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Numbness - causes and treatment
contents
- Numbness - The most important facts
- Deafness and tingling
- hypoesthesia
- Where is the problem?
- Causes - The peripheral nerves
- The central nervous system
- Other causes
- poisoning
- drugs
- Causes summarized
- The diagnosis
- Circulatory disorders
- So when to the doctor?
- stroke
- The cyclist paralysis
- therapy
- home remedies
- compresses
- massages
- Walk
- Further sources
Numbness - The most important facts
- Numbness and tingling are disturbances of sensibility and sensation.
- They arise especially on the arms, legs, fingers, toes, hands and feet, lips, nose, mouth or ears, so on parts of the body that are difficult to reach from the blood.
- Lack of blood flow is a common cause, but not the only one. There may also be nervous disorders, an imbalance of hormones, or metabolic disorders.
- Other causes include skin conditions, allergies and alcohol, diabetes, herpes infections or herniated discs.
- Although numbness often has harmless causes, you should be careful. The sensations are also an accompanying symptom of very serious illnesses. These include stroke and cancer.
Numbness feelings are very uncomfortable for those affected because they can have different reasons. (Image: yavdat / fotolia.com) Deafness and tingling
When cold, the vessels tighten and only a little blood reaches the "protruding" parts of the bloodstream such as fingers, toes, nose and ears. There the sensitivity decreases. When we get into the warmth, the vessels open, the sensation increases again, and we notice that as an unpleasant tingling - as if we had needles under the skin.
These stinging pains are caused by nerve endings in the skin, the nerves pass them on, and then the brain emits the signal pain. While deafness has to do with reduced activity of the nerves, this is increasingly used in tingling.
Often the tingling sensation of numbness follows, but sometimes it is also ahead of them. Then the nerves are overactive. The pain changes from stabbing to burning. Even when numbness and tingling are first encountered (once overactivity of the nerves, once underactivity), both often hang together: the nerve leads do not function normally.
hypoesthesia
The underactivity of the nerves, which is manifested by numbness, is referred to by doctors as hypesthesia. Nerves can be damaged at the respective sites, a disturbed blood flow does not provide sufficient care for a part of the body, or a stroke destroys the neural system of a whole body half.
Where is the problem?
The center of deafness can be on the spot, as in the over-cooled hands, which become sensitive again when we hold them in warm water. But the starting point can also be far away from the scene, at switching points of the nerves. Tingling fingers, for example, can come from a damaged cervical spine.
Numbness sensations often emanate from the peripheral nervous system. (Image: artstudio_pro / fotolia.com) Causes - The peripheral nerves
The immediate reasons are mostly nerve damage or circulation problems. Numbness sensations often emanate from the peripheral nervous system, which also includes the sensory nerves that transmit sensations to the brain at the body parts. Again, this nervous system can be disturbed for a variety of reasons.
These include, for example, diseases such as diabetes, which bring about an imbalance in hormone metabolism. The sufferers are at high risk of developing nerve damage and circulatory disorders that lead to a lack of sensation.
Another cause is injuries. By injury, the tissue changes around the peripheral nerves and blood vessels (bones, tendons, connective tissue, etc.) or the nerves and blood vessels themselves are injured - or even torn. Then it comes to deafness.
Third, tumors, tumors or edema, cysts or abscesses can press on peripheral nerves and cause numbness.
The central nervous system
The central nervous system sits in the brain and spinal cord. As with the peripheral nerves, inflammation, tumors, abscesses, and other pathological changes cause nerves and vessels to be cut off or pinched. Here, in the nerve impulse control centers, nerve damage leads to deafness at distant parts of the body. This is especially true for a stroke, so an infarction in the brain.
Other causes
The multiple causes of numbness include skin conditions, frostbite, burns and external injuries. Even mental states such as anxiety attacks can (temporarily) trigger numbness in the skin. The phrase "paralyzed with fear" brings this to the point.
poisoning
Poisoning is associated with numbness sensations. Venomous snakes inject nerve or blood poisons, and some species even a combination of both. The poisons first cause numbness around the bite site, followed by paralysis, and eventually the tissue dies.
Alcoholics know tingling fingertips as well as numb nasal tips or numb toes. (Image: BillionPhotos.com/fotolia.com) Chronic alcohol abuse also damages the nerves, and alcoholics know tingling fingertips as well as numb nasal tips or numb toes. If the abuse continues, the damage to the nerves and vessels is manifested by the bluish color of the fingers, broken veins and red-bluish noses.
drugs
Temporary skin numbness also occurs as a side effect of medication. These are, for example, antiepileptics and antihypertensives, as well as remedies for depression. In the case of hypertension, the cause of deafness is clear: If the blood pressure drops, peripheral parts of the body are less perfused and can therefore feel numb. This is not pleasant, but not dangerous.
Causes summarized
Summarized are important causes of feelings of deafness:
- Circulatory complaints,
- jammed or severed nerves,
- decreased activity of the nerves,
- Herniated discs,
- strokes,
- infections,
- Lack of vitamin B 12,
- tumors.
