Meralgia Paresthetica Thigh Pain
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Meralgia Paresthetica

I think I have to lose weight. Not to look better. Not to avoid a heart attack. Not for any of the usual reasons.

To get rid of the pain in my leg!

I have a burning kind of pain in the outer thigh of my left leg and it’s getting steadily worse. I went to a specialist who injected the site with a steroid of some kind and that fixed it for a few months but it’s back and just as bad as it was before.

It didn’t start out painful. Quite the opposite in fact. There was a numbness that came on at night which was easily fixed by turning over.

It was just a small area at first but the numbness spread and then the burning sensation began.

To begin with it only happened when I lay down in bed but now it is with me pretty much all the time. It gets so painful I have to take pain-killers sometimes and just standing for a while can get really painful.

I have searched the internet and all the symptoms seem to fit with having a specific trapped nerve in the hip area. The condition is called Meralgia Paresthetica and is caused by compression of the nerve. The cure appears to be losing weight or to stop wearing the things that are pressing on the nerve such as a tool-belt or tight hipster jeans.

I don’t wear tight jeans of any kind nor do I use a tool-belt but I did have a tummy-tuck when I was several kilos lighter and they did tell me not to put on any weight.

Either they did not tell me why or I did not listen and I have put on a few kilos since I had the operation. Not huge amounts but enough to notice it in my clothing.

I have a scar from the tummy-tuck that runs from one hip across to the other and I am wondering if the scar tissue is pressing on the nerve and causing the pain.

The only way to find out is to lose any weight I have put on since I had the operation but it won’t be easy.

The only form of exercise I like is dancing and not structured dance either so it’s not as simple as joining a dance class. I like to just get up and shake my booty as the fancy takes me not follow set dance steps.

I also do not like to be man-handled when dancing so I prefer to dance with a friend or on my own. I do not like to be pestered to dance or talk or socialise with strangers when I go dancing either.

All of these things mean I can’t just go dancing.

Most dance venues are meat-markets where people, young and old, go to “pick up”. There is a kind of unwritten law that states if you are there alone you are fair game. If you are still there, alone, as closing time approaches you become a target for all the drunks who haven’t “scored” yet. They seem to think you will be filled with gratitude if they offer to f*** you.

I’ve had 18 year old boys look at me as if they could not possibly have heard right when I have said no. Some acted as if I must not have understood what I was being offered and they pestered me whilst others got so offended it was laughable.

I endured it all because that was where the man I wanted was to be found but he’s been gone now for seven years. I can’t face all that rubbish if he is not there to make it worth going.

That means my main hope for losing weight is diet and I am way past the fad diet age. Dieting in the past has only ever led to getting fatter and fatter as my body became more and more expert at getting by on starvation rations.

The key to this diet will have to be a change of attitude towards food. I often eat when I am not actually hungry so the plan is to wait for genuine hunger pangs to strike before I eat anything.

I’m not going to be too obsessive about it but, from now on, I will not have the “snack to keep me going until meal time” or the few biscuits from work every time I pass the biscuit barrel or the two dim-sims while I wait for my fish and chips.

No more packets of biscuits, crackers and dip, lollies, twisties or chips in the shopping trolley because those are not food – they are snacks. I never eat snacks when I am hungry – I eat them when I am bored or peckish.

Already this change has resulted in a significant reduction in the amount of food I eat yet there has been no sense of deprivation. I still have desert or a couple of biscuits at work. I just make sure I am clear with myself about the cost. Am I willing to endure the pain in my leg for the extra time that snack will cost me or not?

It’s only been a week or so and I can already feel a very slight improvement in the leg. The pain is not as continuous as it was nor as excruciating but there is a long way to go before it will be gone.

I’m just hoping my diet alterations are the reason for the slight improvement and it isn’t coincidence or the recent warmer weather.

Only time will tell I suppose. I just wish I had known this might happen, and how much it would hurt, when they said don’t put any weight on after the tummy-tuck. I would have been a whole lot more careful!

5 Comments

  • dianeboise

    Hi!

    I realize your post above is quite old but I just now ran across it online and wanted to know how you are now. I experience EXACTLY what you do!!!

    Love to hear from you and take good care!
    Diane 🙂

  • dianeboise

    Dear Kim,

    I just realized from reading more on your web site that this post is actually from you so hopefully you’ll see the comment/question I made to you about it.

    Great web site I wanted to say too!
    Diane 🙂

  • Kim

    Hi Diane,

    Thanks for the comments. I did lose most of the weight I had put on after the tummy tuck and I was right. The pain went away completely!

    Sadly, however, I put the weight back on and the pain is now back too 🙁

  • kirby812

    I have this as well Meralgia Paresthetica- Nerve Compression – I have been so sad…………
    but trying to be positive, I love walking and I had
    to stop all activities.- I only hope it will subside
    kirby812

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