Night hip pain

[Friendly]

I have hip pain, but only at night.  I am 53, and have had problems off and on since I was pregnant (at 37).  It has been getting worse, and wakes me up at night.  I take Naprosen, but does not really help.  I am moderately active, hiked 10 miles on our vacation, use the tredmill (only about 3 x week for 1 mile) and am working on losing the 50 pounds I need to loose (weight watchers)  I eat lots of fruits, vegetables and grains, only a little meat and drink milk.  It is better when I take my vitamins for menopause, but never goes away completely.  I rarely notice it during the day.  But at night, its getting worse and worse.  I'm thinking I should ask for x-rays to see if there are reasons other than bursitis.  What do you think?

[CCF Neuro[P] MD, RPS]

Dear Patricia:

Sorry about your hip pain.  From what you describe, it is difficult for me to tell you much.  You did not tell me what is thought to be the etiology of the hip pain (developing when you were 37).  If the pain your experiencing is from arthritis or from bursitis, then either it is getting worse or another problem is developing.  I would recommend you seeing your general physician as he/she would know better what to do as they know about this problem.  If the type of pain is new, for example the pain is now radiating down your thigh, then you should see your physician and let them know about the new pain and maybe get a referral to a neurologist.  This would be likewise if the pain is the same but there is some other problem such as feeling like your leg is beginning to cramp and you need to move or flex it to get comfort and this is now keeping you up later in the night.  Whether to get x-rays or not depends on the underlying condition and if there are new symptoms and these might be.

Sorry that I am not able to help much.

Sincerely,

CCF Neuro MD

[Bill Gilson]

Some of the messages I see ask questions that no one could ever diagnose. A pain in the hip could have many causes, if your want to hear of one here goes: I am a 54 year old male. I was in bed and noticed pain in my right hip. It was off and of for about a year and got worst. Most doctors told me it was arthritis which is not uncommon, millions and millions of people have it to some degree. After seeing about five doctors the sixth said, after an MRI I had AVN or Osteonecrosis and needed a hip replacement. Wow! I put it off for two years and got so bad I did get the hip replacement, now I have even more problems. With all the cutting they do I got nerve problems and Spinal Stenosis. The hip replacement is just fine, IF I DO NOT WALK ON THAT LEG!
At least get an xray before asking questions, maybe call one of the psychic hotlines it would produce some kind of answer.

[dollarb58]

A related discussion, Hip pain with complications was started.