congenital hip dysplasia in adults

[darthspud]

Hi everyone this is my first post but i've lurked for ages

I was born with hip dysplasia and spend a good portion of my infancy in body casts to correct the problem (im 27 yrs now) recently i have been experiencing sever hip pain to the point where it was almost debilitating. When I was at disney a few weeks ago i went about 2 days (out of the 5 days i was there) before I broke down crying because i was in so much pain i ended up renting an ECV and getting a guest assiance card...

I have not had health insurance in a few years and recently picked it up at work now that I qualify for it and of course need to make a doctors appointment asap to figure out what can be done and what not but what I was curious about was if other people have experiance with this.. I've contemplated purchasing a set of arm crutches off like amazon.com to use when walking around the mall and what not but i figured id wait and ask a medical professional (i dont even have a doctor so im asking my friends who they see and what not)

thanks!

 

[mom3sonstt]

I also was born with hip dysplasia. It doesn't sound like mine is quite as bad as yours. I was in a body cast one summer (I am older than you so they may nothave had as many options when I was a child) but the summer between 1st and 2nd grade they went in, broke my leg in order to shift everything down to fit the ball into what little socket I had. That didn't work at all. A few years later they went back in to remove the plate that they had put in to hold my bone together while it healed. But other than that they told me to come back when I quit growing and do a hip transplant. I have obviously quit growing (I am 43 now) but when I went to an ortho last year he said I still had good movement in my hip - no severe arthritis so he didn't recommend doing anything yet.

In addition to my hip I also have failing kidneys and am on peritoneal dialysis which means I have to fill my abdomen with 2 liters of dialysis fluid where it remains all day. That has changed my body shape (I look pregnant) so my hip bothers me more than it used to due to the extra weight of the fluid, and the fact that it has thrown off my normal center.

I do not shop at malls anymore if I can avoid it, when I am at Walmart or a grocery store I always push a cart - more to lean on than for shopping purposes. When we go on vacation I look to see if there are ECV rentals - definitely at Disney World - I rent offsite so I have it everywhere. We also went to Virginia to visit my step-son and his family, while there we went to Busch Gardens where I rented one for the day. We went to St Louis with friends for a long week-end and the mall we went to there had shopping carts. Other than that I have a fold up cane that I take if I know I am going to be walking a lot. I don't particularly like it becuase if I walk too much then my arm starts to ache from the extra weight I am putting on it, but it does help to take a little pressure off the hip.

Good luck!