And now hip pain, please tell me how you manage to sleep at night as my GP can’t.

[NotAgainWilson]

*Disclaimer: I have been waiting for a GP appointment for MONTHS. So I am looking for practical advice from those who have been there while I wait for my turn**

Now that is cleared, I am struggling to sleep at night with hip pain, whatever position I get my self in, it becomes unbearable after an hour or so.

I have tried different mattresses, I am using a knee pillow, sometimes replaced by a proper pillow, have tried to sleep on both right and left side, facing up (my back hurts), on my tummy (ditto) but I am still spending most of the night awake with pain.

I have tried accupuncture (helped for a bit), doing Pilates for hip pain (it is helping, I can walk more but the pain at night is very much present all the time). I have lost weight (about 10 pounds), I’m still overweight (blame the menopause) but not massively over weight).

Does anybody can suggest other stuff to try before my blooming GP has an appointment available? (Everytime I ask they tell me it will be at least another 9 weeks so we are getting to 6 months now).

Have you tied magnesium spray oil? I use it on my legs and hip at night and it helps in conjunction with quite a thick pillow (the idea is to keep your hips and knees aligned). I also found ibuprofen helpful 2 before bed and 2 in the night as needed.
Mine is bursitis. Terrible at night. Can "walk it off" eventually in the day - start off limping and end up with walking normally.
I was advised to always sit during the day with my hips higher than my knees and never to cross my legs or sit with legs crossed or curled under me.

Same here @NotAgainWilson . I’m now prescribed Naproxen, Codeine and paracetamol. Talk to your pharmacist and get whatever pain relief you can, while you wait for your GP appointment.

Mine went away when my oestrogen dose was increased, I hadn't realised it was a hormonal thing till then. Prior to hrt, rosehip supplements helped my knees and frozen shoulder. Got in boots, called GOPO. Can get them in Holand and Barrett too. Also some cheaper types out there but I don't know if they are any good.

Can you get a private physio session?

There is so mich you can do with physio.

Just seen your post about physio. IME you don't need to keep going to physio, just get some good exercises from them and then do them religiously. No need to keep going back.

The only thing that cured my hip pain was a replacement.

I've just been diagnosed with hip impingement. Are you going to get surgery? Do you have a torn labrum with it?

Ok, just sent an urgent appointment request (they don’t even pick up the phone these days, appt requests should be done online) so fingers crossed 🤞

I’ll keep this in mind, just one question, what do you
mean by legs “curled” under you? Thank you.

What collagen type/brand are you using? I have been taken collagen for a couple of years but have not feel
much difference so I’m open to suggestions.

I’m 53. Is this too young or more like the standard?

@garlictwist my diagnosis was done by NHS physio but no x-ray or scans. No mention of torn labrum. Was also diagnosed with IT band syndrome and osteoarthritis in knee. I have osteoarthritis elsewhere. Apparently I probably had it since birth. Have had reduced mobility for good few years but bad pain after COVID and being bed bound.

Steroid injection was suggested if exercise doesn't improve it. No mention of operation. I am better than I was but still pain. Might try some of other suggestions on this thread.

If you can, find a good chiropractor and get your pelvis adjusted. They will also give you exercises to reduce pain and increase mobility in your hip. I've suffered hip pain on and off for years and this is the only thing that has helped.

@NotAgainWilson did you manage to hear back about your appointment request?

I think 53 is probably about right for onset of osteoarthritis I think, but I hope it's not this. I was 33 when I was diagnosed and they were reluctant to explore it due to my age, however xray showed I'd lost a lot of cartilage. I did initially wonder if you were facing the same attitude from reception staff which meant you weren't getting an appointment.

I hope you've managed to get somewhere today with regards to seeing a GP.

Good news, they just texted back, they are seeing me on Friday (thankfully!).

In other news, had a mix of ibuprofen and paracetamol before going to bed and again past midnight. The ankle pain when trying to put weight on the foot this morning was as bad as ever but…. slept like a baby!

Why hasnt the physio given a diagnosis. How can they treat you without one. I don't think a GP will do much for middle aged hip pain, except prescribe painkillers.

If you can manage it, I'd see an osteopath privately, you'll at least get a proper diagnosis and can go to GP with that if there treatment required that the osteopath can't give. Mine is very honest and will tell me if I don't need repeated visits or they wouldn't help.

