dr says i have avn in right hip

I am 25 years old and for the past year I have been having this pain in my hip/groin area. It has gotten to the point that it aches every day, when i move my leg certian ways it hurts,and when i am walking on it sometimes it feels like my leg is gonna give out, along with the jolt of pain that comes along with it. So the Dr. called me back with the xray results and said he sees avn, in the right hip and arthritis in the left. I should hear back from the orthopedic dr monday or tuesday. What does this mean for me. I heard if it is noticed on xray, it is in later stages, also, i have aquired a limp unknowingly. I am scared. How will i provide for my newly born daughter and girlfriend..Are those symptoms of avn,....could the dr be wrong?

I had AVN in my right shoulder and have had surgery twice. The second time it was a partial joint replacement. The good news is that joint replacements are very successful these days. The orthopedist will most likely want an MRI to see exactly what's going on before any surgery is done. My defect was also clearly visible only on the MRI, although there was a suggestion of it on a plain x-ray.

If you're in the US, you should be eligible for Family Medical Leave Act, which requires your employer to allow you 12 weeks of unpaid leave in any 12 month period for serious medical conditions. Any sick leave or personal time you have can be used to cover the time. If you have short-term disability, you should also be able to get benefits from it.

My boss at my last job had hip replacement and was back at work in two weeks, using just a cane. Hopefully if you have to have surgery you'll have results that good also.

ggrateful, they have to remove the dead tissue in the joint. If the AVN is advanced, this would remove enough bone that the joint would not work properly. Usually you can delay surgery until either the pain or functional limitations become more than you can put up with, but it sounds like you could already be close to that point.

I am a 58 year old male I have avn, took quite a while to diagnose, since I first started having groin pain, sound familiar it has progressed to where I could not walk without crutches. I had surgery 8/23/11. They drilled my femur and filled with cadaver parts? Can't think of the proper term. Hurt terrible after surgery, I am on crutches now about 5 weeks. I go to the surgeon on 9/30/2011. I still have the groin pain when the leg is moved in a direction it does not like. rearend Still hurts when I sit for any legth of time. My question is if this does not work will I be able to have total hip replacement after the drill and fill. I am retired, but I do live on a non working farm. Lots of stuff to do! I was very active before this happened I walked 4 miles per day at the mall or treadmill at the gym up until the point where I thought I had a groin injury which was not healing. I could do anything that needed to be done around my house. I will ask my doctor about this just wondering if anyone knows. I am wondering if I should have gone for total hip replacement and be done with it. Will my leg ever get better or am I going to be carrying it around the rest of my life. I adhere to everything I was told no weight on it. The only thing I do is mow the lawn, my mower is a zero turn no foot controls. I cannot drive a car, as well as do a lot of other things. I am not ready to go to the old peoples home!
Thanks
Ray

Karim,
I got your message, but unfortunately I cannot add you to the group; you'll have to go through the steps to join the yahoo osteonecrosis group yourself so that you can configure how you would like to receive messages from the group and set up identifying information. We'd be happy to have you and there is alot of information, resources and links to information that I know you'll find helpful. I also helps to talk to others who have AVN/ON.
Hang in there!
Elise

AVN (avascular necrosis) is a complication that sometimes occurs from high-dose steroids. For reasons I don't quite understand, long term steroid use can cause the blood flow to your hips and/or shoulders to be severely limited. Without blood, the bones don't get nourished, and they slowly deteriorate. From what I understand, once it's visible on the x-ray, there isn't much you can do - you will eventually need some kind of surgery.

My mom had AVN in both of her hips a few years back, and ended up having to get a bilateral total hip replacement. It really was terrible watching her go from being fairly healthy to complete immobile in a little under a year. She had a fairly incompetent rheumatologist who gave her no medications except for 40mg methylprednisolone (equivalent to 50mg prednisone) for a year and accused her of trying to score drugs when she started complaining about the hip pain. My mother has always been the type of person who'll tolerate extreme amounts of pain before saying anything. She got the point where she could barely move without crying. Her surgeon (who is a well reknowned surgeon, did one of the first hip resurfacings, and is a harvard medical school graduate) took a look at her x-ray and said something to the effect of "I really don't know how you even managed to move your legs with AVN this advanced; you should've had the surgery a long time ago". She's a lot better now and has retained most of her mobility - she can even sit on the floor (we had them put the absolute best hips possible; ceramic construction, large heads, etc..). Her disease is still fairly active, but she can at least walk again. My mom was 40 years old when all this went down btw.

Post Edited (terraphantm) : 11/27/2011 10:02:03 PM (GMT-7)