Question
I have bilateral hip dysplasia.  My left hip was dislocated when I was born, but was corrected when I was an infant.  I never had any pain until I was 24 years old (2005).  I had two hip joint preservation surgeries on my left hip, and two other smaller surgeries on it in the last three years, but I never got better.  I was always planning to have the right hip operated on after I had a good result on my left hip, which never happened.  I had my left hip replaced four weeks ago, and am in still in pain.  I believe it is getting better, but am anxiety ridden wondering if the surgery worked.  My right hip is killing me, and I am having difficulty doing much, including PT, sleeping, getting of pain medication, etc. My surgeon will replace my right hip as early as mid-May, which will be 7 weeks after I had my left hip replaced...  Or I could wait until mid-June.  I don't want to wait any longer, because my right hip hurts so bad and anticipating surgery gives me anxiety.  My physical therapist suggests I wait until June, but I am still on the fence.  When would you suggest I have the right hip replaced?  Katie

Answer
Hello Katie

You are making several points that I'd like to address.  First of all, four weeks out of surgery, is not a lot of time for healing to take place.  In my opinion, it takes at least 4-6 months to heal and get back to a somewhat normal life.  So you really have a bit of time to go and I anticipate that the left hip will start to feel better as time goes on.  When a hip is replaced, a large muscle group is cut and that alone, takes time to heal.  If your X-rays are showing the prosthesis is in place, which I am assuming that it is, your muscles are the things that need the time to heal.  Keep doing your physical therapy and you should be fine on the left side.

When I had my first hip replaced, the second one was done after one month so seven weeks between surgery is fine as long as you are healthy.  

Surgery such as THR's are very anxiety producing.  And moreso for you since you will be having your second surgery shortly.  My advice to you would be to ask for a referral to a doctor who can prescribe a drug such as celexa which will help with the anxiety and possible depression that might come as a result of the second surgery.  Celexa takes only a few days to start to work, and in the interim, it might be a good idea to ask for valium for a few days, until the celexa kicks in.  After your surgery and your subsequent recovery, you will be able to get off the celexa as you begin to return to normal activities.  I've had 8 surgeries, (four revisions on each hip) and I ALWAYS get on celexa for the time that I have surgery and for a few months as I return to normal activities.  I am a big believer in the celexa.

As far as the pain meds are concerned, I don't understand why your Orthopod is not giving you pain meds while you await your surgery.  I am not a doctor but I can only imagine the pain you are in from both the hip that is healing and the one that needs to be replaced.  You need to have a direct talk with your orthopedist and find out why you cannot get the pain meds you need.

As far as sleeping, go to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and get a body pillow. The body pillow will allow you to sleep on your side both before and after the surgery.  I won't go anywhere without my body pllow.  You basically take the body pillow and put it between your legs and it will prevent your legs from crossing each other.  It prevents dislocation while sleeping and that will take away any anxiety you may have and let you rest better.

I wish you the best of luck and if you have any other questions please let me know.  The thing you should be doing now, is concentrating on building up your muscles in the left leg because one the right one is done, the left will be bearing the brunt of the work while your left leg continues to heal.  The reason you have much more pain in the right leg now is because it it bearing the brunt of your surgery on the left leg.  I hope that makes sense.

Sharon