Hi all, i am a 35 yr old who has the lucky jackpot of needing a THR as at about 5 yrs ago if i am honest however main deterioration has occured in last year or so. I cant help but think that if only by some miracle i could lose weight i would not need the operation because the pain would be so greatly reduced, (i am 173cm and about 95kg) weight gain is of course inevitable when you suffer immobility and depression from chronic pain.
I am at the stage of seriosuly commiting to anterior approach nxt year.
My great concern is that i have nothad children yet and could not locate anyone on the forum that has gone on to bear childern ok post having thr?. In conjunction i have started to experience niggle to my 'good hip' and am praying to god i wont require x2 thr!?!.
Lastly thinking of utilising Dr Michael Solomon in sydney (St Vincent Hospital) has anyone heard of this dr? he seems very credible on internet search?...
Hi,
I have had Rheumatoid Arthritis well, JRA as it started since the age of 4. I am now 50. I had the fun of having my hip diagnosed as needing to be replaced when I was 33, but waited a few years like you, in terror of "What will my life be like afterward". Watching my life go from color to a grey black of just pain and not doing for so many years. I finally had the replacement at age 36. Of course its scary, and I had ideas of being like an 80 year old and only being able to walk in the mall for fun. Never doing anything "normal" that a 36 year old could do. But you know, the part I wasn't thinking, was I wasn't doing it anyway. I sat and read and was in constant terrible pain all the time. I didn't sleep at night unless it was sitting upright in a chair, and I never went out with my friends or had any type of social life because I was always in such pain. So once I got to a point that the pain meds and the sleep deprivation was so bad I couldn't stand my life anymore, I decided to go ahead with the surgery. I had been working with a orthopedic surgeon for a couple of years, and already knew which one I would use. I did the interview thing and looked at it like a business venture since it was my hip and my life and I knew I would probably need my other hip replaced in years to come. Both were just as bad ,but the surgeon said chase the pain. Fix what is hurting the most. I decided to have the hip replaced and it was text book and of course there was pain, but there was pain before it, so it was a different pain, it was muscle, tendon, suture pain. Once that was over, and I could walk again, I had my life back! I don't even remember the surgery compared to what I got back in my life. I managed to hike hills in Ireland, go to concerts all over the United States tour Hawaii, go over seas and visit places I never thought possible and get my life back. I gained a lot of weight while not moving, but yes, depression was why I ate. And once I was mobile, I stopped eating because I had other things to do. Eating is why you gain the weight. Not sitting around. And once you can move, you have things that are better to do so you stop the bad habits and the depression seems to go away as well. Also the sleep comes back! Of course I have had my other hip replaced, just last year actually, last February 2012, and also now a knee in August 2012, and I have to have a foot rebuilt due to the windswept knee, but I know once that it's done, there will be again the movement and freedom I knew when I first had my hip replaced and was told I could walk. Its scary, but once you walk to the edge, take a deep breath and lean forward, falling into what you call a real life after the replacements is a lot more "alive" than anything you are experiencing now. You will be fine, you will have children, and you will get to have a life again, but you have to get past the pain you are in and the depression you are under, and the only way to do that is to move forward and get this handled. Stop putting off your life for something you aren't experiencing anyway. Just my opinion, but I see and understand how you feel and what you are going through. Best wishes!
United States![[Bonesmart.org] petrified of op and life afterwards....](https://data.bonesmart.org/attachments/6/6238-d8c700527961692b2c3fd49acaa53197.jpg?hash=2McAUnlhaS "[Bonesmart.org] petrified of op and life afterwards....")
apparently I am bone on bone now and he said if 10/10 were the worst rating I am an 11/10 omg .. I guess I really have delayed this as long as I could . 
from Florida.
