my 16 year old sister has been suffering from an unexplainable hip pain for over 3 years now. she has been suffering a lot due to it, she cannot take part in sports and she finds it difficult traveling to and from college as she has to take public transport. The pain goes from bearable to excruciating, and on bad days she is on crutches and sometimes even a wheelchair. She has been seeing a doctor for a long time, and she has had blood tests, bone scans, MRI, arthograms, physio, and doctors just can't find out what it is!
It's strange because sometimes she seems fine and she comes out with me in evenings and dances and it all seems ok, but other times she can't even get out of bed. She says she is in constant pain, and most of the time she tries to bare it and just get on with life. She takes pain killers everyday, but she says they don't do much and she can't just rely on them her whole life, she wants to get better and lead a normal teenage life.
What could this be? I don't know much about medicine but is there anything she hasn't tried that she should? Or has anyone experienced something similar and knows how to cope with it?
She also has sleeping problems and rarely gets more than 1 - 2 hours sleep a night, i think it is due to the constant pain she is in.
Her hip mainly gets bad when she has had long days at college (particularly weds when she has a 12 hour day), when she is traveling in a car for a long time, and just at random times of the day as well.
Please help I am really worried about her!!
Ariane