Health Organization for Pudendal Education

Just a quick update:

I'm now 4.5 months post-scope left hip for labral tear and femoracetabular impingement (FAI). Left side is where all my PN symptoms are. Recovery from the surgery is not a piece of cake, that's for sure! It can take up to a year to regain full functionality. I still have a fair amount of inflammation in the joint (probably due to a combination of all the surgical work that was done as well as an over-eager patient (me!) in the exercise/physio department).

In my case, the relationship between hip pain flares and pelvic pain is so clear and evident. Whenever I get a hip pain flare, I get pain in my left labia, buttock, groin and lower abdomen. My pelvic muscles seize up and I get constipated.

Two weeks ago I had a cortisone shot in the hip joint to calm down the inflammation. Presto bingo, within ten days all my pelvic pain symptoms disappeared. So I am confident that when my hip is all better, my pelvic pain will resolve itself for good. Being patient continues to be the key to recovery.

I wish you all the best for a happy holiday season and a healthy 2013.

Great news Lernica. I'm so happy to hear you are feeling better. Thank you for keeping us updated.

HI all: i am 5 months post op from my hip surgery and just want to give an update. I have no hip pain at all (which i DIDN'T have when this all started -- i only had PN pain at first and then the hip pain came on later). I can sit for long periods of time with no problem. My SIJD seems to be much less and i dont feel asymetrical in my pelvis. i was down to 5 mg of Elavil but recently had a mild flare and have gone back to 10mg. Most of the time this whole experience feels like a distant nightmare -- but i am not quite 100% yet. I am still making my recovery a priority with weekly massage, occasional PT, exercise and relaxation every day. I can clearly feel the relationship between my obturator tightening and a flare.

I just want to reemphasize that i saw a lot of specialist who kept telling me it wasn't my hip -- because i didn't really have hip pain at the beginning. It was only my persistence that finally got me a correct diagnosis -- so don't give up!!

Yay, Beverley! So happy to hear you have no hip pain. My hip is taking a long time to recover.

For any of you that had he hip arthrogram MRI, I have a question. I had one done this morning and while the procedure itself was no biggie, the soreness I have now is pretty bad.

More distressing to me, however, is the pop/catch in my hip and knee when i Try to walk now..it's pretty bad and extremely uncomfortable. I am terrified right now. Did anyone else experience this popping sensation after thir MRI ? The doctors office brushed over my concerns..one office saying its rare, the other saying yea yea yea I goes away in a few days.

Anyone hav any advice?

Pizzarios,

I never had an arthrogram but I have heard that it can cause some temporary pain symptoms because of the dye and marcaine they put into the hip joint during the procedure. The extra fluid can sit in the hip joint for a few days, causing pain and crackling. Please be patient; the pain will surely subside as the fluid gets absorbed into the body.

Let us know of your results when they are ready. Did you have hip pain before the procedure?

Lernica, you're the best.

I did have intermittent hip pain, along with nearly constant lumbar pain ( both left sided ) before the MRI on the hip. But the pain of the procedure was far worse than my day to day discomfort
Now and then the hip would catch or lock fora Millisecond or two, and cause momentary debilitating pain, about a 8-9 on pain scale. Oddly enough, the urethral and vulvodynia I experienc is also all left sided. I am praying that whatever the orthopedist does or does not find will start to she'd more light on my pn pain. The nerve pain has also increased since my procedure yesterday . Is this also a "thing"? Will this die down too?

Thank you!

I will keep you all posted on the outcomes

Also lernica, think its very interesting to note that both you and I experienced the pn pain before th hip pain cropped up....very interesting. One would logically think that if the pain "originates" from he hip/hip socket, the pain would present there first, right? Odd.

whoops!

sorry lernica, just realized it was Beverly who started with pn pain before hip pain. Sorry!

Haha, not to worry: in fact I experienced left PN pain well before the left hip pain too! My sequence was: right hip pain (10 years ago), left PN pain (2.5 years ago), left hip pain (1.5 years ago). All my remaining symptoms are left-sided too.

I am quite confident that as in my case, in your case the hip and the PN and the vulvodynia are all related. Your new increased PN pain will settle down as the hip pain from the injection does. As I stated above, every time my left hip pain flares, so does my left-sided pelvic pain, in lockstep.

Who is your hip doctor? Is s/he an arthroscopic hip preservation specialist? Does s/he understand the connection between hip and pelvic pain? Some PNers with recently diagnosed hip pathology have had a very hard time convincing hip surgeons that there is a connection between the two. If you haven't already, you should join the website Hip Chicks Unite, specifically the Pelvic Pain Hipsters Group. On their Group page are listed all the literature pertaining to this subject. You may want to print it up and bring it to your surgeon when you discuss your MRI results.

Glad to hear that you will keep us posted. The hip/pelvic pain connection is so very interesting, and is also, I think, very relevant to many of us PNers, whether we know it or not.