Dealing With Avascular Necrosis

Dealing with avascular necrosis, is one of the hardest and most debilitating conditions. I should know, I lived with it for 18 years. Since writing about how I’d been living with avascular necrosis, I’ve had an overwhelming number of people reach out to me about it asking questions about dealing with it.

Questions regarding what to eat, how to work out, lose weight, what supplements to take. The questions have been numerous and if anything, it’s opened my eyes to the number of people dealing with this debilitating condition. While I did live with avascular necrosis for 18 years and lost 80 pounds with it, I no longer have the condition.

In September 2016, I had a robotic anterior (front approach) hip replacement as outpatient surgery. It went so well, I was in the gym within days of the surgery. I’ve never felt better in my life. If I had to go back, I would do the surgery sooner because it gave me my life back. I plan to write more about my hip replacement soon, but today I’m focusing on dealing with avascular necrosis. I highlighted a few tips below. Watch the video for more details and tips!

Disclaimer – the advice in this post is general advice. It’s not intended to treat or diagnose. As a health care professional, I cannot give individual medical advice unless you are a patient of mine. This is for legal reasons and to protect your health. I am NOT an orthopedic doctor. DO NOT send me your x-rays or medical information. I CANNOT provide you with specific advice even if you sign up for a consult. 

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Stay Active

Stay active as much as is comfortable for you and without aggravating your condition. This takes some trial and error to figure out. If you can’t walk, stand or are in a wheelchair, do movements with your arms. Anything that keeps you moving is better than nothing.

For me, swimming, pilates, biking and weight training worked for me and for some time, walking was fine until I got closer to my surgery when the pain was unbearable. I worked with a personal pilates trainer to work on range of motion, stability and strength. She taught me things that I never would have known to do to keep my bad leg strong. Working with her and staying active on my own helped me manage the pain, and have a better outcome with surgery.

Pain Management

Pain management is key with any condition. For a long time, curcumin worked very well for me. In my opinion, it’s one of the best natural pain supplements on the market. Anyone who I’ve known with an arthritic condition, has had success with taking it. Once I got closer to my surgery, I took Celebrex with it and together they both did a good job of helping me deal with the pain.

I also did acupuncture treatments here and there to help. For me, the acupuncture session always helps the most. After that, it doesn’t seem to do as much but it’s always something you can consider because everyone reacts different.

Natural Supplements

Collagen was one supplement I took and I still take it to this day. It’s one of the only supplements that has been scientifically shown to improve bone and joint health. I am probably in the minority when it comes to nutrition practitioners because I do not take many supplements, but collagen is one that I hands down cannot recommend enough especially for those dealing with avascular necrosis. Your bones and joints need it.

For dealing with inflammation, I also recommend a pharmaceutical grade fish oil supplement. In my opinion, everyone should be taking fish oil. It’s high in omega-3 which everyone needs more of in their diet to maintain a healthy heart. Like I said, omega-3 also reduces inflammation so for those dealing with avascular necrosis it’s something to consider.

Diet

Diet is the #1 question I receive from readers. Because I am a nutrition practitioner, this is tricky because I cannot legally give specific advice unless individuals are under my care. Here’s general advice that can apply to anyone.

Pay attention to hunger signals and determine if it’s a true hunger craving, or an emotional craving. It’s easy to eat your emotions while you’re dealing with an illness. The hard truth is you need to watch your weight when dealing with avascular necrosis. Extra weight puts extra stress on the joints causing increased pain.

Eating lots of vegetables, high fiber, high protein and increased omega-3 foods is recommended. Avoid snacking and focus on eating meals that keep you pull meal to meal. Watch portion sizes and consider tracking your food if your goal is to lose weight. Remember 80% or more of your body composition is what you eat, not what you do.

I hope this was helpful. For more tips and details, watch the video!

Related:

Living With Avascular Necrosis

Too Young For A Hip Replacement

What To Expect Recovering From A Hip Replacement

Disclaimer – the advice in this post is general advice. It’s not intended to treat or diagnose. As a health care professional, I cannot give individual medical advice unless you are a patient of mine. This is for legal reasons and to protect your health. I am NOT an orthopedic doctor. DO NOT send me your x-rays or medical information. I CANNOT provide you with specific advice.

About Megan

Megan is a certified nutrition practitioner, author, freelance food photographer and fitness instructor living in Phoenix, Arizona. On her blog, Skinny Fitalicious she shares EASY, gluten free recipes for weight loss. Follow Megan on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram for the latest updates.