Name : William (Bill) Harold Mulveney
E-mail : wmulveney@cogeco.ca
Adult: 69 years old
Location: Burlington, Ontario, Canada
Area(s) affected: Right femur-hip joint and knee
Personal History:
First diagnosed by Dr. Ian McIntyre in Burlington in 1975. Over the years I have seen many doctors, including Dr. Michael Kleerekoper, then Division Head of the Bone and Mineral Division at Henry Ford hospital in Detroit and most recently, Dr Bogoch at St. Michaels Hospital in Toronto.
My right femur is approximately double in diameter to my left femur and I have negligible lateral mobility in my right hip joint due to the huge overdevelopment in the top of the femur. Likewise I have a tennis ball size overdevelopment on the outside bottom of my femur. To date, my right knee is not giving me a problem. Ironically, my left knee is now grinding and giving me pain, perhaps due to many years of jogging, but possibly also due to extra burden associated with my right leg problems My right leg is noticeably shorter than my left leg and when standing straight, my right heel does not reach the ground.
Basically, I have lived an active life in the 30 years since being aware of melorheostosis and still walk 18 holes on the golf course regularly.
My principle difficulties relate to painful muscle spasms that occur periodically, principally when I am at rest, either sitting or attempting to sleep. Some evenings and nights are terribly bad and I experience far ranging pains that can be from deep in the hip socket to the middle and bottom of my right shin. Very mysterious!
Surgery has never been recommended and I prefer to keep on keeping on with my routine as melorheostosis is not life threatening. In respect to medications, I take Amitripylene nightly to facilitate sleeping and Celebrex for pain in my leg hip and lower back which I believe has been affected by my unusual gait.
At one time I was advised by a pain doctor to take hypnotic drugs to increase my capability to sleep through nerve spasms but my family doctor was opposed to the idea on the basis that they were habit-forming and I had too many years to live to be hooked to increasing dosages of hypnotics.