Tag Archives: hip replacement

18 Years and TWO Hip Replacements Later…

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Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I would have needed a hip replacement. It started out as a headache in my leg and soon, I couldn’t walk. After swearing off surgery, I spent two painful years in denial going to physical therapy, trying acupuncture, taking medications, even talking to psychics – and just plain praying for a miracle. Having never had surgery, I was fearful of the unknown.

I love and live to walk. Back then, I could not walk more than a block without having to stop. Merely reaching the top of my apartment stairs was a feat that was not going to happen much longer. Realizing I was only going downhill, I began to take matters into my own hands. I started calling surgeons and tracking people who had gone through this process before. I did a ton of research before and after so I knew what to ask when I met with the surgeon. In fact, I visited five surgeons. A swimmer at heart and new to the sport of golf, I was ready to get back to the life I had been missing out on. I needed to feel pain-free again. No one can imagine bone-on-bone pain until you have experienced it.

I created my own Surgery Preparation Regimen to get me through the next chapter in my life, complete with:

A hip farewell party with 45 friends and family members to help create a positive spin on the experience:
– Who would stay with me
– Who would bring me dinner
– How I would get around
– Who would take me for walks
– Who was my emergency contact if I was feeling down

I also kept a journal so I had a place to let my feelings out and get in touch with the “new me” emerging through this process. I called it an initiation.

After surgery, my then 88-year-old mother flew from Arizona to help me. Talk about surreal. Never did my mother expect to be taking care of me and changing my light bulbs. But to be honest, it was kind of amazing.

Recovery was intense as I worked through the process of walking with an artificial hip. Then… two. I think it would be easy to say “poor me” but instead, I embraced it and realized I needed to help myself and help others in the process.

Jump-starting the healing process, I began blogging about my experiences. I am so grateful for the mobility I have now. I am now extra-willing to help people struggle with the challenge of joint pain or those who need a replacement of any kind. That is why I wanted to blog. I created Hipster Club to share my knowledge, experience, hope and to create a community.

Patients have to be their own advocate and I want to help be a solid resource for those willing to seek out the answers. Whenever I see someone with a limp, I ask them if it is a knee or a hip. Who knows where the conversation can lead.

Remember, when we first discover, through bone-on-bone pain or an achy thigh or hip area, that we will be needing a hip replacement – our minds might be flooded with fears, questions and a WTF moment or two. My mind and emotions were constantly alternating between disbelief, panic, and numbness. I went right to the internet and researched all night long, and also kept a journal because I had so much emotion and so many questions pouring out of me all at once.

I wasn’t a dancer, I didn’t jog, I didn’t do extreme sports or obsessive workouts – I just had wear-and-tear arthritis (AO) and dysplasia of the hip (which I did not know I was born with). The shit hit the fan when I was 50 and raising my son in his teenage years, as a single mom. So as if single parenting wasn’t enough, I had to add a few hip replacements into my life’s mix.

Chronic pain is no fun for anyone, and we can easily become isolated, depressed, depleted and feel alone in our journey into becoming bionic. With young hip replacement recipients, many surgeons would ask patients to wait as long as possible before having surgery, and we did what our doctors told us. We waited until our quality of life got so bad we had to cry “uncle;” I waited two years until I could not even walk. Don’t wait. Research your options, get advice. Do your homework. Create a joint replacement support team.

What I didn’t know then or could not have fathomed is that my career and journalistic voice was about to change as well. But first I had to go through the dark night of the soul and two hip replacements in three years. I chose the conventional replacement the first time, with the posterior approach and titanium on plastic – and that was a very hard recovery for me and my little body.

Three years later with my right hip, I went to a surgeon who offered the anterior approach and ceramic and plastic. I was driving after two weeks and did not have the restrictions of the other. I was happy to become a guinea pig of sorts (a very cute one if I may be so bold) and see which approach lasted longer and which had less pain throughout time and travel. By the way, I was told both approaches end up the same after the recovery period.

