Irritable hip

[confusednorthner]

Ds 9 suffered with awful hip pain about 6-8 weeks ago gp sent us to hospital where they diagnosed irritable hip. It settled after a few days until Easter weekend when he complained a bit. Today he really was in pain at school so have spoke to gp on phone who said keep him dosed up and watch for a temperature but it should settle.
He's not a child who complains easily but he's had paracetamol and neurofen and is still unable to sleep for the pain.
Any experience or should I be worrying it's more?

9 is on the older side for irritable hip. I would take him to out of hours if he is still in pain after being dosed up.
Have they ruled out Perthes and SUFE?

I'm not sure hospital just examined him.... I'm at shops for supplies but will see if he's asleep when I get back.

Did the hospital do an X-ray?

No just moved his legs about and that was it!

I would strongly suggest taking him somewhere that can X-ray him tomorrow morning. As PP mentioned there are a couple of rare conditions that can be quite serious if not detected & managed early enough

Mine had it diagnosed but it came and went in 36 hours. Aged 5-6. They did blood tests and were very serious about it all because, as mentioned, hip pain can be an indicator for other things. X-rays were done early too. I am a worrier about hidden things so if the meds aren't working on the pain trust your instincts and phone out of hours GP. Although ultimately if it's so bad I would go to A and E. But I realise I try to solve problems before they're even problems.

Ds is asleep now, I'm going to get a doctors appointment in morning as reading these and other things is making me worry it could be worse.

My son had irritable hip twice, aged under 3. He didn't have that much pain, but his leg would just give way and he'd topple over. Both times we were advised by 111 to take him to A&E. He was given an ultrasound to check it wasn't septic arthritis or Perthes. I would ring 111 if I were you, and explain that he's still in a lot of pain.

He really must have a hip X-ray. Insist on it.

If the pain has eased / gone in morning do I still ask for one? Gp tonight said they won't investigate till he's had 3 to 4 attacks of this!

Your Gp is making a mistake.

Any episode of hip pain in a child of this age should be x rayed.

A SUFE can slip on and off for a while before it goes fully. Perthe's disease can also be episodic before the joint loses it's blood supply.

A simple x ray will rule both of those serious problems out.

I used to be a nurse in children's A&E. IMO your DS needs an x-ray.

I took DS to A&E when he first had irritable hip because he just woke up one morning in pain and not able to walk. They did an x-ray before diagnosing it. He then had 3 or 4 further episodes between the ages of 3 and 8 which always followed him having a cold.

Your DS is at the age where it could be something else and they should rule out more serious conditions before diagnosing irritable hip.
Your GP is talking crap.

Thanks all, we saw different gp earlier who was shocked they had diagnosed without X-ray so we are now back at hospital waiting to see someone.

That's good news. I hope everything is OK.

We were at hospital most of day and he's been x rayed and had bloods done which have showed nothing. Tomorrow we have a appointment to be reviewed and they mentioned possibly arranging a mri scan. Ds is still complaining it hurts, what's worrying me is he's now saying both hips hurt ad tonight has also mentioned his shin hurting.

Poor DS.
At least they are taking it seriously and investigating it properly now. I hope he feels better soon x