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Numbness after surgery?



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Hi!!! I'm currently 17 days post op and I've been experiencing numbness on my right, outer part of my thigh. Had a Doppler done a few days post op, and it's not a blood clot. Sometimes I'll get this sharp shooting pain in the affected area. If I sleep laying completely flat, the affected area burns, similar to when you've been outside in the cold too long. I have no idea what it could be. Has anyone ever experienced this after bariatric surgery??

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Those are indicators of a neuropathy - nerves acting up. With my pinched nerves involved with herniated discs in my lumbar spine I feel activity like you have described. But this is doctor time. Never minimize your symptoms. What you are feeling is your body talking to you. Also, this could be totally unrelated to your surgery,

Nerves that activate in the area you describe come from dermatomes beginning in your lumbar spine. So, I am not a doctor by any means. But I am just saying that I have similar symptoms which are manageable with medication (Lyrica), Lidocaine Patches, and lumbar epidural injections.

If it doesn't go away, don't give up. Keep pushing your doctors to find a resolution for you. Any test you take that doesn't show anything, it's a good thing. It is helpful to know what things aren't, too.

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Those are indicators of a neuropathy - nerves acting up. With my pinched nerves involved with herniated discs in my lumbar spine I feel activity like you have described. But this is doctor time. Never minimize your symptoms. What you are feeling is your body talking to you. Also, this could be totally unrelated to your surgery,

Nerves that activate in the area you describe come from dermatomes beginning in your lumbar spine. So, I am not a doctor by any means. But I am just saying that I have similar symptoms which are manageable with medication (Lyrica), Lidocaine Patches, and lumbar epidural injections.

If it doesn't go away, don't give up. Keep pushing your doctors to find a resolution for you. Any test you take that doesn't show anything, it's a good thing. It is helpful to know what things aren't, too.

Thank you for the insight. I get back spasms and and I've never had an MRI done to see if there is anything else wrong with my back I'm going to contact my PCP and see if I can get some answers. Thank you!!

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Hi - I just wanted to share my situation since it is so similar.

I also was sleeved on 11/12 and have pain and numbness in my left thigh especially at night preventing my sleeping for more that a few hrs at a time. I am not a doctor but suspect this pain is from one of the Heprin (blood thinner) shots I received in the thigh every 6 hrs while in the hospital.

The needle for the shot is small and acording to my sister who is a nurse it is not supposed to go deep enough to hit a small nerve (peripheral nerve) but I believe in my case one of these shots did. It felt like an electric shock. I suspect it is a peripheral nerve since as it is above my knee to mid-thigh área and the pain does not travel as if were a larger nerve like sciática, I hope the damaged nerve will regenerate in a few months.

I have asked my dr for a prescriptión lidocaine patch as I have been using over the counter pain Patches from the drug store since surgery. They help but are not strong enough. I go back to work tomorrow and need the lidocaine patch prescriptión filled (still pending approval from my healthcare provider) as I can't afford to miss any more sleep.

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I have had the numbness on my outer right thigh for several years, since I was pregnant. It can be caused by many things, but it usually a nerve issue related to weight changes in what is being carried by the hips to my understanding. The shooting pains for me did go away, but I still have numbness on the surface skin. The oddest thing to me is that I can feel pressure in the area, so it doesn't go so deep as to effect the muscle. Since your issue is relatively new, you should certainly ask your doctor about fixing it, as there may be options for you now that will not be available later.

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Nerve issues are no fun at all, this is something I deal with a lot because of arthritis and damaged nerves. The good news is that if it is spine related, a lot of those nerves will regenerate. Have you ever tried a chiropractor adjustment? I know a lot of people are iffy about this, but sometimes it can be very helpful if you're simply out of alignment.

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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

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        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

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