Need advice on 2nd surgery during withdrawal - Any medical experts or athletes

Hi everyone,

 

Long time listener first time posting. 

 

In a bind here and looking for some solid advice since no doctor seems to understand the pain we are in.  I had hip labrum surgery in September of 2019, this was from years of chuckin cliffs on a snowboard, I was in the midst of my taper (around 4 MG Valium). 

 

The PT was doing OK until right around 6 months in I started having stabbing pains on basic exercises and decided to stop all activity not knowing of this was part of withdraw or if I re-injured it.  My surgeon wanted me to get another MRI and CT scan.  The results showed no major damage but I struggle to even walk.

 

Since the pain is so unbearable he offered to scope my hip and see if there is something that the MRI / CT-scan missed.  I am hesitant on doing so due to the recovery time being 6-12 months and a whole ton of money. 

 

I do have similar pain in both hips but the surgical one is way more painful.  I did have a window where I felt little to no pain during the month of January.  I did go on Trazdone for a few weeks during that time but have discontinued it. 

 

I guess my questions are  - 

 

Has anyone experienced this with any type of surgery before?

 

Is this Benzo withdrawal or is the pain coming from something the MRI / CT scan didn't catch?

 

Not only am I worse post surgery but my surgeon thinks I'm crazy,  I do not want to jump into another surgery if this is just Benzo withdrawal and something that will go away on its own eventually.  I am feeling a little defeated here since I lose my health insurance this June and have to make a decision by then.

 

Please help if you can. 

 

Hang in there everyone I know this sucks and have felt every symptom in the book.  I am at month 10 and things are slightly better other than my muscle and joints. 

 

 

 

 

 

Long time tennis player here as well as pianist with a very bad shoulder. I've had 3 surgeries on the shoulder and 2 for thoracic outlet syndrome.  My shoulder surgeries were during various phases of withdrawal and recovery.

 

My 3rd shoulder surgery was done under the same conditions as proposed by your doctor, to see why the pain was lingering. It did turn out that my bicep tendon was torn and he 'cleaned' up scar tissue and checked for other problems. I didn't have any ill effects from any of my surgeries in terms of withdrawal.

 

It is concerning to think about having surgery when the MRI and CT scan don't show an issue.  This will have to be your decision based on how you feel right now. No surgery is a walk in the park.

 

I do think that withdrawal can target the most sensitive, fragile areas of the body.  However, if I had pain so bad that I could not walk, I would have to look into the cause. Not everything is withdrawal.

 

It's a big decision, I wish you the best.

 

pianogirl 

It is sometimes so hard to tell what is genuine pain and what is withdrawal, and why did you quit Trazodone?  Oh much good luck to you with your decision.

Thanks for responding, both of you.

 

I quit the Trazdone because I wanted to be drug free to heal and the side effects were not worth it.

 

 

I haven't had this surgery, but I am an athlete and I know Chris Bell - documentarian, powerlifter, creator of "Bigger, Stronger, Faster" - had a failed hip surgery. He had to have exploratory surgery to discover the surgery had failed. I'm sure there's probably a lot of info out there on this story if you Google it.

 

That said, I've had a lot of odd symptoms since jumping from Klonopin, but nothing that's been muscular or joint-related. I also lurk here a lot and I've yet to see anyone post anything about confusing hips/knees/other pain with something that may have manifested from benzo WD.

 

Best of luck to you.

For what its worth..

Iv “played hard” and broken most things neck to toe, including stress fractures to the acetabulum or hip socket(s)..

Very early on, well before BB days, I had a round of arthritic type pain over lets say less than a year, but I kinda feel that was FROM the meds, high dose opiates being the obvious contender, but it would also fit with massive extended doses of PICC line antibiotics, and just being very sick, sepsis, transfusions, major surgery (SIJ grafting and fixation) etc, etc.. So STRESS, -hair n nails falling out..

 

Once all that settled, say 2013/14, I havnt noticed any real problems that would fit with discontinuation being the driving force behind pain for pre-damaged areas, -if any it would be mild and sporadic (im thinking wrists and ankle mainly, and by rights they “should” hurt)..

-Obviously thats just me and my situation...

 

From reading here, I have heard “rumbles” of a few saying pre damaged areas can be affected, but I get the feeling thats more a cyclic flare (as SX so often do), as opposed to a dominant, persistent issue.. -Just my interpretation though..

 

It really is a bugger of a choice you face, esp with a timeframe due to insurance..

-Hope I didnt weight my post one way or the other, that was not my intent.. Kinda a useless reply I guess, but I DO empathise..

 

Couple of thoughts.. -The computer generated imaging are pretty damn detailed, if you have had them....??

-My torn off thumb gave me merry hell, but one Cortizone?? Injection 10 yrs ago, and never a problem since... Some luck there, -but I wonder if there is some diagnostic value in these things for you..?? Though I imagine thats been discussed with your Drs..

 

Best wishes for a good outcome..

 

One thing I forgot to mention. The only way the doc found out that my first shoulder surgery failed was to go in and take a look. He found that the sutures were loose and pulled through the tissues. This did not show up on the many MRI's I had.

I used to be able to sit cross legged before WD and had no hip probs.

Now both hips are agony.

I was on benzos for muscle probs through spine following surgery at L5/S1 though so it may be due to that. My glutes are contracted, back a mess etc and probs with leg on side of surgery. Whole pelvis is twisted and sheared.