A functioning nervous system is critically important to your overall well-being. Made up of your brain, spinal cord, and nerves, your nervous system helps you breathe, move, speak, and see, according to the Cleveland Clinic. So if you’re able to catch the symptoms of nerve damage early enough, you may be able to prevent worsening that could impair any of these functions.
Nerve damage generally happens slowly, said Isha Gupta, M.D., a neurologist in New York City. But when your nervous system is damaged, the result is typically miscommunications inside your body that cause you to feel things you shouldn’t or not feel things you should. For example, your foot might hurt for no reason, or you might burn your hand because you didn’t feel how hot the stove was.
Meet the experts: Andrew Elkwood, M.D., a plastic and reconstructive surgeon at The Institute for Advanced Reconstruction in Red Bank, N.J.; Isha Gupta, M.D., a neurologist in New York City; R. Glenn Smith, M.D., a neurologist at Houston Methodist.
The term nerve damage typically refers to injury to the peripheral nerves, those outside your brain and spinal cord, which is also known as neuropathy. According to Yale Health, neuropathy affects roughly 20 million Americans. It is most commonly caused by diabetes, genetic health conditions, repetitive motion, and Lyme disease, said Andrew Elkwood, M.D., a plastic and reconstructive surgeon at The Institute for Advanced Reconstruction in Red Bank, N.J. But other causes include injuries, infections, autoimmune conditions, vitamin deficiencies, certain medications, and more, per the Mayo Clinic.
Here, some of the subtle signs experts say can signal nerve damage. If you experience any, make an appointment with your physician right away—you may be able to pinpoint the damage early enough to keep it from getting worse.
Symptoms of nerve damage
Numbness, tingling, or burning
Feeling numbness, tingling, or burning is an early sign of nerve damage, per the National Library of Medicine (NLM). This pain may start in your hands and feet and spread to your arms and legs. “Compression of sensory nerves (often while sleeping) is relatively common, and symptoms such as numbness or tingling can be temporary,” said Dr. Gupta. But if that pins-and-needles feeling you get when a limb falls asleep doesn’t go away, it may be nerve damage.
Preventable injuries
Sensory nerves are supposed to tell your brain when something is dangerous. And when they don’t do their job properly, you can end up more accident- and injury-prone than usual. If you get burned or cut because you didn’t realize something was hot, sharp, or dangerous, talk to your doctor, said R. Glenn Smith, M.D., a neurologist at Houston Methodist.
Difficulty moving
If your motor nerves are damaged, your muscles might feel weak or even paralyzed, said Dr. Smith. So it might feel hard—or impossible—to move parts of your body. If this weakness comes on suddenly, it could signal a stroke, and you’ll want to head to the ER. But if it progresses more gradually, you should talk to your doctor about possible nerve damage.
Lower back pain
Sharp pain in your lower back that spreads down just one leg could be a sign of sciatica—a condition where your sciatic nerve is compressed or damaged. Your sciatic nerve runs from your lower back to your hips and down your legs. And it can become compressed or damaged by injuries, herniated discs, diabetes, and more, per the Cleveland Clinic.
Clumsiness
Feeling way clumsier than usual? Nerve damage may be to blame for your stumbles and falls. “If large nerves affecting sensation are damaged, then lack of coordination and failure to sense the position of the body can lead to falls,” explained Dr. Smith. For instance, numbness in your feet can make it hard to tell where you’re walking—causing you to fall.
Frequent urination
Damaged nerves can send your bladder faulty messages. So if you feel like you need to pee more than usual—or you’re struggling to make it to the bathroom in time—that may be a sign of nerve damage, per the NLM. The opposite can also occur: You might have trouble emptying your bladder or telling when your bladder is full.
Sudden head pain
If you get brief, intense headaches that feel like electric shocks, you might have something called occipital neuralgia, a condition where one of your greater occipital nerves gets pinched, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. You have two greater occipital nerves—one on each side of your head. And when one gets compressed, it can cause shooting, zapping, or tingling head pain.
Unusual amounts of sweat
Your nervous system plays a key role in many of your body’s innate processes, like sweating when you’re hot, according to the Cleveland Clinic. So sometimes, nerve damage can mess with your sweat—causing you to sweat too much or too little. This usually happens when something goes wrong with the nerves that help your brain and your sweat glands communicate. And it can also cause your body temperature to fluctuate more frequently.
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