Prolotherapy. What the !?!?! - 535 days post-op

Yes, yes, yes. I know. It’s been a while. 399 days in fact since I last posted here. I reckon I just got sick of talking about it and thinking about it. Hips, hips, hips. Sick of them. Bastards.

I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that my aches and pains were with me for good. I pull up sore after very light jogging, sitting or driving for extended periods is terrible, especially in the right groin, mountain biking was a killer, and sleeping can be very hit and miss. Over the past 76 weeks since surgery it has worn me down to the stage where I thought the surgery I had to repair my hips had been a waste of time. And until yesterday I had still remained unconvinced. I may still be.

Months ago a friend of a friend suggested I needed to address my pain. She is a nurse practitioner who works in the treatment of chronic pain. By the way, a nurse practitioner is a registered nurse educated to a master’s degree level and authorised to function autonomously and collaboratively in an advanced and extended clinical role. Regina has had FAI herself and had surgery and is functioning ok now. Not perfect but ok.

Anyhoo, she suggested I should first discuss medication with my GP, which I did. A course of Lyrica was the upshot from that and it did nothing but make me groggy. The next step she suggested was to head down to Melbourne to the Metropolitan Spinal (Pain) Clinic with who she has had many dealings in her profession. After convincing my GP this was the go, off I went. Yesterday.

The specialist in Melbourne I ended up seeing was a fella named Dr Bruce Mitchell. Bruce has an extensive Sports Medicine background (as a previous AFL club doctor) and has a special interest in the management of pelvic and groin pain. Bingo!

After an extensive discussion and physical examination he has diagnosed me with major pelvic instability. The ligaments, etc holding my pelvis together aren’t doing the job. He believes that this is what is causing all my hip, groin and lower back pain and has insisted that the longer I let it go the worse it will get and the further I will be away from resuming an active lifestyle. I asked him if I am reading too much into this and need to just put up with my aches and burning and pains and he insisted that I am not and should not. Thankfully he said I did the right thing having surgery last year to treat my FAI as he read my file and said my hip joints were a mess. That was strangely comforting as, as you know, I thought I'd wasted my time.

“Let’s go for the cure,” he said eventually after going through all the possibilities.

‘Dorsal Root Ganglion (DRG) Stimulation’was mooted as a treatment. DRG Stimulation is where they insert a neurostimulator system about the size of a pacemaker into my back and hook it up to my spinal cord. The idea is that it will regulate pain signals before they enter the spinal cord and travel to the brain. Stuff that!

He has recommended prolotherapy where he will inject dextrose into the three pelvic joints under sedation/general anaesthetic. This will apparently cause an inflammatory response at the joints which creates scar tissue and then thickens, tightens and strengthens the weak tissue, resulting in stronger ligaments and tendons.

It will be a course of 3 sets of injections 6 weeks apart with the first one booked in for Wednesday October 29. I have been advised that I can expect to be sore for several days following the injections. Apparently this is good as it means that an inflammatory reaction is occurring which should strengthen the ligament. I'm not allowed to take anti-inflammatories during this time which will be just super!

Yes the word "cure" was mentioned but I am not holding my breath. Over the past 12 years I've been treated for torn groin muscles, told I have vertebrae degeneration, sciatica and one leg longer than the other, treated for back related groin pain, possible osteitis pubis and thickening of the illiotibial band, operated on both hips for femoroacetabular impingements, had numerous x-rays, CT and MRI scans, cortisone injections into my hip joint and sacroiliac joint and spent seemingly thousands on physios, masseurs, physical therapists, orthopaedic surgeons and sports scientists. I'll go with this treatment but forgive me if I reserve my judgement on its success. Any improvement will be a bonus because I have had none so far.

As long as prolotherapy provides me with a measure of relief from my current pain and discomfort then I'll be happy as 40 is too young to be grinning and bearing my current situation.

To be continued…..

If you are reading this blog and have any thoughts or comments, good or bad, I would really appreciate it if you could add your comments after any of my posts. I feel like I am on my own with this and would love to hear from people in the same boat.