I've had what my doctor says its Meralgia Paresthetica for about 5 years now.
I am pretty sure he is right about what I have, all the symptoms and causes seem to match.
My pain seems to get worse at night, sometimes it starts pretty early, its worst when I wear jeans, some days my life is almost normal and some days I feel like sticking a knife in my leg to see if the pain stops.
I am sure I got this pain from gaining weight, it started as a feeling of pressure on my hip/upper leg and quickly became a sharp pain.
I have tried almost everything, I haven't lost all the weight but have in the past gone way below the weight where the pain started and that didn't seem to help. I have done physical therapy, a doctor had me take ibuprofen twice a day so strong and long that I developed an allergy against it, I've had injections, some sort of ultrasound therapy, taken anti depressants (cymbalta for the past few months up to 120mg a day). I've had xrays, mris, ct scans....
The Cymbalta seemed to help for a while but at the moment it does not seem to be helping much, I've had a lot of pain the past few nights. The doctors always ask me if it affects my sleep and the truth is it doesn't while I am sleeping but it does take me a while to find a position I am comfortable on, specially since the pain is at its worst at night.

So why am I posting this? I don't know, maybe I am looking for ideas, suggestions, sympathy, last hope! you tell me, I am guessing I am not the only one that has been at this point before.

Any comments are welcome, suggestions, anything really at this point.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post.

--Carlos

Lidoderm patches work well for this. That is the only drug I used for it. Mine came from C-section surgery. I've had it for over 25 yrs.

At one point it was horrible. But I found hot temps/hot showers, hot baths,
hot steam rooms really set it off. After using lidoderms on my thigh up high where the nerve exits the abdomen, put it to sleep after 14 days use.

Now I only have numbness and some twinges. Tight clothing and carrying your wallet in the back hip pocket on that side will make it worse. Tight jeans are a no no.

Here is an article to help explain it:
http://www.aafp.org/afp/20000401/2109.html
It can be confused with other problems.

MP is discussed here briefly...near the bottom of the page:
http://www.aan.com/familypractice/html/chp9.htm
There are nutritional things you can do. Vit B12, and fish oil, often help with nerve repair. But keeping stress off the nerve where it is entrapped is necessary for repair.

Meralgia Paresthetica can be the result of Myofascial trigger points (knots) in specific muscles especially Tensor fasciae latae, Sartorius and psoas/Iliopsoas - which also causes back pain. Tense bands in the paraspinal muscles may also play a role.

You can learn to self treat these muscles.

Side bar restrictive clothing and weight gain are two common reasons for pressure on the below noted nerves.

The numbness/pain of MP may be symptomatic of the muscle entrapment of the femoral, lateral femoral cutaneous, and the femoral branch of the genitofemoral nerves which, may occur in the lacuma musculorum beneath the inguinal ligament, as nerves exit the pelvis through a narrow lacunain “opening” in the company of the ilipsoas muscle. The genitofemoral nerve regularly penetrates, and the iliohypogastric and ilioinguinal nerves occasionally penetrate the psoas major muscle as they emerge from the lumbar plexus.

These trigger points can be deactivated by direct digital (finger) compression of the trigger point(s) in the affected muscle(s) followed by appropriate stretch. The Sartorius responds better to a cross fibber technique. You can learn to self treat these muscles. Look up books on treating Myofascial trigger points.

Trigger points cause the muscle to become shorter and tighter. This limits the function and mobility of the muscle which causes weakness, decreased circulation and pain. When injured, most tissues heal, but muscles learn they learn to avoid pain. This muscle memory can produce unexpected pain even years after an injury has occurred, especially during times of physical and emotional stress.



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thank you for the info and for the replys, I wish I could have replied earlier but its been a crazy week at work.
The pain hasn't been as bad this week, I am asking my wife to stretch my leg at night and that seems to help a little but only time will tell.
In a couple of weeks I have an appt with my neurologist and I am going to ask him to take me off Cymbalta and probably ask him if we can try the "Lidoderm" patches. They sound promising.

Has anybody here gotten the surgical procedure to take care of MP? I have heard there is a high chance it wouldn't even work or help.

Thanks,

--Carlos

a careful taper if you decide to discontinue Cymbalta.

And placement of the patches should be:
1) 1/2 patch at the inguinal exit
2) the other half, at the top of the thigh where it meets the abdomen, just below where the leg bends.

Placement at the place where you feel the pain, does not work for MP.
You need to intercept the nerve higher up.

There is a drawing in that link I gave you to aapf.org

Ohhh yeah I am aware of what happens when you stop taking cymbalta. My walgreens closes on sundays and holidays and one time I ran out friday and wasn't ready on saturday yet, tuesday was possibly the worst day I have ever had, weirdest feelings ever, I hope to never go through that again.

--Carlos

Yesterday I woke up with a numbness in my left leg - upper thigh region. My research says it may by Meralgia Paresthetica. It's not painful but just rather annoying. I've seen that some people have been living with it for years. I'm only 18 and just want to know if it will ever go away or if I'm going to be stuck like this forever.

Like I said, I'm not in pain - just an annoying numbness so I dont know if it's terribly severe. I'm kind of worried so I'm going to have it checked out later today.

What's the best treatment?

PLEASE HELP!

Kristen