Well, it’s 18 years later, and I have to admit I have had a few bouts of scary pain and ache, which also created a sense memory of all that I went through. The pain was most uncomfortable: (1) upon rising from a movie theater seat, (2) after more than three to five hours of walking (Note to self: stretching first is a great idea), (3) I have to get up every two to three hours of sitting so I do not get stiff or achy.

Remember, it’s the miles – not the years that remind us how long our hips might last. They could last a lifetime or a few decades – but it is the quality of our lives as hipsters that matter. Don’t take dangerous chances with your hips, but don’t live quietly either.

Feel your strength for all you have been through, be proud of the new bionic you and go out there and rock the world. Make a difference. Express your strength. Be there for others. And be you in all of your bionic glory!

Feel free to write in your own tips and experiences of pain or relief. And write me if you need anything in your journey from HIP to Hero.

Forever Yours,

Jodi Seidler, Hipster Girl

 

Treating Pain with PEMF

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PEMF treats pain by blocking the messages transmitted to the brain through the nervous system. Natural endorphins are produced to block message transmission. Oxygenation can help with neuropathic pain. Inflammation is reduced in both tissue and nerves, decreasing pain. This article discusses how pain works in the body and how pain can be treated with PEMF.

The human body has a communication system which connects to the brain. The brain works like a supercomputer receiving and transmitting messages through a network of nerve cells.

The nerve cells are called neurons. The neurons have a nucleolus at the centre, which are connected to dendrites and axons – like a wiring mechanism of the nerves. The dendrites convey messages into the nucleolus; they are the input wires. The axons convey messages away from the nucleolus; they are the output wires.

Nerve cells connect at the axon terminals where the synapses are located. The axon of one nerve cell (the output) will connect to the dendrite of another nerve cell (the input), passing the message along. This happens at the axon terminal through chemical molecules called neurotransmitters.

According to medical wisdom, neurons cannot regenerate, but damaged axons can.

There are two primary networks of nerve cells:

  1. The central nervous system, whose axons are situated in the brain, the eye and the spinal cord (like the wires inside a computer).
  2. The peripheral nervous system, whose axons are situated outside of the central nervous system (like network wires).

Messages are transferred from the axons, and there are two types of axons:

  1. Sensory axons (inputs) carry messages from the skin, muscles, joints, internal organs and intestines to the central nervous system. These include sensations like touch, temperature, pain, muscle activity, and joint position.
  2. Motor Axons (outputs) control motion and carry signals from the central nervous system to the body, limbs, internal organs and intestines.

There are intermediate neurons inside the brain that connect the sensory and motor neurons.

Messages are transferred from the axons by electrical pulses called action potentials. These electrical pulses travel from the sensory axons to the central nervous system, activating the nerve cells and causing sensations.

The longer axons (or wires) are insulated with the myelin sheath, which increases the speed at which a message can travel down the axon (or wire). Shorter axons do not have myelin insulators, and messages travel slower through them. The shorter axons carry messages about touch, cold, warmth and pain. Because they are slower communication channels, a pain message from the foot can take about 1 second to reach the central nervous system (the spinal cord).

 A harmful sensation is simply an electrical pulse that is sent by the sensory axons to the central nervous system, where it is interpreted as “pain”.

Bone Growth with PEMF

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PEMF works at a cellular level. All the cells are affected and the body’s systems which deliver oxygen and nutrients while removing toxins are enhanced. This revitalization results in the body’s components being able to perform the tasks they were designed for with optimal efficiency.  The bone structure within the body gives us form, but it also houses the marrow which is the factory where blood cells are produced. 

Osteoblast cells, (bone germination cells), produce bone matter.   Osteoblast cells work together as a group called the osteon and produce the calcium and phosphate-based minerals which are deposited into the organic matrix forming the strong and dense mineralized tissue called the mineralized matrix. Bones are comprised of a composite material made up of both collagen and minerals which give them tensile and compressive strength.  Bone cells are constantly being regenerated by the osteoblast cells.   PEMF can help heal and strengthen bones as it induces micro currents which stimulate the osteoblast cells to produce bone matter. This is critical to healing especially with those suffering from arthritis and osteoporosis

PEMF for Bone Growth

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Understanding how cartilage works helps understand how PEMF helps.

