Originally Posted by louleg

Hi All,

I'm new here, am 63 and am looking for your experiences re treating Meralgia Parestica with Nortriptyline.

Mine MP is a result of abdominal surgery (woke up with a numb thigh). It has been determined to be permanent by the top neurology/pain management group here in Albany NY (after 18 months of no improvement). I was told that my LFCN nerve was injured during surgery either by 1) it being stretched-very likely, 2) entrapped-less likely, or 3) severed-very unlikely... And no imaging test can determine the exact damage. I have the numb spots, prickly spots, shooting pains, and can't stand to even put lotion on my thigh.

I'm quite anti-medication and only used anti-inflammatory meds for the first month with minimal relief and was worried about taking them because I also have an acid reflux problem. So I decided to brave the gabapentin that was prescribed....and it worked. I started out with 300mg/day and worked up to 1500mg/day. I hated the side effects of it though -- very hyperactive, irritable and non-stop talking. So I decided to wean down to a tolerable level which ended up being 500mg/day -- just couldn't miss a dose though without the sharp pains starting, and I'm not that much less irritable either :-).

I had one nerve block which did nothing. And the highest neuro/pain doc said those blocks rarely work for permanent relief, if at all -- that the LFCN is too big. He also said he wouln't recommend any of the remaining solutions (additional blocks, radio frequency ablation, severing the nerve surgically, etc) -- they have been clinically proven to have high chance of causing worse pain or further complications. He said that medication is the better gamble, and if I'm still having a problem with gabapentin side effects, he would like me to try weaning down off that and start taking nortriptyline (a supposedly mild antidepressant that works on some people for nerve pain also).

I tried the nortriptyline for about 3 nights and even though it's suppose to make you sleepy I was awake about 2-3 times during the night very irritated by dry mouth and dry eyes. I gave up on it because I was going on vacation and am now thinking about trying it again. SO....DOES ANYONE HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH NORTRIPTYLINE working for MP and having the side effects of non-sleep and dryness diminishing -- if so, how long after starting it? I read a few reviews about it also making you sick if you drink alcohol with it, but am wondering if only a few cocktails occasionally still can cause you to get sick???

I hope my info is useful and am anxious to hear back from someone successfully using nortriptyline. Thanks for reading my story.