthopedic surgeon. Look up "Iliopsoas Tendinitis after Total Hip Replacement" A physical therapist should be able to put his/her hands on your groin and find your psoas muscle, if that is where the pain is coming from then that is what needs treatment on.

All hope is not lost, the normal treament for tendonitis is to stop any activity that causes it pain. Tendonitis is little rips in the tendon, tears. You rest it and let the lettle treas (rips heal up) if you don't do this you will move onto tendonosis (which I had) in other words a perment condition. Thankfully, I could literally kiss the ground, my Total Hip replacement resolved my IT Band tendonosis. I did develop  Iliopsoas Tendinitis after the surgery, my physical therapist touched the psoas muscle and said, "Is this it?" and when I said yes he told me what it was. Since I had such bad tendonitis previously I simply laid around (getting up after sitting aggravted it so I laid on the couch) and let it heal. And after about 3 weeks it did heal up.

Maybe I am wrong but your symptoms sure seem more like tendonitis than nerve pain. If it is nerves then you should see a neurologist who specializes in nerves and can specifically test. The key to why I say tendonitis vs nerve is because the pain is very specific from above the knee to your thigh on the outside. People who describe nerve damage the pain goes all the way down into their foot. I would be talking to your doctors about tendonitis. Best of luck! if all else fails an orthopediac surgeon can go in and relase one of the tendons through surgery and you can come back. 4 years is long enough, if it was going to heal it would have healed by now. IMHO you need to see a different doctor. Go for a different opinion.

I had the same problem post hip replacement.  The doctor made my leg 1.5 inches too long.  I developed severe, debilitating nerve pain on the outside of my thigh and in my groin.  I got shock waves several times a day in addition to constant pain.  The doctor had me use three lidocaine patches on my thigh.  It took about three weeks to have full improvement.  There is also the option to see an anesthesiologist for a nerve block or to simply cut the nerve.  This is a femoral nerve impingement.  It is a sensory nerve so it only provides sensation.  It has nothing to do with movement.  I was planning for cutting it if the pain did not go away.  I would rather have numbness than severe pain.  Once that improves, the next thing I got was severe IT band pain.  I am getting dry needling from a physical therapist to help that plus deep massage.