Sexual Assault Co-occurring hip problems from cptsd and repeated sexual trauma?

[Strangelongtrip]

Hey everyone! I guess I wanted to ask if anyone has had similar problems and what you do to cope. When I was 5 and 8 I was sexually assaulted and for 7 months when I was 18 I was repeatedly sexually abused and raped (and emotionally and mentally) by someone older than me who I was dating. My dad can also be abusive and my family is pretty dysfunctional, but I’ve found ways to exist within it. The childhood abuse didn’t come from my family, it came from other children who had “higher social standing” than me. The one when I was 8 was very bad. Shortly after this I started having gender dysphoria, horrific tingling pain in my body, and panic attacks. I sort of repressed that part for a long time until I was 18 and going to therapy in the aftermath of rape.

One thing I’m wondering about is co occurring back and pelvic and hip pain in CSA survivors. When I was 14 I had an injury in my pelvis that should have gone away after a few weeks but ended up lasting months. Then I started having horrific hip and back pain centered around my sacroiliac joint. Before I was diagnosed with CPTSD the pain was so bad I couldn’t walk without help. Turns out I have a hip impingement and tearing in my hip ball cover, as well as scar tissue across my groin and across my pubic bone.

I’m wondering if they’re related to sexual trauma and the lack of ability to heal in my pelvic region. The pain went away when I was being properly treated for my psychiatric conditions and going through trauma therapy. However, now my anxiety is back and horrible again due to the anniversary affect my hip pain is back. I don’t sleep but 4 hours a night and I actually stopped eating more than 800 calories a day for about 2 weeks which resulted in me getting really sick.

I was kind of just wondering if anyone had any persistent chronic pain in their pelvis and how they cope. Right now walking in short bursts, ice and a heating pad are my best friends. I’m also taking CBD oil and my service dog in training helps with deep pressure therapy. I’m going to teach her to retrieve an ice pack for my too and other items when I’m in too much pain to walk, but it’s taking her forever to learn. I’m lucky, it’s the only thing she doesn’t get in like two sessions. She’s not big enough for any heavy mobility (or rather I’m too big, or both) but she’s big enough to open doors and get items. Anyways, thanks for reading!

 

[hymnless]

I have a pretty similar background as well as hip problems and pelvic pain. Never really considered that they could be related, but now that I’m reading this it does make some sense. Huh.

 

[Hopeforlife]

I have bad hip pain and always wondered if it was really related. I have never been checked for anything. I also have body memories linked to the hip pain.

 

[frogthroat]

I can't feel anything in my right hip from my pelvis to my knee. I sometimes get tingling nerve pain but the most part it's numb. I always assumed it was from my abuser bending my legs back too far and leaning on my right side or because of some internal damage from sexual torture but I have yet to get an official diagnosis. Recently, I've been told it might be a type of arthritis but I'm not sure. I'm sure it's made worse by my excess weight. I would need to see a doctor to confirm this.
Have you been to a doctor about this? I think this a legitimate issue that needs a professional opinion. It might have nothing to do with your abuse. It might actually be something that's not psychological that needs treatment.
I know you said you have hip impingement, scar tissue, and tearing in your hip ball joint but maybe you should see a specialist and make sure everything is okay. If it's confirmed to be psychological then you can go from there but it would probably relieve some of your stress if you knew for certain.

 

[Strangelongtrip]

I can't feel anything in my right hip from my pelvis to my knee. I sometimes get tingling nerve pain...

I’m sorry to hear about the numbness and tingling! I hope you find a solution soon.

From 15-19 I went to about four different Doctor’s about once a month trying to find an answer, two orthopedic one specific back specialist and finally one core specialist that diagnosed me with the scar tissue and the hip impingement. The orthopedic doctors and the back specialist had no idea what was wrong with me and shot me up with cortisone that never helped but caused severe depression. I was on pain killers, 1600 mg of ibuprofen (which they eventually changed to something more mild), and I smoked cannabis which helped the most with the pain. Finally when I was 19 we went to the core specialist in Philadelphia. We had to save up because none of their procedures are covered by insurance because they’re an experimental facility. I could afford MRIs with dye and three cortisone shots through an X ray and it took us two seperate 12 hour days to finally help me out. They said I could get two surgeries but it would cost something like 10k-20k and only half would be covered by insurance. The thing is by this point my pain was getting better as I was actively talking about my sexual trauma in therapy, which I hadn’t before. As soon as I started talking about it it started lifting, which I found pretty weird. It didn’t hurt for about 18 months after I finallly told my therapist I was raped until now.


I think I want to go to my gynecologist and talk to them some, they’re very understanding and they may have some knowledge or be able to point me in a direction. I’m also considering going back to physical therapy.

 

[frogthroat]

I think I want to go to my gynecologist and talk to them some, they’re very understanding and they may have some knowledge or be able to point me in a direction. I’m also considering going back to physical therapy.

That sounds good. I know my gynecologist said that there's a surgery to remove scar tissue and suggested it to me but I read it comes back. My T told me it's less invasive when it grows back but I have cold feet about it. Plus, I know I'm really not educated on the subject enough at the moment to make a decision.
I know when I exercise regularly I have less problems with nerve pain so physical therapy sounds like it would help. I'm sorry you're experiencing this. I'm just a layman trying to wrap my head around it. I thought maybe it could be something in your spine? You've been to doctors already though. I wonder if it's internal and my the gyno is the right route.