Femoral nerve neuropathy

I wish I had some words of wisdom for you but I am new to femoral nerve neuropathy. My dr has not said that’s what’s going on. My first follow up for surgery is in a couple weeks He’s just said unless there’s swelling & intense pain, resume normal activities. Gee, I’d love to but my legs are so weak & I have nerve pain & muscle weakness & can’t be on my feet long.
I had femoral heart catherization thru my groin a month ago & these symptoms are getting worse, not better.
Let’s all share when we have found some answers & help each other out.

Hi, I'm C.J.
I was traumatically injured 35 yrs. Ago and one of my injuries was to the left peripheral femoral nerve. A neurologist I knew, diagnosed the injury as Meralgia Peristhetica of the left peripheral femur nerve. My thigh was as if it was on FIRE, up to my waist. My back was also severely injured, but the drs. At the pain clinic at UCI MEDICAL CENTER in Orange, Ca kept saying that the pain in my thigh was from my back. So for two yrs. the pain specialists gave me every type of treatment they knew how to perform only on my back. My left thigh was still on fire! I was referred to the Neurosurgery Dept. The Chief of Neurosurgery read my chart, asked me a brief couple of questions and then said "Gee, I don't know why you could be in so much pain". As if it were all in my imagination. I felt so crushed that I wanted to go home and commit suicide, rather than have my thigh feel intense FIRE anymore. Then as an afterthought, he said " well, I'll refer you to my partner and maybe he might help you".. When I saw his partner, the other senior Neurosurgeon, I described my symptoms and he said "I know exactly what is causing the thigh and pelvic pain. He said it is Meralgia Peristhetica of the Left Peripheral Femur Nerve. I immediately said"That's exactly what my Neurologist said 2 YEARS AGO,! But the pain clinic wouldn't listen to me, they said it was referred pain from my back. So, the Neurosurgeon said he would make a small 3" incision on the front left part of my pelvis area between my leg and waist, remove scar tissue and it would be better. After he did the surgery and I awakened and discovered that I had a 12" incision, I said to the surgeon, " I thought you said you were only going to make a 3" incision? Then he replied "The nerve was stretched and twisted and there was a lot of scar tissue. It was the most scar tissue and twisting and kinking I have ever seen on that nerve before". He validated to me that I really was in as much pain as I had been telling all the other drs. before, and they just wouldn't listen to me. I thanked God that this Dr. knew what he was doing when he diagnosed and did the surgery. Unfortunately, two years had passed from the time of the original damage and therefore the nerve was permanently damaged. "It is possible, said the surgeon, that had this been resolved closer to the time of the traumatic injury to the nerve it may not have caused so much permanent pain and damage". The lesson I learned from this is: when you are in pain it is your body trying to tell you something is wrong...pain IS A SIGNAL TO TELL YOU THAT SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE TAKEN CARE OF". Too many people describe CHRONIC PAIN as being just repaired parts of your body that are giving you a WRONG SIGNAL. I don't believe that is always the situation. Everyone makes mistakes, even doctors often misdiagnose a person's cause of pain or other physical symptoms in a person's body. When multiple doctors misdiagnose a person's medical condition, the patient can suffer for long periods of time in agony, with medical expenses and treatment's before the true diagnosis is discovered. If a person sees many doctors looking for a diagnosis, that person is often labeled as neurotic or just "doctor shopping". Unfortunately, So many doctors have become Specialists in a particular field of medicine that sometimes they don't see the whole person and all of their symptoms. I believe knowledge is very powerful when it comes to chronic conditions that cause your body to be in pain. More and more research into chronic pain, which for thousands of years has not been able to be cured, even when people have real medical, not psychological causes of their pain. More and more research studies are being done regarding chronic pain than ever before in history. More knowledge is being discovered at the cellular level how your cells respond to pain and even research at the gene level how pain affects different humans and species. This is important to know to help all of us as pain patients to have hope for the future to relieve our pain. My prayer is that doctors will listen to and believe when a person is describing their symptoms of chronic pain; and that within my lifetime medical science will discover cures to chronic pain at the cellular level so that there will be less suffering in this world. Bless you, C. J.

I believe a specialist who is a Pain Specialist and also an Anesthesiologist is a good starting point for nerve pain or nerve damage. Also a Neurosurgeon who specializes in the area of your body that has been diagnosed to have nerve damage. Don't go to a Neurosurgeon who only does brain surgery, but one whom primarily sees patients withnerve pain in the pelvic area. CT SCANS Do NOT show clearly the nerves in your body, but primarily the bones if you go to an Orthopedic. If you have an MRI (Magnetic Resonant Image) it shows much more clarity on soft disuse injury and damage. I had seen an group of Orthopedic doctors at a University Hospital Clinic for two years when I had been traumatically injured, but they didn't pay attention to the nerve damage I had from muscles and myofascia tissue damage to my pelvis and peripheral femoral nerve damage to my left femur nerve nor the five herniated disks in my back and two vertebrae out of alignment pressing on my spinal cord. It took over 15 years later for me being in a wheelchair and seeing a Neurosurgeon who specialized in back injuries to order multiple MRI SCANS and then apologize to me for all the doctors I had previously seen who didn't properly diagnose me or believe I was in as much pain as I had been always telling them. You have be learning as much as you can when you are in pain and keep searching until you find a doctor who knows what they are specializing in and know what they are doing. I pray you find the answers, C.J.

Ouch! that doesn't sound like it was any fun to go through the femoral heart catherization. Gee, sometimes I wonder if some drs. Are on the same page with their patients. I guess sometimes it's hard for someone who is "just not living in your shoes", to think about the physical difficulties a pain patient is going through just to navigate how they are able to do to get around in this world. Do you mean you are having more pain in the groin area where the catheter was inserted still this long after the procedure? I've never had the procedure so I have no idea how long it takes to heal from the procedure. I'm sorry you are still in pain from the procedure and frustrated with your doctor for not realizing how physically limited you are. Do you plan to speak out to your doctor about the area at the site of the catheterization feeling worse not better, before you have surgery? Let me know how you are doing, Bless you, C.J.

@cjk Please tell us who is this "Neurosurgeon who specialized in back injuries..." that you saw and where is he located. I'm sure there are many people here with old back injuries such as me. I have seen several neurosurgeons and most of them don't even want you as a patient.

Hi crossette, are you talking about the neurosurgeon that did my back surgery? His name is Alexander Taghva, M and he practices at Providence Mission Hospital Trauma Medical Center In Mission Viejo, Ca. He did my back surgery in July 1917, but Now only does brain surgery, unfortunately. His practice is now done with patients whom have seizure disorders and I believe he does implants for Vegus nerve surgery for seizures, but I'm not sure). Office is at 26732 Crown Valley Pkwy, Ste 541, Mission Viejo, CA 92591 I don, know if this info helps you. Ttnf, C.J.