Thursday, July 2, 2009

So What To Do Now????

So I spoke with Dr. K tonight regarding the MRI and the results. The good news is that there is no sign of an acute injury (subluxation, etc). There is some fluid in the psoas, and scarring on the capsule, both of which may be causing me trouble. He has never seen someone who presents the way I do (of course not, I am very special, he agreed) So...he thinks I should get an ultrasound guided psoas injection.

My last psoas injection was miserable, it took about 45 minutes, and following it, I lost all active hip flexion for a few days. I don't want to do that. He understands and is ok with that. He thinks I should then go ahead and get the joint injected, since the psoas and capsule will benefit from it as well. I don't know if this seems like a final solution, I just am not sure and I don't know what to do. I asked about getting Synvisc injected into the joint, he said he generally doesn't inject Synvisc into people "like me", meaning with no arthritis. I pointed out the cartilage thinning in the joint, he didn't think it was all that impressive. He said that if I go with Synvisc, they first do a cortisone injection about a week before, then 3-5 Synvisc injections after. Or, I could go with super duper non-FDA approved Synvisc that is given only one time. Or...I could go with a platelet rich plasma injection, of which the results are not yet conclusive.

So...... a lot of options, not a lot of evidence...nothing of great significance (shocker) on the MRI. So, I have decided to go ahead with a cortisone injection into the joint, I can then decide if I want to stop with that or continue on with the synvisc. I hope that this will be the solution for me because I am getting pretty fed up with hip pain!

3 comments:

Jess said...

How confusing!! I totally understand your impatience with regard to getting your results...I'm still waiting to hear from my 2nd specialist re my CT results and it was 2 bloody weeks ago! I'm very annoyed!
Good idea to go with the injection first, I think. Your MRI states a lot, but I wonder how much is due to previous surgeries and whether a hip MRI on you will ever look normal again? Is anybody concerned about your back or SI joints??
Hope you can get the jab soon and hope it brings relief!

Meeegs said...

Sounds like my last MRI experience, only my big problem was getting it scheduled, not getting the results (simply because I had an appointment with my Dr. K a few days later)! No signs of anything really problematic, not really sure why I'd be having the problems I was, and hadn't ever really seen anybody with my complaints.

So I let him inject absolutely everything in and around my hip. If you go to Boston and see my Dr. K, he'll even knock you out for the injection! (actually, that's how he prefers to do them, I convinced him that I'd manage without).

Good luck with the cortisone! I hope it works better than mine did! I don't know if you've had one into the joint before, but it's easy-peasy compared to the psoas injection. No worse than an arthrogram.

freeheelfun said...

Hi Susie,
I followed your story on the FAI yahoo group and wanted to say that I've had really good results from the platelet rich plasma injection. It really made a big difference to me even though the research is still slim. If you want to hear more about my PRP experience, just send me an email.

Good luck.