Meralgia Parastetica frustration
 

Hi,

My name is Glenn Ross and I just joined Neuro Talk today. I am 53 years old and up to this point, I have been pretty healthy. I had an appendectomy in July 2006. I had a microscopic tear, so surgeon did not suture. He let the wound heal from the inside. Two months later I had a bowel blockage that I was hospitalized for. Not sure if that had anything to do with my current condition. Coincidentally, within the next month I began getting strange cold sensations in my lower back, and right groin. I've had MRI's and catscans and nothing has showed up. I went to a physical medicine doctor in November and she diagnosed me with a pelvic strain and suggested I go to physical therapy to break up the scar tissue around the wound (massage and ultra-sound). I went for 2 months and I believe I actually got worse. In April I was diagnosed with MP by a neurologist. I have intermittent burning pain in my quadricep and outside of my leg. I also have aching in those areas as well as my groin. In addition, I have a knot in my butt, which also hurts. I think it may be the piriformas muscle. The pain wasn't as intense before the therapy. I have more pain when I sit, which leads me to believe that the nerve is being compressed. I just started on Lyrica @150mg per day and will bump it to 300mg next week. I am totally frustrated and can't believe I am dealing with this issue over a routine appendectomy. Thousands of people have this surgery and I haven't ever heard of this problem before. Has anyone experienced anything similar to what I am going through. Would love to hear from you.
Thank you

Hi Glenn, welcome to NeuroTalk!

Holy guacamole, what a fiasco you've had. Sheesh. I'm afraid I don't know the first thing about MP, so I'll ask you to stand by and I'll defer to others.

In the meantime, do take advantage of the search engine in the blue toolbar above and let us know if we can assist you with navigating the site.

Again, welcome!:)

Hi Glenn. I'm so sorry that your plate is so full and so suddenly.

From what I've seen, read, some folks with fibromyalgia can develop that. I'm not sure if that would be a forum to join in or not. I don't think we have specifically a Meralgia Parasthetica forum. I did find a few discussions about exactly what you have at this link. I believe it's General Health Conditions and Rare Disorders. http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forumdisplay.php?f=87 You may also want to go to the Spinal Disorders forum. http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forumdisplay.php?f=22

It sounds like what happens is entrapment or injury to the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve at the site where the nerve leaves the pelvis. It could very well have been from the appendectomy but I doubt you'd ever get them to admit that and it wouldn't help you.

I read at another site suggestions such as wearing looser clothing, losing weight (if one is overweight), cortisone shots in the hip, and sometimes surgery. Even read that tight clothing such as hip huggers could trigger the MP!

At any rate, I'm glad you found us and hope you find some support. This is a wonderful community.

We do have a Meralgia Parasthetica section--
 

--in our Rare Disease subforums:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forumdisplay.php?f=76

From what you describe, this could very well be what's bothering your quadricep/thigh area, although many things can contribute to symptoms in that areas, including lower spine problems, and peripheral neuropathies nto related to compression of the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve.

We never really made a Useful Websites section there, but Jo55's post of informational links is a good place to start.