Around 6 months ago I began feeling discomfort in my left thigh which increased (tight, numb, burning) in the following months. Two months ago it was to the point where it interfered with my sleep a few times, so I went to see a neurologist. He did several tests, and diagnosed it as meralgia paresthetica. He offered to prescribe something to reduce the symptoms, but I declined at present. I'm just trying to figure out the best way to "live with it".

I am underweight, not overweight, and I don't wear tight clothing, so I don't know how I got it. Standing does seem to make MP worse for me, but walking doesn't noticeably affect it. Sitting on a hard surface also makes it worse (since I am underweight, I have very little natural "padding" ). The biggest aggravator seems to be the sleeping position; a few times I have woken up with strong discomfort which lasts throughout the day. So I try to sleep mostly on my right (non-MP) side. If I do lie on my left side, I try to have my left knee forward. Since I began sleeping this way, I haven't had any really bad episodes. The "killer" position for me is sleeping on my left side with my right knee forward. Also, as I said, standing makes it worse, but I have found that standing in bare feet or sandals is much worse than standing in sneakers, so I try to wear sneakers much more, and that seems to help.

But I also have several other medical conditions, and one of them is osteoporosis. To help fight the osteoporosis, I try to spend more time standing (for the weight-bearing exercise); I use my home computer while standing up. I consider the osteoporosis to be a much more serious condition than MP, so I'm not willing to risk making osteoporosis worse by staying off my feet most of the day.

I wish there was a guide for "living with MP", which would indicate which exercises were likely to make MP worse (squats? bending over? twisting at the waist? abdominal leg lifts? etc.), and which exercises would probably have no effect on it. I do a lot of slow Chinese movement exercises every day, and might be willing to skip a few of them if I knew they were responsible for aggravating my MP to a greater degree than just standing (but otherwise, I'd rather keep doing them).

Hi Bruce-I got MP following my gallbladder surgery last July. It started with my right leg being numb and progressed into shooting, stabbing pains in my thigh. It hurts more when it gets cold. I went to see a neurologist and he tried giving me a shot in the nerve which only helped for 1 day and then made it worse. I started taking Neurontin and then switched to Topamax. I have been taking that since. I have good days and bad. It hurts when I am standing too long or when my leg gets cold. On occasion it will also hurt in my thigh/groin where the nerve is pinched My neurologist told me the only thing to do is massage the nerve and to take motrin.

You need to know your limitations. When you do too much, you will know it. I wish I could tell you specifically what you should do but unfortunately I can't. I think some things work for some but not for all. The shot didn't work for me, the medication sometimes works for me. My neurologist said some people are on the medication for a couple of months, others for years. Like you, some don't take it at all and are fine and learn to manage. Good luck to you and hopefully you find what works best.