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).

Glad to hear you have an appt OP. Hip pan, esp at night was one of my major symptoms. Just makes you want to cry when you spend all night tossing and turning to try and relief it. Although fro me Evorel was a game changer, it solved the issue pretty much straight away.
Also your GP sucks!! Mine is terrible and you will never see a human being but at least they farmed out services to online providers so appts usually take less then a week (your GP may be a total stranger several counties away but at least its something!!LOL).

My DH had very crippling hip pain. The x-Ray showed usual wear and tear for his age but not enough for hip replacement. GP said see you in twenty years, take Paracetomol if the pain is uncomfortable.

We went to a physio and the issue was his falling arches affecting his gait. He got custom orthotics for his shoes and strengthening exercises for the hip muscles. Now he has no more hip pain.

9 weeks is fucking awful what has this country become.
I have terrible hip pain , mainly due to tight iliotibial band and tight hamstrings. Lots of acupuncture with an actual acupuncturist not a physio, and lots of stretches for the two above massively helped me.
But do need to rule out other more worrying things.
Ps also get this awful government out before they trash our NHS forever

Ill enough is a relative term. I had a cancer scare a few years ago. They offered me an appointment in my city 10 months later or one at another town 2 months down the line. The operation that I needed after that was postponed several times so I only had it about 18 months after I was first referred.

One of my friends get appointments immediately but I think it is because the practice is fearing legal action as she went with what she thought was a little ball under the skin, they told her that it was probably a fat deposit but that they will test for cancer anyway. They someway missed the test result confirmed cancer presence at that time until she went back a few years later with a much bigger lump.

So embrace your available GP, it is a disappearing breed.

Interesting... I have fallen arches as well. Have been on orthopaedic insoles most of my life. I normally have them made to measure but the practice I visited for that closed down and have not find anyone as good as him in the last three years.

The problem we have in my city is that, I suppose that with the budget cuts, practices started merging into "Medical Groups". My practice used to be very good but it is absolutely rubbish since the merge (it may also be that some of the older GPs who had a bigger stake in the practice have retired by now and a lot of the new ones only work part time).

Unfortunately, there are only 3 "Medical Groups" in my city so every time I ask for a recommendation I hear the same complaints, that is practically impossible to get an in person appointment unless you are elderly, a child, or extremely unwell.

Save up the £50 and see a physiotherapist (not a chiropractor or osteopath or acupuncturist or hypnotist) .
Do the exercises they give you and keep trying for a GP appointment for better pain relief. If you call the GP and they tell you that there are no appointments that day then take the one in 9 weeks or whatever just in case and keep trying. Also asking for a nurse appointment might be quicker: if they can't help you they can push you straight to the GP.
I hope you feel better soon.

I have seen many physios and osteopaths and chiropractors over the years. My recent experience was private physio that made the pain worse then NHS physio that was better but made diagnosis without x-ray or scan. She said something about at my age it being ok to diagnose without scans. The GP did blood tests too.. physio also diagnosed flat feet which contributed to the problem.

I think if acupuncture works then it works for you. Perhaps do it again? Perhaps keep it going?

I have listened to various podcasts about how we perceive pain and the role of the brain. I know my pain is worse when stressed. Chronic pain can stress you though.

One other thing I find helps is using a massage ball to release the tight muscles around the hip.

Good luck

Hmm. Yes my DH went to a physio where they do 3D scans and custom make the orthotic insoles to support the feet in the position they should be in when walking. It is more advanced than the walk across foam method.

Yes, that kind of thing, they did the scan, made me walk in a long mat that show where the pressure on the sole was being applied, model the right position with some cushion filled with something heavy, then they would 3D print and adjust.

This was long before the hip pain (I had them done for about ten years), very expensive but made a HUGE difference.

If your DH would remember the name of the practice, may I DM for the details? Thank you.

Took me 35 minutes this morning to get through to a receptionist to book two routine appointments!! And that was as soon as phone lines open 8am!

Good for you, that doesn’t happen in my city. In fact, the emergency appointment I got for 5 days later was requested at 6:08 am. (They open for requests at 6am)

I have no idea what they would have told me about trying again in the next day/week/month/life if I had submitted the request at 8 am. 🤷🏻‍♀️

No need for the 'good for you' at @Vettrianofan . They were concurring with you that it's not as easy as some people think to get an appointment.

When you say hip pain OP, iit might be helpful to know where you have pain.
Is it on the side, ( and if so is it above where the groin crease finishes at the top).
or do you feel it further back in the buttock or further forward in the groin?
Do you have groin pain when you walk? Does it hurt when you turn your foot in towards your midline?
Does the top of your leg on the outside hurt when you push it?

Increase in oestrogen and TENS machine. Couldn't be without my tens machine.

How did you get on at Drs on Friday OP?

I take Anastrazole ( post breast cancer) so my hormone levels are super low. Apparently a side effect of this is fluid retention and inflammation in joints.
I take an antihistamine (loratidine) daily that helps with the joint pain. I also have diuretics prescribed which help too.
If I run out of the antihistamines then the pain is crippling. It affects a lot of joints but not always at the same time.
I also find that I get more cramp at night so often drink tonic water at night which helps.

Side of the hip when I am lying down just above the crease of the groin, and slightly towards the groin when I walk. There are some points on the outside of the leg (between knee and hip) that feel very tender when I put a bit of pressure on them. The back of the Achilles heels hurt on both legs at the end of the day. 🤷‍♀️

Just to update on my appointment outcome. I have been asked to self refer to physio, prescribed Naproxen and sent for bloods and X-Rays to be taken.

Bloods are back and only indicated a deficiency of vitamin D. The X-Rays results will be ready in 2 weeks so fingers crossed is nothing serious.

Vitamin D deficiency can cause deep aches as well.
I hope physio helps.

Wonder if you have trochanteric bursitis ? A perimenopausal problem.
I find it painful to sleep on my side. A memory foam mattress topper helps and so does a session with the massage gun.

I have similar issues with my GP surgery, OP. I empathise. Those that can always get an appointment at their surgery are very fortunate!

I'm glad you've moved forward a bit with this. I had hip issues, was referred by my (brilliant) physio for an MRI, then had a steroid injection in my hip, which fixed it.

Did your GP recommend a vitamin D supplement? I use the Better You vitamin D spray. When you said you had shoulder issues, it did make me wonder if you have issues with your thyroid. I had an incredibly painful shoulder, and painful joints and muscles all over my body. Physio didn't help, then I was diagnosed with an overactive thyroid. Once my thyroid hormones were balanced, all the pain went away. It was like a miracle! Just putting that out there

What pain relief are you taking?

i thought I may have not bursitis as I can lie on both sides doing Pilates without problem, but I get the pain in bed starting flipping from one side to the other one just after midnight. I just found a sheet of exercises for bursitis and they are mostly the same Pilates exercises that I am already doing so I guess that I am going in the right direction one way or another.

I've got a waterbed. It's bloody great and does remove a lot of the pressure you experience from a normal mattress.

Yes vitamin D (1000 ucg). I just got the basic ones from ASDa but I had forgotten about the spray one. I have bought it in the past, will have a look when I finish with the tablets.