neuropathies around the inguinal ring
 

Hello! I'm kinda new here. I used to frequent the RSD board, but found out that I don't have that. I guess a brief story is in order.
July 5 of last year I thought that I had messed up my knee (again, had 2 surgeries on it already...but fine), so went and got it checked out....nothing. But b/c my MRI showed some speckled replacement of fatty marrow in my femur and tibia...presto-chango I got RSD. So i went to a pain specialist, got told it wasn't RSD (i'm like "duh!') and instead had some minor bulges in my Lumbar, so I got 2 injections into my spine (which made it worse). So told that guy where to shove it. Went to a neurologist (1 hour way) and he said it ain't my spine or RSD, had a butt-load of blood work done (all neg :p) and a nerve conduction done (which we all know pretty much only checks the CNS nerves) and they were all fine. So got a referral to a university hospital (5 hours away) to see a spine specialist and another neurologist. Well, finally got into see them first part of June. Nothing with my spine and the neurologist (which i actually ended up seeing 2 of them at the same time :eek:) And they both came to the same conclusion: it ain't in my head, but they ain't really sure. So (drum roll) they are about 95% sure that i have a compressive neuropathy, probably somewhere along my inguinal canal or somewhere around there. So I was referred to a GYN....and he is now referring me to a hip ortho. Dude! do I ever feel like a ping-pong ball of "here, you take her, not my prob!":o
So....what i am wondering is if ANYONE has heard of this, has it, any ideas, any clues....:confused: I didn't even bring up the pain, b/c i really don't like to think about it, makes it hurt more :winky:
Hope all is going as well as possible for everyone and HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!
Penguin :cool:

Here are some pictures to help you visualize :

http://www.aafp.org/afp/20000401/2109.html

Figure 1 is placement of bursae.

Figures 2a and 2b show nerves, 2b shows the femoral nerve exiting the inguinal ligament.

This link is for a 3D picture of the nerves in the lower body.

http://www.healthline.com/vpbody/ner...-spine-to-foot

You can rotate it to see back and front. Only two small sensory nerves come out down the front of the leg and most are in the back. I assume if yours is inguinal, it is in the front.

Placement of Lidoderm patches at the spots shown on Figure 2b may help your pain, if the inguinal location is the culprit.

Wearing tight clothing is also a culprit, jeans, tight underwear, or tight belts.

I use Lidoderm for my knee pain sometimes. I place 1/2 patch behind the affected knee just above the bend in the back.
Lidoderms have shown comparable effects with NSAIDs like Celebrex:
http://www.zhion.com/joint_bone/Lidoderm.html

If your nerve compression is in the groin area, I'd place the patch up there to intercept the nerve higher up. It may be more effective that way. I have MP in my right leg from a C-section surgery,and Lidoderms were very successful for me.
I had to use it every day, and by the end of 2 weeks the nerve stopped firing so much. This remission has held 90% over several years now.