25F Hip OA Advice
TLDR: 25 year old looking for advice on daily pain management and/or next steps to advocate for any treatment
Used to be an avid runner in my teens and started experiencing hip pain at 18 ending up with a hip arthroscopy on right and left side to repair label tears and FAI. Doctor noted I have mild dysplasia, worse on left side. This was in USA and moved to Ireland at 20. I had a stellar recovery until a year in and pain started again, had x rays and mris but told my hips are completely fine.
So five years later I’ve modified my activity and focused on weight training. I have a spell where I wasn’t able to go to the gym for a few months and the pain has been 70% of the day since (and I’ve resumed consistent training). Started physio (again), had updated xray and mri, told I have stage 2 OA. No advice. No further steps. Everyone keeps telling me I’m too young for surgery and to keep up with physio and basically just let it get worse and get a replacement in 20 years. It’s been incredibly frustrating, isolating, and painful. I can’t walk more than 15 mins. Sitting long hurts. Cold rainy weather flares (frequent here unfortunately). I can’t seem to win anywhere. I’ve started taking supplements, better shoes, heat pad, and applying voltaren when particularly bad.
Does anyone have any advice for pain management or a similar situation? Any treatments that have helped? Should I consider PAO or ceramic hip resurfacing? How can I help heard or treated? Im waiting on another appointment with a different doctor, specialized orthopedic sports surgeon. I feel so dismissed and find it hard to believe I’m meant to live this way until I’m “old enough”.