Chronic pain following total hip replacement

So very sorry to hear of your distress.  The negative experience/symptoms you describe are virtually identical to those I have had after a disastrous resurfacing, then revision, on my right hip.  No one would concede that the excruciating nerve pain which began, suddenly, five days after my first operation, had any connection to the surgery.  All sorts of tests and interventions, not to mention medications, have been to no avail.  I have had to retire early from work and just have to live with the pain, stiffness (7 screws to secure the device) and immobility.  Latest development - I'm going in to have a THR on the other side, in 3 days.  Scary - or what?

Hello again everyone

Sue, very pleased to hear that they're now taking definite steps with a treatment for you.  Your symptoms are rather different from mine, and I'm inclined to think that our issues have different causes. But we're in the same boat and you have my heartfelt best wishes for a successful outcome.  Please keep us posted.

Cassandra, sorry your Mum's still in pain. It's doubly unfair when suffering gets worse rather than better, especially after undergoing the unpleasantness of an operation which we hope will make us better. I too am scheduled for an MRI in a few weeks but, like you, I'm not hopeful that it will reveal anything partly because, in my case, I'm now convinced that my pain is bone - or joint - rather than soft tissue related. I can now feel slight but definite movement within the joint, which I'm sure wasn't happening befpre the sudden onset of these new pain symptoms. The movement is felt, now and then, as a soft little click. I emphasise 'felt' because there's no actual accompanying sound. The osteopaths are somewhat dismissive of suggestions that something has gone wrong because the X rays don't show anything. But I've been reading that very often they don't, because when they are taken the patient is lying down, and many of us find that the pain is worse with movement, and in fact often absent at rest.

I understand that this probably doesn't apply to you Sue, or to your mother Cassandra, but in a general way I guess I'm suggesting that none of us should accept without question any 'expert' dismissal of possible causes based solely on X rays or scans.

I've been doing some reading, this is a bit technical but contains some interesting info, including how unreliable radiograms (I'm assuming these are X rays) are in aiding diagnoses. Hope it's ok to post a link on this forum.

http://www.healio.com/orthopedics/journals/ortho/2008-7-31-7/%7B411ae3aa-afa3-4638-a100-9e204bf17a5b%7D/thigh-pain-after-total-hip-replacement-a-pathophysiological-review-and-a-comprehensive-classification

Best wishes everybody.

Dear Sue I believe that if your doctors have not figured out your problemmI'm amazed, after my hip revision because things were put back in place that really bothered my back and that pain tha you're mentioning in your leg and lower back is sciatic pain, you need to have an scan to check if you have a herniated disc or osteoarthritis is putting presure on the sciatic nerve, an scan will show this, I had that issue, gabapentin did not help, stay awy from it if you can, the best thing worked for me was surgery to release the nerve, I had a back fusion due to the arthritis but if is a disc related your doc needs to remove the herniation. Good luck, I hope this helps and is not too late.

Unfortunately, Sue, you are correct: there are not just some people like you, there are way to many. What happened to the Hipocratic Oath, First, do no harm??? I too had a failed hip implant and one of  the things I gleaned from experience is that there are NO tests that one might call reliable or conclusive. Severe problems all to often do not show up at all. Nor are surgeons honest with us in explaining all these limitations.

That there were hundreds of surgeons who were not smart enough to know that metal-to-metal joints cannot be used due to resultant metal poisoning is a good indication of the calibre of surgeons doing this work. Nobody wants to say it, but I will. Hip replacement surgery is practiced by a lot of surgeons who are simply not qualified to do what they do. The number of failed operations has reached disastrous proportions: every where I turn  I run into people with failed implants. I define failure as the surgery not correcting the original problem. We are not told the risks nor the odds of success/failure but I've seen failure estimates as high as 33% by reputable organizations.

Misery loves company, says the old saw, and that is okay since we don't wish this on others . More importantly, if we band together we  may be able to do something about this horrid state of affairs. Right now, too many people are taking all these problems laying down, so to speak. We need to speak up and start stirring the pot and making some noise.

If my recent revision surgery does not correct the problem, I can assure you that I am going on the war path.

Hi Sue my name is Destiney I am 20 I had my left hip replaced when I was 17 I am technically in the same position as you I have had doctors tell me its a mind thing is nerve damage and that there are are problems but not in my hip I have been to pain management I got addicted to pain medication and so now its hard to control the pain with any pain medication just recently my blood work has came back that there was inflammation which they think is caused by an infection they have did MRIs Bone Scans and Xrays everything comes back normal just recently and orthopedic doctor referred me to a hip specialist and I came to fine out that my hip implant was not put in right and that could be causing pain but they are going to run test like take fluid out of my hip to make sure there is no infection since the blood work was abnormal these doctors are giving me hope after 4yrs I honestly stopped trusting doctors they made me feel like I was crazy but to read how many people are going through similar situations makes me feel relieved to know I am not alone though I wish this on no one but the ones going through it can relate these doctors made a total hip replacement sound so wonderful and it ends up being a nightmare I am so sorry you are having to deal with this no one deserves to be in pain everyday or stuck at home I am young and I can't even enjoy hanging out with my friends I know the feeling of being useless but to actually talk about it feels so much better

Hi Sue and all.

Every time I log in there are more of us with pain and problems. Like everyone, I'm trying to maintain faith in the docs but it's not easy is it? My consultant, who's also the surgeon who performed my op, looked at the x rays and said the implant looks in excelent shape and that he's not seen my symptoms before, yet even a 10 minute internet surf turns up hundreds of similar cases including articles stating clearly tha x rays are often not realiable in the early stages of implant failure.

My pain is slowly worsening, also invading other areas. In addition to the thigh pain I spent today with almost identical groin pain to what I experienced before the replacement, and which was apparently diagnostic of my osteoarthriris, only now it's worse. I'm actually getting scared, and would give ANYTHING to turn back time and decline the op but since that's not possible I just hope that my MRI scan will show what's wrong. Even bad news would almost be preferable to yet another "everything looks fine..."  verdict when in fact everything couldn't be further from fine.

I suspect I'm not alone hating these reassuring pronouncements when they're so wrong nearly as much as the pain itself. Doctors telling us that they "can't find anything wrong" merely demonstrates they're inabilitiy to correctly diagnose, and as others have said, you can't help questioning their competence. They don't like being told that they're wrong, which is one of the most infuriating aspects of the NHS because, frankly, they so often are.

Sue, sorry to rant in your thread, this post sort of took on a will of its own. I rant in the spirit of solidarity..

Jayive,  I'd be very interested in your MRI results. Please stay in touch.

Good luck everyone