Question:
Nerve/skin/burning leg pain?

Next month I will be 1 year post op. I am experiencing a traveling, burning leg pain. I believe it is nerve related. The pain moves from leg to leg and from spot to spot. It feels like a sunburn and even clothing irritates it. It is on the surface of the skin and the skin looks normal. Every day it is in a different spot or a different leg. Could this be a vitamin deficiency?    — [Deactivated Member] (posted on August 2, 2004)

August 2, 2004
Sounds like it might be sciatica, which is a pinched nerve in your back. I have it. Had it for years, the pain got to be terrible until finally, the sides of my upper thighs are now completely numb, if I touch them, I can't feel it, it's weird. I would say look up Sciatica to see if you meet the symtoms, and then see a doctor, though I don't think there is much that can be done about it.
   — thekatinthehat

August 2, 2004
Thanks, but that is not it. I know what that feels like and this is more like extree skin sensitivity. Feels like a sunburn. One day it was a spot on my lower abdomen and a small spot on my rump, then it went away and became a spot on the other side on the back of my thigh. It moved yesterday to the underwear line where your butt meets your leg. Today is a strip on the upper part of my thigh all the way to my inner thigh and near the groin area. As the evening progresses, it has spread to the top of my thigh near my knee. I know sciatica does not feel like this.
   — [Deactivated Member]

August 2, 2004
Can you get into a neurologist and/or dermatologist? I had a condition known as notalgia paresthetica, which was a persistent itching in one spot on my back. No rash or anything, just this mind-tearing itch. Musta been in the fat, cuz it's gone since surgery. There are other conditions like this, and treatment might be available, once diagnosed properly
   — vitalady

August 4, 2004
Try to see a Neurologist. I had the same problem and he fixed me right up. I do have to take meds (Neurontin) for it, but it works. My pain was to the point that it was making my legs jerk all the time, day and night. Turned out I had nerve damage in my legs and feet from my diabetes. Best of health and best of luck to you! Sandy
   — SandyParker

August 13, 2004
Look up meralgia parasthetica in web searches. I have had this since I was 12 and after surgery it came back full force and to a debilitating level for about 2 months post-op. It is basically a pinched/damaged nerve in the groin/buttbone area that affects the nerve branches that run from hips to kneecaps, mostly on the outer thigh areas. There is a correlation of late that this has popped up with a number of WLS surgeries, possibly due to how we are strapped to the table or the retractors used. there are little or no KNOWN treatments but I have found acupressure to be very helpful once you find the sweet spot (for me on the lower part of my rear end, where the bones can be felt closest to the surface) and continued weight loss seems to help decrease the frequency, duration and intensity of the painful attacks. Surgical options to decompress the nerve are not feasible I was told as it grows thru the inguinal ligament and often grows differently for different people so tracking it down to the injured point is hard to do. this may NOT be your problem but it sure sounds like it. I have worn skirts all my life as the deadened surface nerves and supersensitive fiery nerves a layer down just made pants unbearable to wear. I alsways know when it is acting up as the spot in pain is fiery hot to the touch telling me something is going on there and it's not just my mind. After my WLS hubby had to put cold compresses across my entire legs knee to groin for hours at a time. That's the worst it gets but most of the time now it is negligible, a flareup once or twice a week for an hour or so and the pain is tolerable and doesn't infringe on my activities. I do keep my eyes and ears open hoping for changes in treatment or cures. the medical community doesn't put a lot of focus into helping or researching a problem that is largely sensory and while painful and awful, is only disabling for a tiny few. email me anytime for a sympathic ear on this. Colleen [email protected]
   — Colleen S.