Just wondered if any of you are experiencing hip joint pain with PSA. I first had what I think was a flare in the hip joint back in June 2014. The pain begins in the joints of my hips and then readiates all around hip area and back. The first episode lasted about 4 days. I could barely walk and was in a great deal of pain... kind of a constant stabbing and burning pain. Couldn't bend over, turn in the car, had trouble getting in car, etc...
I have since had several episode, usually about twice a month. They last about 2-3 days and are very debilitating. I am concerned because up until June 2014, the pain had mostly been in hands and feet and ankles. I could still get around, but this new development has really thrown me for a loop.
In the last month, I have had days where I get up, put my feet on the floor, discover the hip pain is there, and then it takes about 8 - 10 hours for it to subside. I walk in the morning and evening, about 1.5 miles each time. I use an exercise bike, about 5 miles a day. I do a 15 minute series of tai chi and qigong exercises every morning.
I am able to sit still when this pain occurs, but the walking and any other kind of movement is excruciating. Anyone else experiencing this?
I was diagnosed with moderate PSA in June 2013. I am currently on biologic Cimzia. I give myself a shot once every 2 weeks. Had been on Humira and Embrel, but both kept producing upper resp infections, so doc took me off them. Have been on Cimzia about 6 months.
Any help or advice you can give me is very appreciated.
I am 55 years old and I just retired from a 32 year teaching career , due to the fatigue and pain related to PSA.
Hi Marianne - I have also had the hip pain, excruciating at times. The pain eases when sitting, which is what they recommend. I am also on Cimzia and it has been very effective. The hip inflammation comes and goes, if I ride the stationary bike, the hips hurt upon standing. Right now I am not experiencing any problem, but you are right it comes and goes. Wish I had an answer, but I think it is just part of the PSA. So, all I can say is I feel your pain. lol
Hip pain and sacroiliac pain is fairly common with PsA. Some find it helpful to balance amount of sitting with amount of standing/laying down and to pay attention to which positions make it worse/better. I'm a big fan of heat on my lower back when my hips are bothering me. I hope you find some relief soon!
I feel for you too. I think I have had PsA since I was a child.. just got it diagnosed 2 years ago. The damage to my joints have gotten to the point of no return.
I noticed things gradually.. but was always told it was polymyalgia (which means many) ummm - I think that is because they couldn't pinpoint anything.
Approximately 7 years ago.. I had a flare beyond all others... My CRP... was off the charts. One Dr. did mention - the possibility of PsA. But, at that time I think I wasn't ready to accept the diagnosis. But better than that - had never, ever heard of it. I kept thinking.. what did I do? Not drink enough milk? Why me? You know - feel sorry for myself..
Instead of moving from top to bottom... the PsA is moving from my feet up.... I had a joint replacement in my big toe.. Knee replacement twice on same leg.. and need one on the other... etc.. etc.. I could go on and on.. but everyone know where this story goes...
The only thing I can say.. is listen to your body, your doctor and your heart... Do not let negative things get into your head.. Stay strong and advocate when possible...
Sorry for all your pain. I would talk to your rheumatologist. My hips are a constant source of pain and wonderment. The pain you understand. The wonderment? I always have to wonder what on earth I did to cause the pain!
I've had one round of cortico-steroid shots in the hip bursa. It was helpful for me. But you'll find an equal number of people it didn't help. What seems to help universally is movement. Stretching the hips, standing instead of sitting for at least short periods, walking, you get the picture. I underwent aqua therapy last winter (PT in a warm pool) because my hips were so sore, so stiff and so immobilized that I could barely walk. They hurt so badly that I was trying to minimize movement to prevent pain. It was a bad strategy! Since the weather turned to the 50's and is dropping progressively they have started to hurt more so I will be resuming the good habits I was taught last winter so I can continue to get around. Good luck!
I experience hip pain as well but, luckily for me, moving around eases my pain. I also have pain in my hands, feet, knees, ankles, shoulders, neck, and elbows. The hip, elbow, and neck pain disrupt my sleep because I have to roll over when the pain gets too bad. I am actually not taking any medicine, just diet and exercise. Losing 25+ pounds has helped a lot with my joint pain plus we have a hot tub that helps with the bursitis flair ups. Good luck and hopefully you can find something that works to ease your pain.
