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.
