painful hip and now skin is tender around it - what is going on?

[narmada]

I had a baby 4 months ago, and during pregnancy had some back and muscle problems and something that I think was pelvic girdle pain.

My left hip is now really hurting - the pain is in the bit where my leg meets my pubic area, and also round the back where I think my sacroiliac joint is, but only on one side (left). I have just been taking ibuoprofen and meaning to book a physio appointment but now my skin around my back is actually feeling a bit tender to the touch, as is the skin on my hip/ inner thigh area.

Does anyone have any idea what could be going on and why my skin would be tender too? I had just put it down to one of those pregnancy/ postpreg/ carrying-massively-heavy-baby things but the fact my skin's now tender is making me think I should probably drag myself to the doctors.

I am a little concerned as we have a family history of rheumatoid arthritis .... but I don't have any other symptoms in any other joints.

Ok I just googled rheumatoid arthritis and it doesn't seem to fit. I'm not stiff on waking. It gets worse with activity as the day wears on.

DS had something similar in his knee last year - it was septic arthritis - basically an infection within the knee joint. It was treated with antibiotics and was cured entirely in a fortnight, with no repercussions. Don't be scared of the word arthritis there, it just means swollen joint, and there are many varieties. Septic arthritis is not the same as rheumatoid arthritis.

ooh thanks bikerunski I wondered about an infection or something, just couldn't see the mechanics of how it would get in there. Suppose I had better go to the GP and see if something can be done as it's getting hard to hold DS or sleep.

The docs reckoned that DS's septic arthritis was caused by a virus that didn't completly go away. They were interested that he had had conjunctivitis a few weeks before hand.