In case of numbness, the doctor checks the reflexes and senses. (Image: Elnur / fotolia.com) The diagnosis
The doctor first asks when and in which situations the deafness occurs. Is she passing or is she chronic? Does it occur in concrete triggers on or without context to external influences? Is she one-sided or two-sided? Does it change, so it covers more and more areas, or does it stay the same? The doctor now checks the reflexes and senses, eyes and ears. If serious illness is suspected, specific examinations will be required.
Circulatory disorders
If you have a cold circulation problem, you usually know the cause yourself. If you walk in icy cold water and walk around with your foot cold, your blood vessels will contract and your foot may feel numb. That's not dramatic for the moment. If you get in the heat before the foot is frozen, put your foot (or hand, cheeks, ears, etc.) in lukewarm water, and the blood will return, usually with a tingle, as if you had ants under your skin. That's no reason to go to the doctor.
If the numbness on your fingers or toes - or the disturbed blood flow - has no recognizable cause, then you should immediately go to the doctor. Serious diseases such as Raynaud's disease or arteriosclerosis may be present.
Circulatory disorders on the veins in the legs and in the brain are often manifested by a numb feeling. But beware: not feeling numb does not necessarily mean all-clear. In the most dangerous circulatory disorders outside the brain, those at the heart, you will not feel deafness, but the feeling of tightness in the chest.
So when to the doctor?
You should definitely go to the doctor if the feelings of numbness begin without a forerun and obvious cause, if they are strong, if they last long, and if they are accompanied by other symptoms. Such symptoms may include: dizziness, fever, faintness, fatigue, hallucinations, drowsiness, nausea, irritation, lack of concentration, permanent fatigue, blurred vision, rash or headache.
stroke
Signs of a stroke include sudden onset numbness and paralysis on one side of the body, such as the leg, arm, mouth or face. There are also speech and visual disturbances and headaches. You must go to the doctor immediately.
Numbness in the so-called cyclist paralysis does not necessarily come from cycling. (Image: Orawan / fotolia.com) The cyclist paralysis
Not always, but often, the location of the numbness sensation indicates the cause. While cycling does not have to be the cause of cyclist paralysis, it does strike us as a typical cyclist.
If the cyclist on the handlebars kinks off the wrists, a constriction may occur where the ulnar nerve clamps. Almost every cyclist knows the following deafness in the fingers of the corresponding hand.
therapy
Numbness sensations are not a disease, but a symptom that can have various causes. Temporary deafness caused by incorrect postures, such as "falling asleep" by legs in the subway, or "cyclist paralysis" will disappear by itself as you move these parts of the body. With numb feet or hands, it helps to shake them vigorously.
If diabetes is the cause of deafness, the doctor optimally adjusts the blood sugar. In a sensation of deafness caused by herpes viruses, the doctor treats with an antiviral that slows down the multiplication of viruses.
In a herniated disc, it is important to relieve the spine. In addition, you get painkillers and remedies that relax the muscles.
home remedies
If the numbness caused by a disease, always this underlying disease must be treated. However, the symptoms can also be well alleviated by home remedies, compresses, massages, walks and gymnastics.
compresses
Heat firstly strengthens blood circulation and secondly relaxes the muscles in the affected area. If the respective nerves are better supplied with blood, their activity increases and the sensation of numbness subsides.
If nerves in the spine are affected, a warm washcloth on the neck or (with a pinched nerve lower) on the lumbar vertebrae helps. It should be a washcloth with warm water because the wet heat penetrates the fabric better than dry heat. You just need to dip a rag in warm water, wring out and place in the appropriate place for about five minutes. Repeat this several times a day until the numb feelings have disappeared. The emphasis is on warm. The water should not be so hot that you burn your skin.
Pillows filled with cherry pits, heated blankets or warm showers are also helpful.
In case of numbness, massages are similar to warmth, they stimulate blood circulation and nerves. (Image: Ralf Geithe / fotolia.com) massages
Massages have a similar effect to heat, stimulating blood circulation and nerves. Often you will notice for yourself which nerve is affected. If not: In a "numb foot" you should also massage the lower leg, buttocks and lumbar spine, with "numb hands" neck, forearm and hand.
To do this, rub a small amount of warm oil (olive or mustard) into the palm of your hand, apply light pressure to the area of the skin, knead the skin with your fingertips and let your hands revolve around the skin.
Walk
For circulatory disorders a must. As we move, oxygen re-enters all regions of the body, improving blood flow, and less binding muscles, nerves, and connective tissue. The affected nerve "learns" to function normally.
In addition to longer walks, you can shake hands and feet for a few minutes each day, pull back your shoulders, stretch your wrists, and relax your legs. Stop immediately if it hurts the affected area. (Dr. Utz Anhalt)
Further sources
- https://www.neurologen-und-psychiater-im-netz.org/neurologie/ratgeber-archiv/meldungen/article/taubheit-und-kribbeln-in-den-fingerkuppen-koennen-anzeichen-fuer-karpaltunnel-syndrom- his/
- https://www.das-schlaganfall-forum.de/forum/das-schlaganfall-forum-allgemein/taubheitsgefuehle-und-kribbeln_1434