Hip pain for months...cancer worries?

[fleurdor]

I've been having pain in my left hip for months, maybe even a year or longer. At first I thought it was from sitting around too much, and it seemed to ease up a little bit. I'm not sure if it went away or I just stopped noticing it because I got so used to it, but in the last 2 months it's been more noticeable.

It's like a really deep ache in my hip, pretty dang painful at times. My hip hurts sometimes if I press it from the side. Sometimes the pain is in the front and the back but mostly it feels deep inside, and it also goes near my spine. So, I am hoping it's just sciatic nerve irritation. But I'm only 25 and I know sciatica is usually sharp pain, and is usually an older person's thing.

I have not had this hip pain investigated, and a doctor I saw said maybe my hip had just misaligned which is common in young women.

But the fear of cancer is always there. I know bone cancer is pretty rare (I think it's 1 in 100,000 people who get it?), but I'm worried about ovarian cancer, because I know it can cause hip pain. My periods have also been a lot shorter/lighter than is normal for me, and I've been needing to pee a lot. Bowel cancer is also something that worries me, because I've had irritable bowels and diarrhea for years.

There was a young girl at my school who often complained about her hip hurting to the point she was limping, and it turned out she indeed had cancer, after being palmed off by her doctor. So that scared me.

I am seeing my GP tomorrow, and maybe going to ask for an x ray, but I know they'll just tell me it's nothing and probably won't order further investigations.

I've had a chest CT and full blood count blood test which both came back normal. I've also had urine tests which came back normal. But haven't had any abdominal or pelvic scans or ultrasounds, so I have no idea what's going on down there lol.

[Fishmanpa]

When you see your GP, why not discuss your anxiety and ask for help?

Positive thoughts

[fleurdor]

I definitely will, we always chat about it to be honest. They are supportive and have put me on the list for therapy, but it's going to be a couple months before an appointment comes up. To be honest, although the cancer fear is there, my anxiety is more concerned with other things atm. But this hip pain is bothersome so even if it does turn out to be benign, I still need help with it. It's just weird because I don't know many other people my age who have constant ache in their hip. It's very uncomfortable. I would rather get the serious causes ruled out quickly before asking for physio. I'm hoping it's nothing.

[Aussie11]

I had this when I was about 30. Really intense dull ache in the hip and sacrum area. It went on for months despite physio and I was terrified I had spinal tumour. I ended up getting numb toes and all sorts of symptoms and got myself into such a state that I had spine MRI, nerve tests etc. All tests turned out to be fine and eventually the physio did help, but it did take weekly sessions for several months and commitment to the exercises they gave me. If you go to a good physio they will often assess very quickly whether their treatment is working or not based on assessing range of motion and doing particular manual tests on you. If your doctor does not see any need to have a scan then try a few physio sessions and ask for their advice. If they're not sure or they are concerned they can advise your GP that they recommend a scan (if they are not able to refer themselves, I can't remember in the UK if physios can refer for scans or not - my issues happened when I lived over there but I think it was my doctor who had to refer me).