Question for rjbeck (Randy)

Hi 2y4t,
I've been diagnosed with x-ray's and c-t scans and I was told by 3-separate Ortho's that with what was on those films was enough to see the damage done..The disease does not stop until you replace the joint. I've replaced 2 so far 1-hip 1-shoulder.
The bone can start collapsing but the pain should basically let you know when it's time.I did let my left hip go to the brink of collapsing and my doctor told me there was severe damage and lots of swelling and 9-month's's of bursitis after the replacement from last year. My problems started in my right shoulder in 2008 when I was in the hospital for my pneumo and empyema in and I was on 80mg's of prednisone for about 18months. they x-rayed both shoulders in the hospital and knew immediatelyly I had AVN. then my left hip started to give me some problems, so we did x-rays of my hips,knees and ankles and came up positive for the hips and knee's.
There are some alternatives for the hips. I tried one alternative method where they drill into both hips to try and have the bone heal itself. Didn't work at all. I hope this helps. I have gone to some of the best Orthopedic doctors out there IMO. Duke University,University of North carolina and Wake Forrest and they all came up with the same decision about the AVN..

Take care Randy

If I could drop my .02 in...
Yeah, that many steroid injections into one site can definitely cause problems. If I can ask, Matt, how old are you? And were you playing sports to get that much of that kind of treatment at one site as a teenager?

Though, to get technical, Vitamin D and cholesterol are steroids by definition.

Funny how they tell you how bad anabolic steroids are, yet they hand corticosteroids out like candy, for everything from sinus infections to joint pain. For a while there corticosteroids were the miracle drug. They are still very useful, but just not as much as they thought, and there are a lot of side effects. Even prescribed anabolic steroids have their place in certain treatments.

Like the Cox-2 inhibitors. I miss Vioxx so much. It worked so well for me. When it was pulled from the market in 2004, I was prescribed Bextra, which was almost as good until they were all pulled. I think they've put Celebrex back on the market, but it didn't work nearly as well. I'd take the increased risks for the relief Vioxx gave. Something that actually worked.

Thanks again Randy, yeah, the mobility dropped from around 70% to 40% in just a few months, and it seems like the pain is increasing daily; it's gone from a low level, dull ache (no meds needed) to about a constant 6 and jumps to 7 sometimes. It would loose feeling down the back side through the small 3 fingers once a month or so on average, now it's that way about 60-75% of the time.

LivingColor, I just turned 29 2 weeks ago today, too much going on for my age I know lol. Last shoulder specialist I saw out in Salt Lake City in '05 said I was a boy trapped in an old man's body lol; in part because of my gastric bypass, it speeds up hormonal changes. Before my gastric bypass, I had hair so thick, it would stall and clog cheaper hair clippers, now, I have little left on top lol, nice and shiny :). I know that weighing 400lbs took its toll on me as well, thankfully, today, I weigh 165ish. I think the other thing that really killed my shoulder, was continuing to lift heavy weights despite doctors orders, and became one of 5 people in my college's history to get their name on the hall of fame board for bench press, 425lbs two repetitions (I proudly announced that to my old HS football coach, and he said it's about time you could lift your own body weight).

Well, I have to get ready to head down the hill to the pharmacy, I was supposed to pick up prescriptions tomorrow, but we have snow in the forecast, so I called the pharmacy, and they were more than happy to have it ready today. I'll keep you all posted as things happen, work comp finally approved the patches, so I pick up the script for those on Monday, not sure what to expect, but my doc assured me they should work just fine.

Take care all, be back later.