Health Organization for Pudendal Education

Hi, I am new to this group and I believe I may have PN after my hip arthroscopy.

I had right hip arthroscopy a few months ago. I am 50 years old and was working full time as a nurse before my hip injury at work. I developed severe burning, deep ache in the coccyx/rectal/sacral area 5 days after my hip surgery. No medical history/problems in the abdominal, pelvic region. MRI one year ago showed in T 11,12 and lumbar area some degenerative changes, mild bulging disc with no symptoms.

My symptoms are moderate to severe burning. I have not been able to sit for 100 days. My pain (the burning) becomes severe after only one minute of sitting. Pain also increases with walking short distance, bending, and anything that slightly touches my buttocks area. As the burning pain increases, the SI joint right side follows in pain. I cannot wear pants and only wearing sundresses with no underwear. I have no pain with bowel movements. Pain is mild to none upon waking up in the morning, and will increase quickly with anything I mentioned above. Pain will only wake me up at night if I accidently roll into supine position. Majority of the pain is right gluteal, with the burning extending to the left gluteal. There is a quarter size area middle of the gluteal area, when palpated causes severe pain. I have no increase in pain sitting on the toilet for a few minutes. It is actually a relief for a few minutes but will start to increase again after 5 minutes I believe due to the buttocks feels stretched (like bending over). I bought a camping portable toilet seat and made a thick cushion to lay on top. This gives me the ability to sit for 5 minutes 2 to 3 times per day. More than 5 minutes is too much and I am afraid of causing more damage. Those 5 minutes are precious to me. I did start Neurontin and it is very helpful, but only last a few hours after taking a dose. I can only take it twice a day because the side effects are too great.

I am waiting to see a pain specialist in August. This has altered my life. It was hard enough waiting almost one year to have hip arthroscopy and now this. I was suppose to go back to work by August. If anyone is familiar with hip arthroscopy, there is an extensive protocol to follow to heal and strengthen the hip. I have not been able to participate and that is causing me problems. I have done so much research on my symptoms and have read many post. I have learned so much and use all the precautions I can to prevent more damage.

Has anyone else in this group developed PN or some sort of nerve damage after hip arthroscopy? I would love to hear from you.

Sorry, to hear that you have not recovered since your hip surgery and seem to have developed new problems. I have not had hip arthroscopy surgery and hopefully someone who has will be able to give you more insight. However, there was a recent publication that suggests a possible link between hip arthropscopy and PN. See the thread link below where I posted the abstract a few weeks back.

http://www.pudendalhope.info/forum/view ... =23&t=6782

Thank you nyt! I have read several articles but have not seen this one you provided. Much appreciated!

Bailey, have you had the chance to get an evaluation by a PT who specializes in the pelvis and pelvic pain? I wonder if that might shed any light on what's going on with you. I wonder if your new problems have anything to do with positioning during the procedure you have done.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3691775/

Violet

Hi Violet, thank you for the response. I requested pelvic PT but was denied. From what I have learned, the doctor and the pelvic PT need to work together to figure out the diagnosis. It is disheartening to not know what is wrong with me. It seems obvious that with the severe burning symptom it must be a nerve injury. I am doing everything I can to try and prevent further damage.

Bailey, that's sad that you were denied PT. I can't remember anyone ever posting they were denied pelvic floor PT if they have pelvic pain. Maybe you could appeal it. You might need some articles to back you up though. There are several on our website http://www.pudendalhope.info/node/25 and you could also check out some of the references that are at the end of those articles. Pubmed might also have related articles.

Violet

Hello Violet, I am receiving care through worker's compensation. My surgeon states he does not know what is wrong with me and who to send me to. I am the one who found a pain management clinic to get this process going to hopefully get a diagnosis. I requested to see a pelvic PT, but he sent referral to my claims manager for Hip arthroscopy PT. I am not capable of doing any exercises. My claims manager told me to just do my exercises at home. I also found out that my surgeon is not documenting all my symptoms. He is just documenting, "posterior pain." Thank you for the information. I will keep working on this.