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Setback after 4 weeks

Posted , 8 users are following.

nfmiller
nfmiller

Hi

I thought I'd relate my current situation si that if anyone else experiences the same they will be able to identify the cause much quicker than me.

On Sunday 14th Jan I started week 5 post op posterior LTHR and the recovery during the first 4 weeks has been excellent. I'm had very little pain, progressed from 2 crutches to one and I do my exercises every day.

Sunday was no different during the day, but about 4.30pm in started to complain about being cold. I live in a ground floor apartment, and the place is never cold. Shortly after I started shivering and then about 6pm my whole body started shaking uncontrollably and I had pain in both groins. I went to bed with a hot water bottle and after about 30mins of this shaking and groin pain, it subsided.

the next day started like any other, I felt fine and was able to do my excercises with no trouble, but again around 4.30 I felt cold again and that progressed rapidly to shivering. By 6pm the shaking wax uncontrollable and the pain in both groins was severe. My wife called the NHS out of hours service number and spoke to a representative and then a duty doctor called back she diagnosed a virus and told me to take paracetamol, which I was already taking. Again, with the hot water bottle treatment, the pain subsided after 30 mins leaving me with a temperature.

The next day I was find again although I could feel the groins where the pain had been. But again around the same time, I started feeling cold, shivering and the most uncontrollable body shakes and excrucia pain in both groins, which lasted again about 30 mins. I was in so much agony, I couldn't talk to the NHS duty doctor when wanted to speak to me. Speaking to my wife, the doctor thought that thus was much more than a virus and advised us to go immediately to the local NHS A&E  hospital, which is where I had my hip op. She also make me an appointment for when we would arrived.

I know this is a long story, so I'll cut to the chase, after a barrage of blood tests, chest X-Ray's, blood counts, blood pressures, they finally did a urine test had announced that it was a urine infection. I had a temporary catheter fitted on my first night after the op, and the doctor thought that it may have harboured an infection which has taken time to manifest itself. They kept me in overnight and gave me intravenous antibiotics and then sent my home this evening with oral antibiotics. Hopefully that will do the trick. I still have residual pain in both groins, which I hope will go away in time.

I thought the staff at the A&E where brilliant and I cannot speak highly enough if them. However, none of the many doctors I saw related the uncontrollable shakes and the ground pain to a urine infection.

So, if you ever encounter a similar problem, and believe me you will identify it if you have it, ensure that you mention to you medical team that it may be a urine infection and ask them to do a test.

If I'd gone to the hospital after the 2nd time, I probably wouldn't have the residual pain I have now.

i hope this saves someone the agony that I've been through.

Norm

3 likes, 10 replies

10 Replies

  • jimbone
    jimbone nfmiller

    Posted

    Well done Norm.  It's good of you to give a heads up on that odd set of symptoms.  Glad they caught it and set it right.  Hope you're feeling better and continue to improve and recover.  Best Wishes.

    Jim

  • nfmiller
    nfmiller

    Posted

    Thanks for the good wishes Jim. This has really hit me out of the blue. But, we go again and try and get the recovery back on track.

    Regards. Norm

  • Ducksoup
    Ducksoup nfmiller

    Posted

    Urine infections are common with hip issues.  They should abate quickly.  I was doing the same after 4 weeks but suffered the same sudden pain and even inAbility to walk without 2 crutches again.  It was a scar infection.  It went away and within a week I returned to previous status
    • nfmiller
      nfmiller Ducksoup

      Posted

      Thanks Ducksoup, thats reassuring. What I don't understand is why so many doctors failed to identify the symptoms.

  • claudia95892
    claudia95892 nfmiller

    Posted

    Hi Norm, after the surgery I had to take antibiotics for 10 days and had to monitor my temp 3x per day and if I developed a fever was to go to emergency right away. I also had a catheter do I was drinking cranberry juice to prevent any UTIs. I am so lucky to have friends who are nurses and who insisted I would take my blood pressure and temp 3x per day, taught me how to do my heparin injections. I am glad it was caught on time. Drink plenty of cranberry juice, not cocktail and reduce your sugar intake and drink LOTS of water. After you finish all your antibiotics, monitor your temp or if you have groin pain. Bladder infections can come back since many of the bugs can be resistant. Did they do a culture?
    • Ducksoup
      Ducksoup claudia95892

      Posted

      I take cranberry pills successfully.  5000mg, specific for UTI’s.  They’re less expensive than the juice.  I suffered chronic uti’s before my hip replacement.  The hip fracture itself was immune to the pills but a short round of Cipro took care of that.  
    • nfmiller
      nfmiller claudia95892

      Posted

      Thanks for that Claudia, interesting. Did they do a culture? No, what does that show?

      Norm

    • claudia95892
      claudia95892 nfmiller

      Posted

      It will show exactly what bacteria you have and they can specifically target it and not use broad spectrum antibiotics which are causing so much resistance.
    • michael11283
      michael11283 claudia95892

      Posted

      My experience was that my surgeon opened up my wound, removed the infected hip joint and tissue, took samples for culture, gave me broad spectrum antibiotics while waiting for the culture results and then switched to the antibiotics specific to my infection. It all seemed logic to me and seems to have worked.

      Mike

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