Early hip replacement - please help!

[SadHippy]

I am 40 and have had hip pain since DS was born 11 years ago. It has gradually become worse, and is now affecting daily life and making me very miserable. I have gone from regularly walking 8 miles every day to being unable to walk downstairs without pain.

Over the years, I have tried osteopathy, acupuncture, physiotherapy, pilates and chiropractic. I have variously taken rosehip, glucosamine and chondroitin (which disagreed with me), and fish oils. I've also had steroid injections into the joint. None of these has helped . I'm now on the maximum dose of naproxen plus paracetamol. I don't want to start taking the addictive painkillers, as I know this is just exchanging one problem for another.

I've seen a consultant several times, who says that the only real option now is a double hip replacement, and that he will put me on the list as soon as I can't bear to carry on as I am. The waiting list is about 14 weeks at the moment.

If I were on my own with no children, I would probably get it done now, and face the dreadful prospect of revision surgery in the future. Every day is governed by the pain in my hips. However, DH is often away, and DS has Asperger's and is extremely challenging for every single second when he's not at school. I also have a 9 yr old DD (neurotypical, but expert in winding her brother up) and a dog.

What I'm wondering is how on earth I could cope with the post-surgery part? DH could hold the fort while I'm in hospital (for how long??) - but I'm terrified at the prospect of trying to cope with the children and dog whilst being out of commission. We have a downstairs loo (can you climb stairs post-replacement?) and friends who could take DD to school and collect her - but DS is a very different matter. My family live too far away to help out.

Please, please could anyone advise me who has experience of what's involved in the recovery, and tell me how they coped more or less alone with children??

I had both hips replaced a year and a half ago. I was very reluctant, but would do it again tomorrow based on my experience. I was going to post and say try to make sure that you have the best surgeon possible, because I do believe that makes a difference to the outcome, but it sounds as if you have been lucky. If that was me I would take that chance with both hands and go for it. (You might want to ask him if it is definitely him who will do the op - they may not guarantee it but it is worth asking.)
I had both done at more or less the same time to minimise total recovery time. The operations were done a week apart and I had to stay in hospital in between.
My life is totally different now and I can do pretty much anything I want apart from high impact sports or running marathons. I can post again with more info about what was involved if you want, though most people have covered it.
I did a hypnosis session some weeks beforehand to relax me and to give positive suggestions about recovery and doing the exercises/physio. I think it worked for me.
I did actually manage to walk on the same day of the op both times, though I did have to push to make sure the physio came to see me and get me out of bed. I came out of hospital 3 or 4 days after the final op.
I found it hard not knowing how long I would be on crutches, but really I felt pretty stable standing up within a few days, and the crutches are just to help you get around - within a few weeks you will be down to one or none. I did sleep a LOT during the first week when I got home, and I needed help getting into the shower (ours is in the bath) for about a week.

I would say just do it. If you are in so much pain it will be impacting on your family anyway, and you will have to get it done eventually. I think you will wish you had done it earlier :)

hello, this is very interesting to read! I'm due to have a replacement in 4 weeks time (am 37).

I've been told I'll be in hospital for about 4 days, by the time I am discharged I should be able to get up stairs and in and out of bed. Within a couple of weeks I should be able to walk up the road (with a stick maybe) and within 6 weeks I should be able to walk a couple of miles!

No driving for 6 weeks (it's my right hip so automatic car doesn't help). I have a 2 and a 4 year old and so my husband is going to take a couple of weeks off and then I will get my mum here for a week or so. My main worries from the children point of view is that I won't be able to pick them up and will have to be very careful in my movements for some time (there is a dislocation risk, you can't cross your legs for a long time apparently!), so it depends a lot whether you have to be physical with your DS or not when he is having a meltdown?

I expect having children sitting on your lap is not something you can do for some time either.

Would your DH be able to make sure he is not away for the first 6 weeks or so do you think? I think you will want to be as hands off as possible for the first week so that you can relax and sleep when you need to. Frankly I am looking forward to the hospital stay, I hope I am bed bound with a TV for at least a couple of days :o

Everyone I have spoken to in real life who have had one have said they have never looked back and wish they had done it years ago.

Hi all, are you all still here? My DH is having his femoral head replaced next Friday (had Perses disease when young). From all your posts it looks like I shouldn't be as worried as I am. He will be ok won't he? I am fretting. He on the other hand is looking forward to it.

I had the Birmingham Hip Resurfacing twenty years ago. It followed a lot of years if my doctor doing anything he could to put off a replacement because I was sixteen when I had a car accident, got avascular necrosis, and couldn't walk without terrible pain for years. The BHR is a bit like the ones there was terrible bone tumour scares about a couple if years ago, but it has not been associated with these. They were faulty copies. I always hesitate to talk about how life changing it was because I'm do afraid if jinxing it, and I was always warned it might not last. I spent my early twenties in agony. The day after I had the BHR I was encouraged to get up and walk on it. I've had total movement ever since. Painless movement. Some days are a bit twingey and creaky, sometimes there's a couple if days in a row with a little achiness, but that only scares me because I'm so afraid of it going wrong because I'm such a pessimist. The pain is so insignificant - the pre op years, the pain was excruciating. I came into my mid twenties so confident and happy and I feel do lucky to have had it. I hope this post isn't totally useless, I don't know if the BHR is an option for you, but I know all hip surgery has improved massively.

Sorry about all the typos! iPod touch. Of, not if. So, not do.

can you climb stairs post-replacement?

Yes, they don't let you out if you can't.

My dad has had 2 done and now walks without his stick.

I'm sorry the steriod jabs don't work for you, for me they are brilliant, but you don't want to know that.

I know you said you didn't want to go on 'addicting' painkillers but do have a think. I take amitriptolyne at night as well as various opioid pain killers. I have different ones for different levels of pain.

It might be worth considering, even for the short term coming up to the op.

Hi @SadHippy hope you’re doing well. I know this post is over 10 years old, but was wondering how it all went for you! Did you finally get hip replacement surgery? How has it been since then? My husband is 40 next month and most likely need bilateral hip replacement at some point:-(. Just looking for reassurance that it will all be okay. We have 2 very young children