Avn and steroids

Hi all. Im new to healingwell forum and been reading the posts in the osteoarthritis forums. I see we all have alot in common, pain ,questions,and we need support.

7 monthes ago i slipped going down a staircase, the botom few steps. Twisted myself up good and fell. I went to and ortho because after days of rest my lower back hurt tremndously and i couldnt stand straight or walk. He gave me muscle relaxer and a dose of methylprednisone for inflam. And ordered x ray and then an mri which showed 2 hurniated discs in lumbar. After no releif from methylpred the specialist gave me a spilnal eipdoral of steroids. It lasted a few wks and pain returned and a month later tried another steroid injection. I felt better and went on. A few wks later i got my yearly spat of bronchitis and saw my gp.i was givin antibiotocs and a prednisone shot to shrink bronchi. After a short time i started to feel sore in my left hip which was getting more painful as the months went on. I developed a limp and on days i could not put any pressure without severe pain. I decided to see an other orthopedic dr who said i had a very bad case of bursitis. He gave me cortisone shot into my hip and ordered a mri of hip. The pain almost instantly went away and i was walking great without a bad limp. That was short lived. I had the mri and a a few wks later was diognosed with avascular necrosis. ( my femer is dying).

After franticly researching this disease and the causes over and over the only possible causes i could come up with is either im the unluckest guy in the world and i just happens to some people or steriod treatments. Is it possible that 5 steroid treatments in 6 months can cause this? Oral in oct, injected in oct. injected in nov. injection in dec. injected march.

Post Edited (Nine iron) : 3/31/2013 4:57:20 PM (GMT-6)

Thank you ides for your reply. Yes i do have high cholesterol and have been taking medication for that and high blood pressure. I did stop taking the meds for both a few months before the accident and just started taking them again recently. I was just tired of taking pills every day and thought if i changed my eating habits it would go away naturally. To my suprise that didnt work because i was rushed to the hospital because my bp was really high. I quess the same thing happened to cholesterol. I never checked it. So drs are now saying cholesterol can cause avn and then add steroids into the mix and its probably a recipe for disaster. Can you lead me to a link where i can read about cholesterol and avn. If this is the case why was i never warned about the possible side effect that this could cause.

I dont know what stage its in. When inwas diognosed the dr just said to me " you have alot going on in that hip. You have avascular necrosis, theres nothing i can do for it except keep an eye on it and when your hip fails we can do a hip replacement. ". Stood up and left the room and went on about his buisness. I have a appointment with a hip specialist tomorrow morning. What r some question i should ask him? This just was brought to my attention 2 weeks ago and im dumbfounded. The internet just has the same redundant information about avn and it seems like every site has the same copy and pasted info. Glad i found this site. Thanks for your time.

The dr i saw was very informative. He said it was at stage 3. He showed me the pics from mri on the computer and explained to me what was going on. He told me about the option of core decomp but said the success rate at my stage was most likely only going to be temporary and hip replacement basicly the only way to go.he said my balljoint wasnt flatening yet but could see a slight "quartermoon" gap if that makes any sense.
Im kind of confused about this disease. Especially the pain. Last week was so painful to put any pressure on my left leg and for the past 7 day it is almost pain free weight bearing. Instead of feeling it in my hip it feels more painfull in my deep hamstring and shin but i can walk. Is that normal? To have extreme pain to almost none? Im going saturday for bloodwork to check my cholesterol levels to hopefully stop any damage to other joints. If thats even possible.

Hi Pmedic, Don't know if you are still in this forum but saw your post and am wondering how long you were on the prednisone and at what dose? Was it difficult for you to taper off it? I suspect I may have AVN from long term prednisone use but cannot see ortho till next month.

I had AVN in my right shoulder from extended steroid use. I was on Entocort which "isn't systemic and doesn't cause the side effects." Right. I had core decompression which helped for about a year. I ended up having the head of the humerus debrided - dead tissue removed with a clean margin - and a silicone plug sort of thing put in. about a third of my humeral head was involved.

I think doctors are far too quick to use steroids now. I keep turning them down over and over for different things.