Why arms and legs go numb and what to do about it

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Maybe the uncomfortable posture is to blame. Or maybe a dangerous disease.

Loss of sensation in the hands, feet and legs, sometimes accompanied by tingling, is a popular phenomenon. Everyone who fell asleep on his arm, worked with a computer mouse for too long, or sat with his legs crossed came across him.

Most often, the reasons why arms and legs go numb are safe, and the unpleasant sensation goes away by itself in a couple of minutes. But unpleasant surprises are also possible.

Why do hands and feet sometimes go numb?

The hands and feet are the terminal stations of the routes of two important systems - the circulatory system and the nervous Numbness in hands. Using the analogy with public transport: if some kind of breakdown occurs at any of the stations, the bus will not reach the final destination. That is, the blood, which carries oxygen and nutrients to the tissues, will not reach the fingers in the required quantities. Or nerve impulses will not be processed correctly, and you will feel numbness and tingling.

Therefore, if your arms and legs become numb, first of all check if everything is in order:

• With blood circulation. Have you experienced anything?
• With the transmission of nerve impulses. Has your wrist been in one position for too long (for example, on a computer mouse)? This could cause pinching of the nerve fibers.

Most likely, already at the stage of initial diagnostics, you will figure out the problem. In this case, getting rid of numbness is simple: twist your hand, foot or lower leg in different directions, massage the limb to improve blood circulation or eliminate a pinched nerve.

But it so happens that the hand or leg does not seem to be pinched, but the numbness is nevertheless felt regularly. This is an alarming symptom: here we can already talk about latent systemic violations of Tingling in Hands and Feet.

Why do arms and legs regularly go numb?

1. Peripheral neuropathy

This is a disorder in which peripheral nerves are affected, that is, nerves located in the arms and / or legs that are distant from the spinal cord and brain. This failure often occurs with age. According to American experts, up to 20 million US residents, most of whom are elderly, suffer from peripheral neuropathy.

2. Incipient type 2 diabetes

Often numbness and tingling in the extremities is one of the first symptoms of developing diabetes (the so-called diabetic neuropathy What Is Diabetic Neuropathy?). In most cases, this concerns the legs, not the hands. But options are possible.

3. Lack of vitamins

Vitamins E, B1, B6, B12, as well as P are essential for the healthy functioning of the nervous system. Causes of Tingling in Hands and Feet. For example, a B12 deficiency can be one of the reasons for the development of peripheral neuropathy. However, excess vitamin B6 can also cause tingling sensations in the hands and feet.

4. Love for alcohol

Alcohol abusers often suffer from vitamin deficiencies caused by an unbalanced diet. In addition, drunkenness itself can cause damage to peripheral nerves - the so-called alcoholic neuropathy.

5. Certain infections

Numbness and tingling in the hands and feet can be symptoms of diseases such as Lyme disease, chickenpox, herpes simplex, herpes zoster, or viral (Epstein-Barr) herpes, or HIV or AIDS.

6. Poisoning with toxins

As a rule, we are talking about poisoning with salts of heavy metals - lead, arsenic, mercury, thallium, as well as some industrial chemicals.

However, sometimes the body can react with numbness in the arms and legs to a number of medications. Chemotherapy drugs (for example, used for lung cancer), as well as some antiviral drugs and antibiotics, manifest themselves as loss of sensation in the limbs.

7. Autoimmune diseases

For example, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

8. Hereditary disorders

Some people have genetically determined damage to the nervous tissue (for example, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease), one of the symptoms of which is regular numbness and tingling in the hands, feet and legs.

9. Consequences of injury or excessive physical exertion

Sometimes with injuries, pinching, squeezing or other damage to the nerve endings occurs, which is not immediately diagnosed. It can be, for example, a compression of a nerve caused by a herniated disc or a dislocated bone.

10. Smoking

Nicotine restricts the blood supply to the vessels supplying the peripheral nerves.

What to do if hands and feet become numb

You already understood: if numbness and tingling becomes regular, this is a reason to visit a doctor. The therapist will conduct an examination, ask you questions about lifestyle, social habits (for example, he will probably be interested in your Friday meetings with friends over a bottle or two), place and working conditions, health of close relatives.

Based on the results, the physician is likely to order tests, which may include:

• Blood tests. They can help identify possible diabetes, vitamin deficiencies, signs of abnormal immune system activity, liver or kidney dysfunction, or other metabolic disorders.
• Electromyogram (EMG). This is a test for the electrical activity of the muscles.
• Cerebrospinal fluid studies. They will help identify antibodies associated with peripheral neuropathy.

Depending on what the research shows, your doctor will prescribe treatment for you.

The good news is that in many cases, medications will not be required. To get rid of numbness, it will be enough to adjust your lifestyle: reduce the amount of sugar consumed, drink vitamin supplements, start eating right, give up bad habits, add a little physical activity and lose weight (if any).