Hip pain in middle of the night; dull ache that wakes me up. What could it be?

Hello ladies, I'm only 20 years old but have this same problem. I have very mild spinabifta leaving a hole in my spine and my nerves unprotected and before my operation I was at serious risk of becoming paralysed (which can I point out was only diagnosed by my chiropractor when I was 8 years old after constant years of mis-diagnosis from the doctors!) so of course went to my back to my chiropractor when I started getting the hip pain 10 years on. My problem is caused by the same as Denise's (above), a cyst on the spine but I just wanted to reassure you that if you are diagnosed with a cyst then do not worry. A cyst can appear on the spine after some form of injury or stress and they can dissapear of their own accord. My cyst appeared after I trapped a nerve in my back which is what originally caused the hip pain. Obviously you need to get checked out as some cases will be more serious than others but in any case this is a nerve problem (cyst or no cyst!). Personally I would recommend you go to a chiropractor before seeing a doctor but I am biased about this due to my 8 year long problem with GP's!

I hope this helps and that you can all get a decent night's sleep soon enough!

I would get your heart checked. I had aching hips and thighs at night for a few months. It was a dull ache that would wake me up. I could never pinpoint the souce of the pain as it was just a dull ache. One morning on my way to work I had a heart attack. My legs were aching and I had severe pain across my shoulders and down my left arm. I had a 90 percent blockage in my main left artery of my heart. If you look at womens heart attack symptoms, you will see that aching hips can be an early warning sign. I have not had any problems with aching since then,

OK, this is SO STRANGE! I just looked this hip trip up too AND (get ready for this) I AM A 39 yr old FEMALE ALSO...WHAT!? crazy (what am I like the 4th or 5th? on this site alone)...is it something specific to our condition (age and gender). I AM NOT fit. I have not kids, and I am over weight w/o daily exercise (already one difference from the other gal who is physically fit). I also wondered whether or not it was arthritis or fibromyalgia,( both of which are already mentioned on this site). yesterday I was extremely dehydrated, my mouth was dry from the lack of water, however I hydrated sufficiently toward the end of the day. still woke up with the hip pain. I don't know if maybe I waited too long to hydrate the damage was already done and hydrating later in the day still couldn't prevent hip pain? Yesterday was unique from the norm, it was an active day for me. I spent the day on my feet running back and forth to the hardware store, and the appliance store, then I dismantled my broken air conditioner reinstalled a new one. I live in the tropics, but I know it has nothing to do with the temperature, humidity, or exercise. Because, two nights ago I also had pain in my hip. that was when ( unlike last night ) I not have cool air I had not gotten any exercise and I was not dehydrated. So, all of those variables don't seem to make a difference.
Bad news, I'm on 150 mg PER DAY of Methadone AND IT DOES NOT HELP AT ALL! Suffice it to day, pain killers don't/won't work (because, NOTHING is stronger than that much Methadone/it's comparable to MORPHINE). I'm already on Disability for TOS (thoracic outlet syndrome) which affects my shoulder, my entire arm, and my wrist (it actually makes a pre-existing carpal tunnel syndrome worse)...excruciating !
Lastly, (due to my pain) a bought a memory foam mattress. At first, I thought it was the answer to my prayers, it felt wonderful! ....but then, the pain came back......sigh.... what the he!l is really going on?!
So there it is, the only commonality I see is their age and gender.
~Achy but chill

Is there any real treatment for this, I too have had this pain for the last 3 months while sleeping at night and wake up in agony around 3-4am in the morning popping pain killers, previously about 18months ago orginally crushed my L4 and L5 (that was like being in labour for 4 days straight),but did not really get any after symptoms until about 4 months ago when i hurt it again, also in the past 2 years my mother at the age of 50 has being diagnoised with osteoarthritis what are the changes of getting this in my early 30's?

im glad to hear that im not the only one. it is really impacting on my sleep and moods throughout day. i was putting it down to a car accident i had 3 years ago where i damaged my pancreas. its a dull thupping pain in my right hip at night and wakes me and keeps me awake. pain killers do nothing.

I am so glad I found this site! About 4 days ago I experienced this deep dull ache in my left hip that continued for hours (it was faint enough to make me question it). I could not find a comfortable position and I tried everything (including a pillow between my knees). Finally I got out of bed and took a pain reliever (which worked). When I returned to bed, I experienced a burning sensation down my entire left leg.

Last night, the same symptoms appeared and I got out of bed sooner to take the pain reliever. This time however, in the morning I still felt the hip ache and burning sensation along with some numbness - all the way down to the left foot.

Thank you for all your information. I am also in my 30's and have ovarian cysts. Additionally, I have a family history of cancer and I was involved in a serious car accident many years ago (with a semi truck). My mother has and feels that I have Fibromyalgia. Also, I have been diagnosed with chronic depression.

I was not going to seek medical treatment, but after reading some of your comments, I will be making an appointment. I agree that you need to listen to your body and not allow your brain to say "it is nothing" or "your are imagining this".

Thank you again for all your comments - it is nice to know we are not alone.