The use of PEMF is critical in accelerating cartilage repair. PEMF energizes the chondrocyte cells which produce the cartilaginous matrix thus speeding up the production of cartilage. Therefore, the stimulation of these cells produces new cartilage where previously it was damaged or worn out. At the same time the osteoclasts break down bone structure that has been damaged, worn out, or weakened, while the osteoblasts are stimulated to regenerate new bone structure.

PEMF systems of a higher intensity are necessary to penetrate bone and provide healing, pain relief, and the effects of reverse osteoporosis. 

Don’t forget about PEMF

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Healing After My Hip Replacement

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You become an advocate for your health and well-being. You put the HIP into hip replacement – no matter what AGE you are!

Mentoring with The Hipster Girl

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Putting the HIP back in Hip Replacements.

Contact me with any questions you have about the hip replacement process.  I’ve become sort of an expert with two different approaches (Anterior and Posterior) and two different implant materials.  With my Journalism background and my inquisitive mind, I should belong to a 12 step group for obsessing about having a hip replacement.  I researched so like crazy, and kept a daily journal until one day I started an online Hip Club for people like me.  One stop shopping to learn about hip replacements.  No need to obsess and stay up all night like I did (unless you want to).

I have had two different hips replaced in two different ways, with two different materials and components.  I’m learning it’s not the years, it’s the miles – so I budget my hips.  I don’t ski, I don’t jog – but that’s just me.  I love to walk and I love to swim.  My left (metal) hip lets me know when I’ve done too much.  It has affected sex a bit, but barely noticeable if it’s done right.  I notice people as they walk by me, that maybe need or have had a hip replacement.  It’s some kind of alien connection to other bionics.  Finally, instead of saying “why me”, let’s get in the habit of saying “why not me”…and see what magic we can create for ourselves and for others in our orbit.

Fill out the form below and we will schedule a time for a no-cost 15 minute informational and supportive phone call regarding joint replacement do’s and don’ts.

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HIP Patient Stories | Zimmer | Jodi

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Hula Hooping Jodi

A personal surgery preparation regimen“Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I needed a hip replacement,” said 57-year-old Zimmer Hip recipient Jodi Seidler. “It started out as an ache in my leg, and soon I couldn’t walk.” Declining surgery, Jodi spent two painful years in denial going to physical therapy, trying acupuncture, talking to psychics, taking medications and just plain praying for a miracle. Having never undergone surgery, Jodi was fearful of the unknown. “I didn’t really understand what was going to happen to me or what it would entail,” she said. “I didn’t want to be alone and the fear pretty much took over.”

via Patient Stories | Zimmer | Jodi.

What will a new hip cost?

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Only 16% of U.S. hospitals surveyed in a recent study gave a complete price quote for a common hip surgery, highlighting the obstacles many patients face in comparison shopping.

Pricing information remains difficult to obtain from medical providers and the figures that are quoted vary widely despite government efforts to make the process more consumer friendly, according to a study published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. for Internal Medicine.

Jaime Rosenthal, a student at Washington University in St. Louis who led the research, called two hospitals in every state and Washington, D.C., as well as the top 20-ranked orthopedic hospitals according to U.S. News and World Report.

She asked for the lowest bundled price, hospital plus physician fees, on a total hip replacement for a 62-year-old grandmother. She said her relative was uninsured but had the means to pay out of pocket.

The researchers found that 16% of the 122 hospitals contacted provided a complete bundled price. An additional 47% of hospitals could offer a complete price when hospitals and other medical providers were contacted separately, the study said.

And those price quotes varied considerably, from $11,100 to $125,798 for the same hip surgery. The study said Medicare and large insurers often pay $10,000 to $25,000 for joint replacement surgery.

This issue of healthcare pricing has taken on added importance since consumers are responsible for a growing share of their medical bills. Policymakers also hope that wider disclosure of medical prices could help slow down rising healthcare costs.

What will a new hip cost? Few hospitals quote a price, study finds – latimes.com