Meralgia Paraesthetica Weirdness

For many, many years I have suffered with Meralgia Paraesthetica - a painful, burning, tingling, numbness thing in my left outer thigh. It started out the size of a quarter and got worse until it went from my knee almost to the top of my thigh. I could ignore it pretty well as long as I was sitting or laying down, or even steadily walking. However, walking slowly (such as browsing in a store) or standing still were horrible. It would start to tingle, burn, throb, feel like I was being stung by bees, and the only way to stop it was to sit down for awhile.

Of course...other than the one doctor who said it was all in my head and prescribed antidepressants (which I refused to take because I knew it was physical), every doctor I've been to for it, and had tests from MRI's to physical therapy have all said the same thing:

It's because you're fat. Lose weight.

I have noticed that I haven't had that pain in awhile. I had no problems in Chicago with the 5K, even with all of the standing around before it. Standing around the airport didn't bother me. Shopping and playing tourist for hours with Lap Band Gal didn't bother me in the least. My thigh was numb, but not painful.

And now...

Over the last few days, the feeling in my thigh is coming back. I seem to have sensation in my skin where I haven't had any in years. It feels so strange. I feel like I have bugs crawling on me as the feeling comes back and the nerves start to fire again. It's not exactly comfortable but not painful either. I hope that it goes back to normal and I regain full sensation, but I suppose only time will tell that.

It sure is encouraging me to bump up the efforts and get some more weight off quick to see if that helps. I went on a short (1/2 mile) walk on my lunch break today, I'm getting up early to work out tomorrow, and I have my check in with the doc for a weigh in before work in the morning. I can't wait to see how I've done since this fill. MY scale says 5-6 pounds, but that thing is screwy so I want to weigh on the good scale. I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh, and for everyone who was praising my self control in my last post - thank you. It's not so much the self control as it is me being stubborn as hell at this point about not wanting to eat the crap food at work and give "them" the satisfaction. I did have cake at my best friend's nephew's birthday party this weekend. And a little bit of ziti. And a nibble of spinach pie. And...um...a soda. Yep, after all this time soda free, I had a diet Sprite and it was deeee-licious. I won't make it a habit, but I surely liked it. I didn't go overboard by any means, but I enjoyed myself, ate sensibly, didn't go back for seconds, and felt good about my choices. That's what it's all about, right?