Numbness and pain in left thigh area

Dear Ask The Doctor: My wife was recently diagnosed with polyneuropathy and we were not given a course of treatment or for that matter what may have caused it.Blood work was done to rule out diabetes, kidney problems or vitamin deficiencies. Not an alcoholic. She has numbness in left thigh area extending into the groin but has no loss of function or difficulty walking. It does cause pain at time and that can be severe. I can't find any information that helpsus understand what this is or what may have caused it. She is 49 and has no other medical issues. No allergies or medications either.

Dear Tim: There are many causes of non-traumatic leg pain and numbness. Pain in the legs can be present because of several conditions that affect joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments, blood vessels, skin or nerves. According to the description of your wife’s symptoms, most likely she is having a Mononeuropathy, which produces a pain occurring from a peripheral nerve inflammation not associated with the spinal cord called Meralgia Paresthetica that causes pain in the upper anterior and inner thigh resulting from entrapment or inflammation of a nerve that leaves the pelvis. This type of pain tends to involve part of one leg only.The suggested strategy would be: conservative therapy, such as physical therapy, weight reduction to reduce abdominal girth, moist heat application, analgesics, anti-inflammatory medication (“motrin”, “aleve”) and avoid wearing constrictive garments, belts, or braces that impart excessive focal pressure at the lateral aspect of the thigh affected. If does not get better with these measures it is strongly recommend to be evaluated by a orthopedic surgeon and maybe consider the corticosteroid injection at the spinal or inguinal level which may provide more chronic relief of symptoms.