Arm numbness can be difficult to live with. There are some common conditions and very severe conditions that you don’t want to miss. A chiropractor Fredericksburg, Va can help exclude serious conditions through thorough examination and questioning. As a condition that sends people to the emergency room, it is necessary to make sure that all conditions are considered and the most worrisome ones excluded before treatment. See a chiropractic orthopedist.

When should you worry About Arm Numbness

Arm numbness can be scary by itself, and no one wants to live with numbness. Most of the time numbness by itself is harmless though and becomes more of a serious issue when accompanied by other symptoms. Some of these symptoms would be:

• Arm numbness
  • that does not go away with any position and accompanied with or without severe neck pain.
  • that comes and goes with the feeling of falling off to one side.
  • and weakness when trying to grip things like a coffee cup or getting up out of a chair.
  • with cognitive decline like trouble speaking, chewing, or facial drooping.
  • and trouble seeing, visual loss, blurred vision from nystagmus (rapid uncontrolled eye movements), or double vision called diplopia.
  • with nausea.
  • with dizziness.

The more symptoms that are present simultaneously the more severe the condition. The major and must not miss diagnosis is the stroke.

Which Arm Goes Numb Before A Stroke

Depending on which part of the brain is effected by the stroke, numbness will appear on the opposite side. The sensory neurons come from the arm affected and then cross at the vertebral level to the opposite side and end in this opposite side of the brain.

What Deficiency Causes Arm Numbness and

There are some vitamin deficiencies that can cause numbness. These include B vitamin deficiencies, iron deficiency, and vitamin D deficiency. Anemias can create numbness as well. Whether it be iron deficiency anemia or pernicious anemia from B vitamin absorption problems. If you are taking a proton pump inhibitor for reflux disease, this reduces the amount of acid in the stomach. This acid is needed for the proper absorption of B12.

B vitamins can be found in green leafy vegetables so eating a balanced diet is important. Iron is also found in plant materials like nuts, greens, and beans. The benefit of plant iron is due to it being non-heme iron. This allows the body to evacuate excess amounts and keep the excess from building up in organs, possibly damaging them. A condition called hemochromatosis.

There are many different medications out there that deplete your body of its B vitamin stores. Taking a multi-B complex may help. It is important to note that one of the B vitamins, if consumed in excess, can also cause numbness. This B vitamin is B6 pyridoxine.

Vitamin D Deficiency And Arm Numbness

Vitamin D can get to critically low levels affecting calcium levels. Numbness can occur from this and can be a problem in areas of higher latitude, or during winter months. This can be supplemented in theses situations. It is sufficient enough in summer months to obtain this from sunlight at about 30 minutes a day with skin exposed. This does not include riding in a car or times when glass is between the individual and the sun. Glass will shield the portion of sunlight that is necessary for adequate uptake.

It is also important to note some allergies caused by processing the supplement from sheep wool. I you have allergies, it may be best to avoid this type of supplement and get it in another processed form.

What Are The Red Flags For Numbness

Red flags for numbness are mainly used for the diagnosis of stroke. This can be easily remembered by the 5D’s and 3N’s. These are:

• Diplopia– double vision
• Dizziness
• Drop attacks– severe weakness that makes you want to fall.
• Dysarthria– inability or trouble speaking.
• Dysphagia– trouble swallowing.
• Ataxia– cant walk or move.
• Nausea
• Numbness.
• Nystagmus– uncontrolled eye movement.

What Does MS Numbness Feel Like

MS or multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune condition that has been recently linked to vitamin D deficiency. The immune system start to attack the myelin sheath of nerve axons making it a demyelinating disease. The myelin sheath is the covering of a nerve axon that helps with nerve conduction. Without this sheath demyelinating, things can slow down creating many different problems including numbness or paresthesia.

The classic initial signs of MS are eye or vision disturbances from effecting the optic nerve responsible for sight. These attacks typically come and go and this is why it is called relapsing and remitting type. There is a progressive type as well in which these episodes do not come and go but continue to worsen over time. Diagnosis of this condition is aided by advanced imaging like MRI of the brain and spine looking for plaquing

Multiple sclerosis is different that ALS or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis by the fact that ALS is the degradation of the anterior horn cells. The anterior horn cells are for motor or motion only and therefore this condition only has progressive weakness without any sensory changes at all. This typically starts in the hands progressively spreading inward to the trunk. Because it is a problem with motor nerves, it ultimately starts affecting the phrenic nerve which is responsible for controlling the diaphragm when we breathe. Respiratory failure typically happens at this point.

How Do You Know If Numbness Is Serious

This is typically when any of the above mentioned symptoms of a stroke are present, and the more you have the more serious the condition. If numbness is the only symptom and resolves with different positioning, this can be more likely peripheral neuropathy. There are many problems that can create this type of numbness and seeing a specialist like a Fredericksburg chiropractor in orthopedics can help.

Talk to our chiropractic orthopedists today at Stine Chiropractic Clinic. Meet our team of specialists. Or make an appointment.