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Desperately in pain!

Posted , 4 users are following.

amkoffee
amkoffee

My left upper thigh where it meets the body has been hurting for almost 3 weeks. None of my doctors want to take responsibility for it. I'm still waiting to hear back from my rheumatologist to see if she will. But I am already taking opiates for a lower back problem and they aren't hardly touching this pain. I guess my reason for posting this is because I want to know if this is a place where people can have rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis and is that where the hip begin? I have osteoarthritis in several joints and an MRI of my right hand showed inflammatory arthritis. And my rheumatologist is treating it as rheumatoid arthritis. I am already taking Plaquenil and have for at least a month maybe more. I cannot take Methotrexate because of my liver and I cannot afford to buy Humera. So I'm waiting to see if I can get some financial help from the Humira company. I am in so much pain but I was hoping someone here might have a suggestion or information on the body structure in that area would even help.

0 likes, 13 replies

13 Replies

  • Ozziehall
    Ozziehall amkoffee

    Posted

    I believe you have meralgia paresthetica
    • amkoffee
      amkoffee Ozziehall

      Posted

      Thank you for the suggestion. I had never heard of it so I had to look it up first. Unfortunately it doesn't fit my pain at all. My pain is sharp rather then a burning pain and on the front of my body as opposed to the outer part of my thigh. At least that's what I read online. I'll take it any ideas you have though so keep them coming. LOL!

  • Ozziehall
    Ozziehall amkoffee

    Posted

    I have rheumatoid arthritis and back problems. Developed pain similar to yours.  Started on neurontin and it finally calmed after couple weeks. Felt like stinging burning and stabbing at same time.  Mostly 6 to 8 inches below belt line in outer thigh
    • amkoffee
      amkoffee Ozziehall

      Posted

      I'm currently tapering off of Gabapentin/Neurontin I've been on it for about the last month and a half and it's done no good at all and I'm done with the side effects of it so I'm getting off of it. I originally started it because of an injury on my left rib cage. But thank you for the idea anyway.

  • lyn1951
    lyn1951 amkoffee

    Posted

    Has your GP organized an x-ray to see if you have a gap between your pelvis and the top of your femur, and or worn out hip joint.

    ​Pain in your groin can be from worn out hip joint, as odd as it sounds, right hip all my pain was in the center of my buttock, and left hip it was right in the fold of my groin, I think it was almost worse than the buttock pain in some ways, it was soooo painful.

     

    • amkoffee
      amkoffee lyn1951

      Posted

      Well she did take x-rays of my upper thigh and my pelvis but I don't know if she actually got the top of my femur or not. She was looking for broken bones not for arthritis. So I don't know if the radiologist that looked at the x-ray just simply didn't see the arthritis if it's there or if there was no arthritis to mention either. However since that seems to be the extent of the PA knowledge of my problem I took it to my rheumatologist to ask her about the X-ray. She's in the same system as my GP so she can look at the results of the X-ray in the patient portal. I'm really hoping I don't have to take more x-rays as it is so horribly uncomfortable and I come out of it with a lot of pain.

    • lyn1951
      lyn1951 amkoffee

      Posted

      An x-ray of your pelvis would show your hip joints, if their was anything of interest it would be noted by the radiologist in the report.  Ask GP if they can see arthiritis in your hip joints, its a reasonable questions in your case.

      ?I'm inclined to think the pain is related to your back problems, as  I have sciatica, due to a crushed disk in my back but I feel it in my lower leg, most of the time, a feeling of numbness and cold, I consider myself lucky that's all I have, had extreme thigh pain, until I started physio, they helped me understand what I had to do to help myself, in my case it has been a heated swimming pool, with water deeper, so I am not standing on the bottom, add a pool noodle under my arms to help stretch me out, and then treading water very gently for a start and then slowly building up my core strength which has helped with the pain, BIG TIME, I no longer have to take morphine to cover the pain.

    • amkoffee
      amkoffee lyn1951

      Posted

      I am so glad to hear that this exercise in the warm pool is working for you. I have a pool at home but since it's starting winter I can't swim in it and of course it wouldn't even be warm in the summer. We do have a warm pool and physical therapy combined at one location that I know of where I live. I did that many many years ago when I first started having back problems. The last time I tried ordinary physical therapy the exercises he was giving me were just too painful. He tried and tried to adjust the exercises to something I could tolerate but I just couldn't tolerate any of them. That was about June of last year I think. I have taken Physical Therapy many times in the last 13 years that my back is been out. I have to admit I've gotten lazy... no it's not lazy I've gotten fearful that I'll do something to make myself hurt more. It takes a lot of out of me when I try to do something that makes me hurt more.

  • martin31040
    martin31040 amkoffee

    Posted

    Hi, as far as I know osteoarthritis doesn't show inflammation on a blood test i.e. CRP marker, Rheumatoid arthritis does, so if you've had blood tests ask about the inflammation levels, Osteoarthritis is localised inflammation.

    • amkoffee
      amkoffee martin31040

      Posted

      My CRP and sed rate are elevated but that could also be because I have another disease called polymyalgia rheumatica. It also has elevated inflammation markers. I've been taking prednisone for over a year now and it has lowered but by no means is it in normal ranges. I've been taking Paquin. My rheumatologist said it takes awhile for Plaquenil to work but by now it should be working. And I can't take Methotrexate because of my liver so she has prescribed Humira. The problem is Humera is way more expensive than anything I could afford even with my insurance paying. And I'm talking about$850 a month would be my share after insurance paid their share. Several months ago my rheumatologist did a blood test to see if I had RA and it was negative. But she said about 25% of people will test negative and still have RA.

    • martin31040
      martin31040 amkoffee

      Posted

      Hi my RA is seronegative, I am on a biological drug called Benepali it's a bio similar the drug is Etanercept, Benepali is a bit cheaper, that's in the UK, anyway it works great for me and no side effects.

    • amkoffee
      amkoffee martin31040

      Posted

      Well I looked up those drugs and evidently they're not available in the US yet. But thank you for the tip.

  • martin31040
    martin31040 amkoffee

    Posted

    Hi, I have RA and did have a problem with my hip, you can both RA and OA in your hip, classic RA tends to be symmetrical one hand and the other hand type of thing.
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