Sudden return of clunking years into recovery

[jcrew]

My current concern isn't quite a direct match for anything articulated in other threads so far. I am coming up on two years post-op. For many months I did not feel any sensation that I would describe as a clunk or anything near it. And then in the last week, I've suddenly started clunking thousands of times a day. This happens mostly when I'm standing and shifting weight, or side-stepping. Think in the shower, or moving around the kitchen. It does not happen when I walk, exercise, or lift my legs at the gym. I will note that yesterday I noticed a bruise on my backside for the first time. I do not recall any instance of injury. Unfortunately, my surgeon was forced into early retirement and I have yet to find a surgeon that will take me on starting with a virtual visit (they all want the first visit in person, and the nearest is like 7 hours away). So, I thought I'd reach out to the community to see if anyone had experienced the same thing.

[IRONMAN]

It’s weird how it’s only just came on when people say it usually disappears - I’d get it checked out ASAP.

FYI I’m 4 months out and it’s clicking, poping and shifting like bike gears. Apparently it’s normal - pretty sure it’s hitting the edge of the cup with certain movements. Makes you think how much edge wear is being produced.

[jcrew]

Just a note that imaging found a large pseudotumor. I believe I have read on this website that some doctors are willing to provide a free email consultation. Could someone reply with the doctors that normally do?

[catfriend]

I believe both Drs.Gross and Pritchett do virtual consults, but I could be mistaken. It's certainly worth checking with their respective offices.

[IRONMAN]

There’s lots of surgeons that will provide free email consultations and you can send them your imaging. Dr De Smett will provide a response for you.

[IRONMAN]

Any one else experienced a lot of clicking, clunking, shifting etc 5 months out from surgery?

[jcrew]

I already heard back from Dr. DeSmet. One thing that he shared that might be of interest to others is: "If you have a pseudotumour now, this does not correspond with a reason because of wear, but probably because of ALLERGY!, which indeed appears after about 1 year, it has a genetic cause and is in male patients a risk of 1/1500."

I have also heard back from Dr. Pritchett and Dr. Raterman. Setting up a virtual appt with Pritchett next.

[BilateralRecerf]

Any one else experienced a lot of clicking, clunking, shifting etc 5 months out from surgery?

Still some at 8 months but it gets less all the time, or how is it with you?

[IRONMAN]

Certain movements I can always make it happen. If I sit on an indoor stationary bike I can feel something or the component with every single stroke in my buttock as it’s pressed against the saddle.

To be honest I feel like this just creates edge wear. I wish I had just paid the money and went ceramic because I wouldn’t worry about metal Ions at this point.

[jcrew]

Just following up on this thread here and will post in another place my recovery from my revision. But was advised by Dr's Raterman, Bose, DeSmet and Pritchett (a huge thank you to him for two virtual visits) that the implant would need to come out. In talking with Dr. Prtichett he advised that the easiest recovery would be to leave the acetabular cup in the body and remove the stem for a traditional total hip stem made out of ceramic or poly (plastic). He described revising to his poly resurfacing parts as high-risk, high-reward, and just two years out from a long recovery process from which I never really made it to 100% before starting to suffer from metallosis, another long recovery was not desired.

My symptoms started out of nowhere, and continued, sometimes worse, sometimes better for four and a half months, up until the day of my revision. My hip muscles, all of them, became exceedingly brittle. I had the hip aspirated and they took 40CCs of fluid out when they checked for infection (thank goodness there was none). So, I was carrying a tremendous amount of fluid on that joint, which both would get into the joint itself and cause that clunking, but also would cause damage to my muscles. A local surgeon advised that I needed to move as quickly as possible to eliminate this situation. After surgery he told my wife that I had an incredible amount of scar tissue on my muscles in this area.

Dr. Prtichett had advised me that I am not allergic to the metal itself, but that I am allergic to the metal ions caused from the friction between the two metal pieces of the standard resurfacing join (he and other doctors put this at a 1 in 1500 chance, and one for which there is not a reliable pre-surgery test).

Anyway, I'll discuss my recovery in another thread in "revisions." But want to provide more details for anyone that would feel these symptoms in the future. Definitely email all of the doctors that I mentioned above: stephenraterman@gmail.com, bose5vijay@hotmail.com, dr.desmet@heup.be, bonerecon@aol.com. They will all reply. Surprisingly quickly. And give you great advice over email, with the trade of some x-ray images, etc.

[MattFL]

Thank you for the follow up!  I will look for that thread about your recovery and I hope it goes well!