People who have had hip replacements~ how long did you wait between "diagnosis" and procedure?

Question

If you had an accident how long did you put off the surgery? If you were diagnosed with arthritis, etc., how long did you wait before you decided it was time to go under the knife? Was the pain unbearable and ,if so, how did you cope? Which medicines worked best for you? Did you do any kind of at home treatments that helped? Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

My official doctor-delivered diagnosis of osteoarthritis came about 4 years before I had hip replacements in both of my hips. The unofficial diagnosis (made by me!) came about 8 years before THR! I waited about 3 years too long to have them replaced. I coped (if you want to call it that) by taking double the OTC dose of Aleve daily, curbing my walking because that's what really hurt, avoiding stairs, parking as close to things as I could, finally resorting to a cane for the last year (although I really needed to use one even sooner than that, I was too proud to get one until I absolutely couldn't take a step without it) and the last straw - quitting my job because I couldn't handle being on my feet all day & getting a handicapped parking tag. Other things I tried that may or may not have helped a little include taking glucosamine (IMHO a waste of $$$) and doing physical therapy exercises (not a waste because at least I felt pretty good for a few minutes after doing the exercises).
The Aleve (a.k.a. naproxen) worked pretty good for me for awhile but eventually it wasn't enough. I was lucky and didn't develop any major GI side effects from it despite taking it for 4 years. I always took it with food and lots of water and absolutely didn't drink alcohol and only occasionally had heartburn or indigestion which I treated with Mylanta when it occurred. Others are not so lucky and this drug (and other NSAIDS such as aspirin or ibuprofen) should be taken at high doses only under a doctor's guidance. My desire to be able to stop taking it was just one of my motivations for finally getting my hips fixed.

As I read what I just wrote above, I see that it is quite obvious that I waited a little too long to get myself to the ortho surgeon and I lost a chunk of living because of it. My world became smaller and smaller as I pretty much stayed home as much as possible for the last couple of years and believe it was only a matter of time before I would be wheel-chair bound. I guess it takes some people longer than others to make that inevitable commitment to have surgery.

I am happy to report that my life has changed dramatically as a result of the THRs that I had 5 years ago. I can walk miles, take no pain meds, have no limp, use no walking aids, and pretty much have a normal life back.

Answer 2

It depends a little on the diagnosis.

If you've had a hip fracture - you are likely to get your hip replacement within a day or so.

If you have arthritis, you are on a waiting list (in UK and Aust public health - and this can be months or even over a year depending on which hospital you go to!) or see a private specialist.

Public waiting lists are long because of a couple of reasons:

(1) There are just a whole bunch of people with arthritis (worse with our current obesity epidemic) who need their joints replaced - and on top of this are those pesky emergency cases that keep bumping people off the regular surgery slots.

(2) It's not much of a secret that surgeons prefer to put things off as long as is reasonable (cancer being the exception - sooner you fix it the better). The trouble is that everything we doctors do has a risk of side effects. Say your patient is mildly symptomatic. If you operate on a mildly arthritic hip and they get an infection and are sick for many months, you have an ungrateful patient who probably sues you no matter how thorough you were, even if you DO fix their infection.

If your patient has had their arthritis for some years now and it's getting worse. They have had pain and pain relief and they know that the only thing that will fix it now is a hip replacement - you fix their hip - maybe they get sick for many months but you can fix that too. It's a risk, but it was a risk they were willing to take because now they have 20 more good years on the hip you gave them. You have a grateful patient.

Pain relief, pain relief, pain relief - beware the opiate medications (codeine, oxycodone, etc) can cause constipation. Lots of fibre and water.

Heat. Cold. Physiotherapy. These are all good things to try out.

Answer 3

Thank you for posting the numbers. I think sadly there are a lot of uniformed people out there who simply do not understand that government run health care is typically a disaster, where ever it is. These are the people that the Democrats are hoping to gain support from before they become aware of the full facts of Obama's health care plan. Government run plans also always increases tax rates. Some of these countries with such plans have 58 percent tax rates for employed people. Given the debacle that is presently called medicare-medicaid, which is a government back plan, I don't know how any reasonably sane person could trust the government to run healthcare. Medicaid-medicare is filled with waste, fraud, neglect, mismanagement and too many other problems to itemize here. Just say "NO" to government run or backed healthcare.

Answer 4

No hip replacement, but I'm sure the bill will be pricey. I really want to get the word out about a Universal health care system. We will all need treatment at some point. many people aready need it but can't afford it. Pleaser learn more at source site.