I have seen an osteopath privately already, he was the one who pointed out that I didn’t have a foot or knee problem but a hip problem.

Did 6 weekly sessions, no difference. I might need to try a different one.

I am on Evorel patches. Have been on them for 4 years. They were prescribed during Pandemic over the phone.
What made huge difference recently was to stop coffee altogether. I can see on my Fitbit that I get much longer stretches of deep sleep. Are you tracking your sleep via any wrist band?

Prior that I tried all sorts of things.
My backpain eased off with Pilates. I go 2-3xweek to small classes (no more than 11 studens in each) 60 minutes long. I wish I could afford private lessons too!
Have you seen an osteopath? In case of acute pain their intervention helped in the past and now I strengthen my "core" all my issues slowly fade away.
Yoga didn't help me much, it aggreviated my discomfort.

Thank you very much for all your comments and suggestions, I have more questions to bring for the GP appointment which hopefully would help to avoid being fobbed off.

This thread is making me aware how much I have tried to get better without the pain going. It is quite depressing really, I started going private as the help I initially received from the NHS physio for the foot problem was so so superficial it didn’t help and that goes without saying that I was ringing for a gp appointment 4 weeks just for that referral, every morning for an hour each day just for the call to be cut with a message asking me to try again tomorrow.

The sport massager I saw afterwards said that the exercises they gave me would have only been adequate for a sedentary elderly person who didn’t need to walk as much as I did. The sports massage helped for a while as well as the accupuncture and Chinese massage, no luck with the osteopath but it might be a matter of trying a different one. I have lost weight, changed my diet a couple of years ago (not that it was particularly unhealthy before as we always cooked from scratch), have plenty of supplements, collagen, nuts, oily fish, do walk for half an hour a day at least and do Pilates 5 times a week and still in pain and feeling stiff. I’m getting worried…

How big is your class where you are learning/doing your Pilates?

This, totally. And a really good quality topper for your mattress- makes a huge difference. Add Turmeric and black pepper capsules.

Yes, the Pilates have been great for my back, I have far more mobility than when I started 4 months ago. There is increased hip mobility, the hip pain is getting worse. Wonder where so I may be going wrong…

I had night time hip pain too and eventually went to a physio thinking it could be arthritis. She said it was actually a weak lower back, she used some manipulation and a tens machine and gave me some exercises to do. It really helped and when I feel it flaring up again I do the exercises. Still have the odd bad night but generally much better.

You need a diagnosis.

There is no point shelling out for physio (where they've not diagnosed anything), Pilates, other practitioners, herbs, etc etc without knowing what is wrong.

The advice from posters is only of benefit WHEN you know what's wrong and if it's appropriate.

It's actually not ethical for those practitioners to 'treat you' when they don't know what's wrong, although the best could perhaps diagnose at hip impingement etc. Their first question should have been 'Have you seen your GP and had an X ray?'

If you have osteoarthritis, you can be given proper exercises to do by a physio that may help. If it's very bad osteo, where the cartilage has gone AWOL, you may need a hip replacement or other surgery.

The GP can't 'see' what's going on and the very minimum is an X ray and blood tests (to check for auto immune arthritis.)

You need to ask for those.

Don't be palmed off with pain killers.

Totally agree, it is so difficult to get one from the NHS, though. I know they have too much work and too little budget but... it is ridiculous. I am not surprised alternative therapies are booming when the main solution from the NHS seems to be pain killers, fresh air and hope for the condition to disappear on its own.

Every single time I have asked for an appointment over the last 5 years it has been the same, weeks of try again tomorrow, a telephone appointment where there is no proper check or a GP asking me what would I like rather than telling me what is wrong... and don't start me on the number of postponed hospital appointments and waiting lists.

I don't blame the NHS though, I blame the politicians who have forced the privatisation of NHS services, the budgets they have cut and the massive reduction on the influx of medical staff brought about by new immigration policies, but that is material for another thread...

In the meantime, thank you all for opening my eyes to the possibility of something being worse than I thought, as I may have been wondering for yet another nine or 18 weeks if my symptoms qualified for an emergency appointment as it seems my GP was more than happy to keep me in the waiting list for routine appointment for months to come or until I gave up and tried yet another alternative therapy.

It’s always possible to get an appointment within a week at my GP, if you’re persistent enough and ill enough.