We here like to figure out puzzles...but we have to have pieces to do that!

Meralgia Paresthetica can be due to blood sugar problems and diabetes.
It can be due to a surgery damage that was in the abdominal area.
It can be due to wearing jeans too tightly, with a wallet in that back pocket, and or a too tight belt.

MP is only damage to a sensory nerve. Is your thigh the only place you are having problems? Some hip injury/arthritis may refer to the upper thigh. So will a hernia. Those last two can only be evaluated by a doctor.

This website gives the explanations for your thigh/hip pain...with diagrams.
It is very good:
http://www.aafp.org/afp/20000401/2109.html

A fall or abnormal stretch in an older person, qualifies as an "injury"... you don't have to injure yourself in sports.
Illustration Fig 2B illustrates the femoral nerve distribution, and where it goes, for MP.

No I'm not on blood pressure meds - I am in the high normal range on blood pressure - which for me is a little high since most of my life I have run on the low side.

I really have had pretty good health except for kidney stones and occasional back problems. Just in the last 3 years have I had a couple of bouts of skin infection on my hands and arms. I do work in a grocery produce department and my doctor has me taking Claritin just in case I have developed an allergy to something I work around.

And I hate tight clothes and carry my wallet in my front pocket.

The last couple of days I have been doing some stretching excerises and taking an Advil and (at least for now) I'd say the symptoms are about 80% better than they have been.

Ron

Yes! This just started for me within the past month or so. The area is right below my right hip and wraps forward towards the groin area. I get this tingling, tickling, burning, itching...it's hard to describe it. And now it seems to be getting more intense. Resting my hand or arm on it or when my other half puts his arm there stops the sensations. It only happens at night and when I'm laying on my left side.

The difference between your symptoms and mine seems to be that I get all the sensations at the same time. Never just one or two at different times.

The big question for me is not just *what* is it but is it my PN getting worse? Been having symptoms in my hands as well. Not sure if the carpal tunnel syndrome I had surgery for well over a year ago is returning or if the PN is spreading. I sure hope not.

Have you been diagnosed with PN, for instance? Or anything that might be causing this? It does sort of sound like PN pain-type symptoms but I'm not a doctor by any means and there are others here with much more experience and knowledge than I have. Hope you get some answers. It's very upsetting when this kind of stuff starts happening and one is trying to find answers and not seeming to get anywhere.

ETA: One other thing comes to mind after reading your last post. Could this be an isolated case of shingles? Isolated in that it's restricted to a fairly small area. Is that even possible? *waits for someone with a bit more knowledge of shingles to jump in*