Painful BHR

[CyborgHips]

Hi,


I'm a 47 yr old female, my boys call me a Cyborg.  I had bilateral BHRs put in 7.5 years ago in 2010, three months apart.


I have never had a pain free day.  Went back to my ortho many times over the years, always said to do more PT and stretching.  I went to see Dr. Callander for a second opinion 5 years ago, and he said they were installed at the correct angles.  Any activities where I had to lift, for example grocery bags, any activities where I had to walk a lot, grocery shopping, going to fair, amusement park, flea market, was always painful and I needed several days to recover.  I also lose my balance and fall a lot.  After Disneyland, I was using a cane for weeks.  I stopped going to see the ortho about it a few years ago, as he always said that there was nothing wrong.


Recently, a little over a month ago my left hip started hurting for no reason, no incident occurred, and over the course of a week, it was excruciating.  Went to ER for burning hot pain.  Felt like the inside of my hip was on fire.  Pain from the groin that spread down my thigh, and pain in my buttock that spreads down the back of my thigh.  I also get numbness in my feet sometimes.  Felt inflamed, but not hot to the touch.  They did blood tests and xrays.  No fever, fracture, no infection, no inflammatory markers.  I can feel a slight clunking, but can't hear anything.  I get sharp pains when I walk in my groin, plus general pain that doesn't go away, and a burning pain that spreads down.  Bearing weight is more painful.  Can't sit for longer than 5-10 minutes, even on soft surface, car rides are excruciating.  It feels swollen inside my hip, pressure, like my hip is poking out in some positions, and inflamed.  It does not appear to be swollen at visual inspection.  No rashes of any kind.  Now my right hip hurts too, just not as much.  Guessing it's from compensating.


Went back to Dr Peter Callander, and he did Xrays.  Found that my femoral neck has narrowed.  He manipulated my leg and felt a clunk.  He asked me if I felt it too, and I said yes.  He stated my femoral component might be loose, and causing the femoral neck to narrow.


Did metal tests, chromium & cobalt normal.  Discussed results with Dr. Callander over phone, he again said my femoral component might be loose.  He ordered MARS MRI.


I did the MARS MRI, it was very painful laying there for all that time.  I just got the results back today, but I haven't discussed it with the doctor yet.


The MARS MRI said NO VISIBLE PSEUDOTUMORS, only abnormal thing was adenomyosis (thickening of the uterine wall, probably unrelated) and mild degeneration at lower spine.

I am frustrated because I am in a lot of pain and nothing is showing up as the reason causing it!


Can anyone with experience with BHR revision answer some questions for me Please?


1. Are there more tests I should ask for?


2. Has anyone had a revision when all the tests were normal?


3.  Could this be ALVAL when there is no evidence of pseudotumor on MARS MRI?


4.  Can a pseudotumor avoid detection on MARS MRI?


5.  Can the doctor go in arthroscopically to view the hip joint to see what is wrong?


6.  Any other possible reason for moderate to severe pain in BHR besides ALVAL, component failure, pseudotumor?


7. I read one patient had a vascular reason for hip pain.  He had a total infrarenal aortic occulsion.
Aortobifemoral bypass was done, and it alleviated the pain.


8.  Should I ask for Lymphocyte transformation test?


Thank you so much!  Cyborg Mama

[Pat Walter]

Hi.  I am sorry you are having problems.  I can't answer your questions since I am not medically trained and also just don't know the answers.

My suggestion would be to send your x-rays off to several of the top experienced surgeons and get a few more opinions.  It is always good to have as much input as possible.

http://surfacehippy.info/surgeons-with-1000-hip-resurfacings/

Most of the top surgeons are happy to give you a second opinion.  Don't forget the overseas surgeons like Dr. De Smet. 

It is terrible to have problems and not have answers, I understand that.  I hope several of the other doctors can give you some answers.

Pat

[catfriend]

You have been in pain for far too long. Your body is telling you something is wrong. For whatever reason your current doctor isn't able to diagnose what or why. You need a second opinion. I also advise sending your records to an experienced revision surgeon. The point of the surgery is to get out of pain and lead an active life, not to suffer.