Mrs. D,
I have been dealing with horrible left groin pain toward pelvic area which often goes down the inner and outer thigh areas for the past few weeks. The pain at times goes down the back of the legs as well; but is almost constant in the groin area/pelvic area. You had mentioned Meralgia paresthelica which I looked up. Much of what I read appears to be very similar to what I am experiencing.

Back this past November, I had repair surgery for three ventral incisional hernias (one was a epigastric hernia). A couple of months ago I went back to see the surgeon because of bulging in the area of the epigastric hernia above my navel began protruding. The doctor said this was due to diastasis recti which was the separating of the abdominal muscles from above and below the navel.

I went to my Pain Management doctor a two weeks ago for my monthly visit and told him about this pain. He insists it is from my left hip and has given me an order for a bilateral hip x-ray. I tried to explain I thought this was due to the belly loosely overlapping and somewhat bulging over the groin area which I thought was because of my abdominal hernia repair surgery. I see my PM or PA monthly so he wants me to have the results of the x-ray before my next visit in July.

You had mentioned using Lidoderm patches for ten days. I tried one a few days ago cutting in a narrow length of the patch so it was laying across the groin area. Wasn't sure it had helped at the time since I only used the patch once for a 12 hr. period. Would you be able to provide me with an idea where best to position the patch?

Since I do take 60mg's Oxycontin every 6 hrs. daily, I used Miralax a few times daily to avoid becoming impacted. This might be adding to the groin pain problem as well.

Appreciate any suggestions.


Gerry