Yes, horrible hip pain, at times I can’t put weight on affected side at all. Very stiff. Painful to move in bed at night, little to no sleep. Methotrexate/steroids no longer effective. COPD/chronic broncitis infections and several types of cancer run in my family, so I refuse to take biologics. New pill, Otezla, completely eradicated my pain in only 10 days, however my prescription insurance carrier, Caremark, refuses to cover/pay this medicine (approx. $2k/month). Caremark insists I try biologics, prove they fail to help me, then they might consider paying for Otezla.
Otezla does not have the complications/dangers that biologics have. Ask your rheumatologist about it.
I have pain throughout my body (hands/feet/back/neck/knees/hips) and worry about not being able to continue working (currently have two jobs). I’m almost 53 and have 14 months left before I can retire with the state (and am a former teacher - quit that job due to too much standing/movement required, in too much pain). I have a desk job during day, retail at night, and am in constant pain.
I wish you well, research Otezla and check into it. I dearly wish I could have Caremark (covered by both my primary and secondary ins.) cover it, or that I had an extra $2,000/month to plunk down to buy it myself.
Best wishes!
Hi Mari.Doing this on mobile and can’t see what I’m typing so apologies for any errors. I have experienced several bouts of debilitating hip pain. (Also got ill-health retirement from teaching) Currently moderate. Found only solution is to keep exercise very gentle and SLOW! Don’t know why but any quick exercise seems to cause a flare up. Also avoid supermarket shopping and pivotal movement in general. So I stick to Yoga, ambling and gentle swimming.
Also look at how you move when doing housework and how you sit.
The worse pain I have is now in my hips and pelvic area. It is a throbbing, burning, cramping pain. Sometimes at night when I wake up from the pain I feel like my hip is going to explode. Of course it doesn't but that is how it feels. There is no amount of pain medication that will help this. I take Simponi right now and it helps with most all of my problems. I wear a Butrans pain patch 20 mg.
The most important thing I have learned is that I may experience some relief from medications but there is nothing that will "cure" me. This was hard for me to except for several years but since I have accepted it, I have been able to deal with the pain a little better.
I am going to start physical therapy to see if there are some other options to help. For me, heat makes it better sometimes as well as resting.
Hi Marianne, just wanted to say count me in with the hip pain. I have PSA, on methotrexate and Enbrel at this time. I have been told by my rheumatologist my bilateral hip pain is caused by osteoarthritis, not the PSA. I have had surgery for osteo in my thumbs, so know I also have that type. My is exacerbated by walking, I wish I could say that it helped b/c I could use to walk ! I mainly do stretching exercises I got while at PT, heat also helps. Hope you get to the source of the pain soon :0)
I have not found any stretching, swimming, walking or any other type of movement that alleviates any of the joint/tendon pain caused by PsA, unfortunately. I cannot find any position that is less painful, this includes sitting, lying in bed trying to sleep and driving in a car. I constantly shift around, no alleviation of pain. I will say that swimming causes the least amount of exacerbation in pain, but it is still painful.
Otezla really did kill all the pain (well, 90%). I had almost full range of motion and so much less stiffness/pain. I felt like my old self, like 30 years younger. If any of you get the chance to try it, once you get to the 30 mg/twice a day dose, give it several days and I dearly hope you will have the same results. Again, it does not have the dangers the biologics do. It became available on the market last spring (March 2014?). Good luck!!!
Hi Marianne, I am sorry to hear that you have pain in your hip. I have had too following a road traffic accident I was involved in in December 2013 ( a young girl pulled her car out directly in front of mine leaving me nowhere to go!) Since then I've had pain in my left hip and both of my wrists. I was diagnosed with PSA in March this year as the pain hadn't gone. 11 months on now and it's still exactly the same.
I've found that light walking does help, swimming and warm water (but not hot water) does seem to loosen things up, although the day after swimming it is very painful again.
So far I've found no way to get rid of the pain, it is there constantly and probably reduces your sleep too.
Let's hope that someone can find something to help this very painful situation........... I will watch this space!
You might want to have an ultrasound and/or xray of the hip. Sometimes the degenerative nature of PsA can cause problems with the ball & socket structure. In my case, the hip pain is caused by a bone spur on the socket side - the body's way of trying to compensate for damage to the joint from PsA.
