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Leg pain, numbness and twitching

Posted , 4 users are following.

MG88
MG88

For a few weeks now I have had pain, numbness and nurve like twitching down the outside of my left thigh.

It starts when sitting but is worse at night when I’m lying down, starts after about 5min.  I cannot get comfy on a night as any position is painful, eventually it goes numb so I can sleep but get awoken again by pain.

When sitting my leg goes completely numb down the outside of my thigh, when standing occasionally I get painful twitching on the outside around the middle of my thigh.

 In 2016 I had a lumber MRI which showed 2 bulging discs one slightly compressing spine L2 and L3 (I think) and a degenerative disc, sorry I cannot find letter for exact wording. 

I have kept fit and strong and had no further back problems since 2016.

0 likes, 6 replies

6 Replies

  • richardA54
    richardA54 MG88

    Posted

    Not being a doctor but having 11 years of severe back and leg pain plus 4 major surgeries, my guess is you are starting to get some compression on a nerve. As far as the sleeping, I have to sleep on my right side in a fetal position. Get a firm small pillow about 6 to 8 inches thick and try sleeping with it between your thighs lying on whichever side is most comfortable.

    Good Luck

    Richard

  • faith48458
    faith48458 MG88

    Posted

    Sounds a lot like me. Sciatica and something else.  Not sure what.  Just had the stimulator installed in the back and that helps with that pain in the outer thigh and night time pain.  Just had it adjusted so hoping for more coverage of the pain in my lower back.  Boston Scientific.  Good luck with getting help with the pain.  I tried all the injections and nerve ablation with no success.
  • allaroundanne
    allaroundanne MG88

    Posted

    I am a retired pain doc.  This pain is on the lateral side of your thigh, not the back?  Usually sciatica pain is felt down the back of the leg, and is worse with bending over, sitting, anything that stretches that nerve or makes the compression worse.  Now, there is a small nerve that runs over the rim of your hip that supplies sensation to the skin of your thigh that does sometimes get entrapped by scar tissue and it causes pain and numbness/tingling in the area that you are describing.  I think you need to go see a pain doc and figure out which is causing your problems, you can get a nerve block of the nerve along your hip to see if that makes your pain go away (lateral femoral cutaneous nerve) or get a shot of epidural steroids to treat your disc disease to see if they are the problem.

    HTH

    Lynn

    • MG88
      MG88 allaroundanne

      Posted

      Hi Lynn,

      Thank you for your reply.

      Yes the numbness/pain is only down the lateral side of my thigh the pain worse about 2/3 down a little up from the knee, at first I thought it was sciatica but I don’t have pain in lumber or down the back of my leg, symptoms don’t really fit.

      I know it’s bad to google stuff but from my symptoms it’s sounds very much like Meralgia Paraethetica to me.  From what I’ve read this can be caused by disc herniation in L2 and L3 which is what showed on my MRI.

      Im trying to work out what could have caused this to flare up so I can be careful.  I’m currenly traveling Asia until Christmas and have a 15kg backpack which I’m carrying, we tend to stay in the same place for a couple of weeks so it’s not ever day.  The pain started a couple of days after a Thai full body massage where my back was bend into some pretty awkward positions, so maybe this could have set it off! 

      Based on this is you have any further advise I would be very greatful as I’m trying to avoid seeing a doctor out here unless completely nessesary.

      I will try some yoga and see how I get on.

      Thank you again,

      Zoë

  • allaroundanne
    allaroundanne MG88

    Posted

    We are talking about the same thing, meralgia parenthetica is a problem with the lateral cutaneous femoral nerve. It follows a course after it leaves the spinal cord area along the psoas muscle and then runs along the inside of your iliac ( hip) bone to emerge over that around where your inguinal ligament is. It can get interfered with at any of those points and cause your symptoms. So, yes, the discs at L2-3 would be it's origin.  I am thinking the backpack banging on your psoas area continually might be the problem, especially if that side is already compromised by the bulging discs.  Could you maybe sling the backpack on the opposite shoulder for awhile and see if it improves the symptoms?  I know you can't get much in the way of treatment over there, but if you can get your hands on a dose pack of steroids, like you would take if you had bad poison ivy, or a bad asthmatic attack, etc, the kind where you take 7 pills the first day, then 5 then 4.  That might alleviate swelling around an inflamed nerve and also coax those discs back into place.  Heck, I had a cervical disc pressing on a nerve wreaking all sorts of havoc before exams and that's what I took, in one day my pain was gone and I aced my exams!  LOL tricks of the trade.  HTH

    Lynn

    • MG88
      MG88 allaroundanne

      Posted

      Thanks for your advise, I will certainly look into the steroids!

      Unfortunately my backback is a 50 litre bag which goes over both shoulders and straps around my waist and then a 20litre which can either strap to the front or back of the big one! If things don’t get better I’m going to look at getting some wheels for my backpack or a different bag.  

      Thanks again 

      Zoë

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