Numbness

[paulette]

I have read through this entire division. There are all kinds of reports of pain and burning. Am I the only one who has constant numbness? it is in the rt. saddle area and extents up the medial aspect of the rt. buttock to the coccyx. I am talking about tactile numbness. If I sit, even for five minutes, the pain is so intensein the ishial tuberosity, I have to stand up or lie down. I am more concerned about this numbness that has lasted for over two years than the pain. Anyone else have this symptom?

[helenlegs 11]

Yes Paulette I do, (3 yrs) it's just part and parcel of the whole nerve issue as the pundendal nerve inervates the skin and therefore the feeling all around that area. Mine is worst on one side to the other, could get all sort of imaginative piercings and not feel a thing I'm sure. Trouble is it sometimes feels as if I am in the middle of having a couple done and of course there is nothing there. It doesn't worry me unduly, although like you it is constant, at least it's not constant pain.
I have read other postings where that is the only symptom and like us where it is one of a few.

[calluna]

Yes, I have several areas of numbness. I think that some of it may be because of scar tissue, I don't know how much of it is because of damage to the nerve. Usually I can't feel anything at all in the numb areas, not even pain. At one point a doctor was trimming some mesh which had come through, apparently she cut me a little as well, apologised and said that the bleeding would soon stop. But I did not feel a thing, I would not have known if she had not told me. But sometimes it hurts like nobody's business, sometimes like an electric shock.... It does not worry me though.

Nerves can play all sorts of tricks on us.

[stephanies]

I think numbness is a relatively common symptom of PN. I get numbness if I sit for a period of time, always in the same place, but for me the pain has been of greater concern. Have you gotten any good explanation for this from a doctor? I am curious as to what a PN-knowledgeable would say about numbness v. pain.

[calluna]

I did mention it once at the Pain Clinic and the nurse practitioner was not surprised, she reminded me that whether or not it is scar tissue, the nerves can play all sorts of tricks on us....

[helenlegs 11]

Is it because the skin is a separate organ which the pudendal nerve supplies ? Maybe the foriegn object feeling is a mass of numbness the size of which registers at the point where there is feeling ? ? Although I feel like the foriegn object spike/knife feeling is along the path of the nerve itself as its always in the same place(s) with me.
Do you still have the constant numbness Calluna? I think I am thankful for mine or the burning may be worse. Although if I compare it to my sciatica I have two more densely numb spots, the back of my thigh and heels and apart from the shooting nerve pains these are my most painful spots with regard to sciatic nerve entrapment. I feel as if I have a large stone (which grows) inside the back of my thigh, (which is densely numb) thats why I wondered about the foriegn object in a PN related way, I only get the spike knife one from PN.
I wonder if your entrapment Stephanie (maybe just one of them if you have more) could be tracked down positionally due to the extra pressure at a certain point of the nerve through sitting and resulting numbness?

I get numbness if I sit for a period of time, always in the same place, but for me the pain has been of greater concern. Have you gotten any good explanation for this from a doctor? I am curious as to what a PN-knowledgeable would say about numbness v. pain.

As you can tell I am not PN/medically knowledgable , just thinking out loud.

[calluna]

I do still have areas that are completely numb. It doesn't worry me though, because, well, I am not really aware of them! I no longer have the foreign object feeling by the way, that has gone now and it is just pain these days. Well, apart from the hyperarousal, of course.

[stephanies]

Thank you for the response, it is an interesting idea that entrapment can be diagnosed by the location of the numbness. I am bi-lateral with PN pain with one side worse but the numb area is on the side with less pain. Also, even though I have had substantial pain decrease over the years of dealing with PN, the little spot of numbness persists after I sit at the computer for a while.