I found physical therapy helpful, as well as changing the way and amount I sit, and Meloxicam helps (Mobic).
I feel for you. I think I had low back pain 20 years ago that was PsA but was just diagnosed in Jan. It still gets pretty bad but of all the things that help in the long run, it's movement. I was afraid I would hurt myself at first and although I had exercises from the PT, knew I needed the right combo of aerobics, strength and stretch. I got on Harvard Medical Center Newsletter and purchased their reports on each topic. They address people with arthritis as well as people that aren't challenged. It gave me just the confidence and info I needed.
I practice dental hygiene and I teach, am 58 and there are days when I wonder if I can continue. Humira and Otezla failed. Am on week 5 of Enbrel with Methotrexate. Will go for steroid injections in a few weeks. Now Osteo is starting up in hands and feet. Taking Cymbalta for that. No active psoriasis. Have lost weight partly due to lack of appetite from meds. Keep probiotics in you. Rest when you need to but not for more than a day or two before you walk, swim or bike again. I also take 500 mg. Naproxen 2x/day PRN and Vicodin when it's really bad.
Sadly one of the primary symptoms of PsA is Hip Synovitis. It comes off all kinds of ways from what seems like sciatica (and can be) to in men what seems like a hernia and in women has been thought to be endometriosis (and acts just like it)
Inflammation of the ilio-psoas tendon often stars with that tingling Rebel Mom was referring to and then one day turns to full blown Iliopsoas tendonitis is characterized by pain and clicking or snapping in the groin or front of the hip.. Because the iliopsoas muscle acts as a hip flexor, symptoms are often worse when bending the hip, especially against resistance. Unlike the hip joint, the iliopsoas tendon is fairly close to the skin, so the front of the hip area or groin may also be tender to the touch. Its missed by a lot of docs and treated as hip joint pain.
Years ago before I ever had a a lot of joint/tendon pain, I had lower back pain and my hip was always popping and cracking. I went to an orthopedic doc and they did X-rays and didn't see anything so they sent me in for PT. The physical therapist said that my hip bone was essentially to tightly into the socket, can't remember what he called it. They would apply heat to my hip for about 30 minutes then they did some kind of traction where one therapist held my hips down while the other one pulled gently on my leg. Over a period of a few weeks, I felt so much better and its never bothered me as much again. Of course now, I notice some pain in my hips, especially during weather changes. Movement helps me and I like the elliptical machine, memory foam helps me get comfortable at night (oh, and all the meds too!)
I have not found any stretching, swimming, walking or any other type of movement that alleviates any of the joint/tendon pain caused by PsA, unfortunately. I cannot find any position that is less painful, this includes sitting, lying in bed trying to sleep and driving in a car. I constantly shift around, no alleviation of pain. I will say that swimming causes the least amount of exacerbation in pain, but it is still painful.
Otezla really did kill all the pain (well, 90%). I had almost full range of motion and so much less stiffness/pain. I felt like my old self, like 30 years younger. If any of you get the chance to try it, once you get to the 30 mg/twice a day dose, give it several days and I dearly hope you will have the same results. Again, it does not have the dangers the biologics do. It became available on the market last spring (March 2014?). Good luck!!!
Well...lots of us have hip pain, don't we? I was diagnosed with bursitis about 14 years ago and although a cortisone shot helped a bit then, it kept flaring. What finally worked was Hellerwork massage (deep tissue) where my therapist works on my psoas (sp?) muscle and the entire hip and leg areas along with the lower back. I also find that sometimes my hip does slip out of joint a bit and my chiropractor adjusts it back in place.
Right now, I am trying alternative medicine for the most part. Right now I am only on an anti-inflammatory and pain meds when pain is unbearable. My rheumatologist took me off MTX after I was on it for only a month. The MTX dropped my immunities to the point that I was hospitalized for a severe kidney infection and it took months to bring it under control. This was in May. She might try me on MTX again in January. I don't mean to scare anyone, but it is good to know that there are side effects to these immune suppressants.
Try whatever works best for you and work with your GP and your rheumatologist. I find that it often is a combination of things that makes the best recipe for pain relief.