Steroid Injections & Meloxicam

As time went on, my hip continued to cause me a ton of pain, which inevitably began to alter my so-called quality of life.  The anti-inflammatory that my osteo doc prescribed (Meloxicam) helped a little, but it quickly became clear that no amount of Tylenol, Ibuprofen, Osteo Biflex or anti-inflammatory medication was going to get me back to "normal".

I immediately got on line and started researching total hip replacement (THR) and what I read scared the hell out of me.

From my panicked state of mind, there were several words that stood out for me:

• Risk of Infection
• Blood Thinners
• Risk of dislocation and revision
• Leg length differential
• Implant recalls
• Huge, scary scars!

I convinced myself that there HAD to be a better way to deal.

So I began cortisone injections.  The first injection was amazing and lasted about 12 months.  The second one was good, and lasted about 8 months.  The third and final injection only lasted about 4 months, and at that point, it took great effort to walk any sort of distance, and I had to sadly replace any heeled shoes with flat ones.

After the final cortisone injection, I was commiserating with one of the nurses about how the cortisone was no longer providing the same amount of relief as it had, initially.  She looked around and then leaned over, "I'm not supposed to tell you this but Emory is doing stem cell injections for arthritic hips...you might want to explore that as an option".  She gave me the URL of their website, and sent me on my way.