Well...here we go again....competing views from various internists...wow, what a surprise...NOT!

Meanwhile, I persist with pain which gets worse everyday.

Specifically, I have this newest in the myriad aches and pains which I've commented on before.....this horrible numbing/over-sensitive skin which runs along my outer thigh ( side of my leg ) from just below my hips about 6 inches on both legs.

Of course my internist immediately labeled it sciatic referred pain....BUT, it does not run along anywhere near the back of my leg and does not shoot down anywhere else.

The most incredible part of it is that it follows no logic...like the Oxymoron, "sweet and sour " ( especially if you like Chinese food ) this pain is both paradoxically "numb and overly sensitive".

Specifically, the numbness feels like skin around a recent bee sting, an unpleasant numbness while simultaneously the skin over the affected area of numness feels overly sensitive, as I remember as a kid when I would get the flu and hated the feel of anything on my skin. When I massage even lightly, it feels like I'm gonna scream from the sensitivity.

I'm sure its the Fibro once again because where else could you have this goblin of mixed tricks always ready to up the pain ante.

So, does this affect anyone else here?? What works or doesn't work from RX to topical cremes. Insanely, my internist labeling it sciatica prescribed Capsazin extra strength....I thought I was gonna scream loud enough for everyone within a mile as that heat producer AGGRAVATED the pain and made me feel like someone poured scalding water on me.

Please help.....I'm hurtin real bad today..... :eek:

Hi Michael,

What you describe sounds more like bursitis than sciatica - I have both. The sciatica is most obvious in the center buttock(sp?) down the back of the leg and into my foot, especially toes.

The bursitis causes this numbness/over-sensitive skin in my hips. Makes me wince (sometimes scream!) when bumped! Weird as it sounds, though, I've gotten the most relief from deep tissue massage to the area. It is KILLER to go through! Hurts worse than anything I can even describe - teeth clenching, white knuckled, eye watering, want to beat the cr-- out of you for doing this to me, kind of pain! Afterwards I feel spent, battered and bruised. BUT, the next day, and usually for several weeks after, that hyper sensistivity is gone.

Then, to keep things from getting worse again, at least for awhile because it always eventually comes back, I do exercises by standing on one leg and swinging the other leg away from my body, in a scissor motion (doing both sides). Sitting too long seems to be the biggest antagonist for me, so I try to remember to do the scissor thing a couple of times whenever I stand up.

Hope this helps some. :D

Thanks so much for that info Copper...I'm going to look into this right away!

Hi Michael,

I get that feeling over most of my body. Starts in my hands and feet usually and moves towards my middle. Had it last night in fact. For me it's my worst symptom and luckily doesn't happen that often. I get the burning/pins and needled thing with it so I jsut ffel ike my nervous system is freaking out. I can't take pain pills right now since I'm pregnant so when I get that with no pain pills all I can do is cry.

I also take Dandelion Root or Uva Ursi when not pregnant because it seems to help even though this technically isn't swelling or retained water. I'm not sure why it works but it does. And muscle relaxers help too for me.

Last night I had a wierd experience which I think I've had before but not as big. When I fell asleep I was OUT and I would lay in that position and wake up a few hours later all sweaty but with my side feeling less painful and achy. So it made me wonder if maybe the pressure helps push out whatever is messing me up. Who knows. I know if I wear leggings or panythose it helps my legs feel better.

Hope you get relief soon. - Andy

Honestly it actually sounds more like a herniated lumbar disk or pinched nerve in the lumbar. Bursitis in the hip is generally pain in the buttocks and sometimes in the side near the hip joint. Numbess anywhere means something is being pinched and when it involves the thigh that is an indication of lumbar problems.
When the sciatica acts up it is a pain that starts in the buttocks and runs down the back of the leg and is quite painful.
I have had this similiar pain/numbness for years, always attributed it to having my hip replaced because it was in the same side. Doctors thought for a long time it was bursitis and I ran the gammut of treatments and they didn't help unfortunately.
I had an MRI of my spine done a few years ago after I lost the feeling in both legs and could barely walk, turns out in fact L4 and L5 were moderately herinated and L3 was mildly, it's now gotten much worse.

I too have FMS as well as a host of other wonderful problems and my doctors have never attributed the numbness to FMS. I guess it's possible but it does deem getting looked at by a nuerologist even if you aren't having lumbar pain at this point, you need to determine what is actually causing the numbness before it somehow becomes permanent, which can happen with pinched nerves.

Good luck!!