In hopes of finding someone who understands the pain
 

About 4 years ago, I went to a doctor trying to explain this pain in my right thigh. Every now and then, it woukd feel like it needed to pop. He said it was tendonitis. 4 years later, not only do I have that symptom, I now have more symptoms and it keeps getting worse. I had uterine fibroids unknowingly for 30 years. I was anemic. I had rls. I had a laproscopic robotic surgery to remove the fibroids along with a total hysterectimy. Could this be meralgia pareshtetica? If I stay off my feet for a couple of days, I really dont feel that much pain. But after Im moving around for a couple of hours, I feel extreme pain. Its hard to get up from sitting. If I play with my grandbaby on the floor, I have to get on all 4s to get back up and it takes a while. I have experienced numbness in my hands. I cant pretend Im okay around my grown kids because its impossible to hide the pain. My lower back hurts when standing for a certain amount of time. I cant seem to get a doctor to understand what I am experiencing. Can anyone help me please?

Hi kathanks,
Welcome to the NeuroTalk Support Groups.
I'm wondering if all of your hysterectomy was done via laparoscopy or just part of it? Reason I'm asking is that I had a friend who ended up with very similar sounding symptoms and pain as you describe after having a hysterectomy. She had some type of femoral nerve entrapment / impingement and neuropathy. I recall her mobility was very much affected.
I no longer remember the exact term I'm sorry but the symptoms sounded so much the same although I can't understand that this would affect the hands as well. Maybe that is another issue completely. Did that start at the same time as your surgery or did you have that before?

Just from my personal opinion, but as someone who has had nerve entrapment in my lumber region, the on/off weakness you describe certainly sounds as if it's a nerve problem. Where I don't know.

What type of tests have you had done in the past if you don't mind saying? Any imaging of any type?

I deal with chronic pain for other reasons so I do understand how difficult pain and mobility issues can be to deal with every day and night. I think if you feel your doctor is on the wrong track, you could talk with them more or else get another opinion or a referral to a specialist.

I hope you were able to get your iron deficiency sorted. That is a very common reason for Restless Leg Syndrome.

I hope you will be able to get some relief from your pain and get to the bottom of what is causing these problems. Just my personal opinion but it might be a good idea to not try to hide your pain from your family or anyone right now. It's maybe best that you talk about it. I don't want to tell you what to do, but that's something I do. I try to hide it but it's not always a good idea for me.

There is a Meralgia Paresthetica Forum here that has a lot of info so you may like to check in there as well. https://www.neurotalk.org/meralgia-paresthetica/


take care.

Millions live in a world of pain and no one can understand anyone else's pain, we know what we have. I try not to complain a lot since no one can do much but many can offer info on what to "try". I deal with massive body pain from a botched hip replacement, lot of side effects/damage from the surgery.

I refuse pharma drugs as we'll end up with more side effects. And I believe every time we do a surgery of some type, we end up with more damage, nerve type or others.

Aging is not so golden but we need to keep strong and work with one or two issues at a time.

I've posted a lot here on what I take and look in the vitamins/supplements area, I have a lot of info there.

I've been taking MSM for years and believe it does help reduce some of the body pain. And I take a lot of other stuff too.

Work on the issues that are the worst and go from there.

Have you had any testing or imaging/X rays to rule in or out possible spinal issues?

OP: I had a hysterectomy about 40 yrs ago and this left me with years of sciatic nerve damage....I still have it, not as bad over 40 yrs now, and the damage from hip replacement.

In my 80some yrs the most damage I've countered has been from big surgeries....2 of them....and also a knee clean out about 5 yrs ago which also left my knee messed up.

Some people have higher pain thresholds and I believe that is me. I don't strive for pain free....I'm happy wth pain management.

Hi again kathanks,

I think the most important thing that we can do when we're in so much agony is to find out exactly why.

It is only after finding the cause will you be able to even contemplate how to deal with it effectively. No one should be in pain. It is not something that we just have to put up with all the time. Pain is a sign that something is wrong.

all the best.

Welcome kathans2015. :Tip-Hat:

Welcome, kathanks2015!

I'm sorry I don't have anything helpful to add to this discussion but hope you can find some useful answers because living with chronic pain and being crippled by it--that's no fun at all.

I've had some severe lower back pain and understand I have a compression fracture at L4. I'm going to have a CT scan next week and maybe there will be some nonsurgical treatment. I'm not at all keen on any kind of spinal surgery but apparently it works wonders in some situations.

I do find that lots of rest eventually helps my pain to get less intense but it does take time.:)

You need a lumbar MRI to rule out your spine and if clear, an ultrasound guided injection of bupivicaine around the LFCN to see if it temporarily relieves your thigh pain. If so, that is diagnostic of Meralgia Paresthetica. The LFCN absolutely could have been damaged during or as a result of your surgery. Numbness in your hands however is a different issue. MP is easy to diagnose but so many doctors are clueless about it and those that aren't do not understand the severity of the pain for some sufferrers