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Seriously I’m falling apart. I have some autoimmune illness that has crept up in the last few years and we think it could probably be rheumatoid arthritis. My joints hurt. Right now, it is hip bursitis. I cannot get comfortable. I sleep with my legs spread way out, sorry about the mental image. I babystep up steps and it hurts. What can help? I stretch. I soak. I don’t know.

deena04, I've had hip bursitis twice. VERY painful, indeed.

I went to an ortho doctor and he gave me Naprosyn (prescription strength of Naproxen). Cleared it up both times. I don't think you'd have to go to an orthopedist, tho. I went the first time because I had no idea what was wrong. I think your primary doc could give it to you.

[This message edited by Too_Trusting at 3:15 AM, Wednesday, September 21st]

Flare ups of hip pain had me unable to swing one leg forward, last summer, or sit without pain. One chiropractor told me it was my sacro-iliac joint, which has some movement (too much space between the sacrum and the ilium bones). After going twice a week to that chiropractor for 6 weeks with no improvement, I went back to my old chiropractor who's always booked out a month...well, he did some painless 'side push' adjustment to my lower back and voila! End of problem....the pain was radiating down my hip and leg (along the sciatic nerve) from L-5!

So I'd say, even if you have bursitis diagnosed, try finding a (good) chiropractor. Helps me and I'm old and do crazy work for my age (farming).

[This message edited by Superesse at 3:29 AM, Wednesday, September 21st]

Baby it as much as you can, and pay attention to how you sit... no crossing one leg over another, as we tend to do when our lower backs get tired. Yes, there are meds you can take, but they can only do so much if your posture is bad. That's why it's important to be proactive in taking care of it. Have you tried icing the area?

When I had it, many years ago (20+), it was because I was spending too much time sitting cross-legged. I actually ended up on crutches on two different occasions.

As a fellow Autoimmune sufferer, I was diagnosed w/ hip bursitis a few years ago. We tried hip injections, and PT, stretches etc. I was still hobbling around, on and on it went. NSAIDs daily, muscle relaxers, nope nothing helped, new shoes, more stretches, on and on.

Finally I saw a Chiro, and she diagnosed as SI joint dysfunction. New stretches, manipulations, talked to pain management, timed injections for the SI joint, w/ her manipulations. Resolved. I have a series of stretches I do regularly esp when I think it's getting too tight, and so far so good. It's been about 2.5 years since it has been resolved. So if the normal tx path isn't helping consider the SI joint not the hip.

I also would encourage you to see a Rheum and get on appropriate meds to help quiet things down. If you can keep the inflammatory response at bay it makes the pain much better.

I have a friend who was diagnosed with RA a few years ago. He completely changed his diet to gluten free/mostly plant based (avoids inflammatory foods) and has been pain free ever since. He also was able to stop taking any meds.

Diet changes can help but will not get rid of the disease in total, and once diagnosed w/ a true autoimmune disease, not taking meds is not a smart choice. The meds protect your body. Many people don't realize that RA often effects other organ systems including lungs, gut, and neurologic stuff. Not taking meds because symptoms are gone is a choice some make but as a health professional it is not a wise choice, as the evil antibodies can be doing damage unbeknownst to you the victim, and then all the sudden you can't breath, you have reactive airways, and have pulmonary hypertension.

Be careful thinking a change in diet is a cureall. It does not turn off that overactive immune system.

I have been gluten/sugar free since late April due to working on losing weight and following a paleo type diet because that's what works for me, and honestly I see a minor improvement, but not enough for it to be enough for me to say I will never eat gluten again. Nightshades are another group to stay away from and then legumes/beans, this includes coffee.

If you want to try a dietary change to see if it calms things I recommend looking at the whole 30 because it eliminates all things that can influence inflammation, then you add one thing at a time back in. The bonus is you will lose weight.

After tushnurse posted about SI joint pain, I realized that my sudden improvement after months of pain may have been because the second chiropractor worked on both the SI issue (that I brought him my X-ray of) PLUS the pre-existing L-5 spinal maladjustment which he'd treated me for in the past. I recall now that he worked on more than my lower back: he used a "percussor" over my left SI joint (a hand-held, electric pounding massager.), then pushed on my lower back/left hip until he felt something in my lower back move. None of that treatment caused pain at the time, but I went back to my farm work the next day pain free, after months of misery! I was impressed.

What I'm saying is that, in chiropractic treatment, a little push here and a little push there are part of "treating the whole." Whenever one part is way out of whack, other parts take the hit, too; cumulative damage. I can attest to that!

Hope you find the right combination to get relief.

Thank you all. I struggle with NSAIDS. Everything bothers me and bothers my stomach. I do eat fairly clean and need to see my rheumatologist again to see what might work for "gentle to my tummy meds." I do see a chiropractor and she has been adjusting me but also did an ultrasound combo today on it and it felt amazing for about two hours. She said I should do that a few times before I see longer periods of it feeling better. She said she would turn it up each time to get in the tissue deeper and I was like hit me with it. I have a hot tub and I’m about to go jump in and hope that I can actually get out. You all gave great ideas. I will be seeing what works for me from these ideas because you all had fantastic ideas.

She said she would turn it up each time to get in the tissue deeper and I was like hit me with it.

I started having issues with my neck/upper traps back in June/July when we stayed at my D's house, helping out with the newborn grandson. When I came home, it never really got any better, despite my weekly massages and once a week PT appts. (they are so busy they can't get me in more often).

For the first time ever, I had a laser treatment yesterday at my chiro's office. In the past, I've had e-stim, ultrasound, and whatever else is out there over the years, and never really noticed a big difference in wherever my pain was. When I left his office, I felt better, but damn, today I feel SOOOO much better. I'd never heard of laser being used for reaching soft tissue. He said laser light gets 2" underneath the skin, which makes it much more effective than ultrasound. You might ask your chiro if she knows of anyone that offers laser treatment. As of today, it has truly been miraculous. My neck and trap muscles are so tight and painful that I'm guarding them when the chiro tries to adjust me, which is why he brought out the big guns with the laser. I'm hoping if this holds out until Friday, when I see him again, so he can adjust my neck with more ease.

But yea, ask about laser! (the treatment took about 20 minutes and we both had to wear tinted glasses to protect our eyes from the light!)

Laser is my next step if this won’t work. She has that, too. The biggest reason I have not done it yet was because of scheduling for that within her office. That has been booked up and I would’ve had to wait.

That's great! I swear by it after only one treatment. I get my second treatment tomorrow. That's too bad that you have to wait. But it tells me it's a much-desired and successful treatment if the wait to get it done is an issue!

I have RA and this is very often a problem for me. Injections don’t work and neither do pain relievers. The only thing that provides relief is ice. I use ice mats that I keep in the freezer for lunch boxes and picnics, the flat flexible kind. I put a towel on the bed and lay flat with a mat on each hip. Usually half hour twice a day until the pain subsides.