What Are the Causes of Numbness in the Hands?
Hand numbness can spring from a wide variety of causes, from hitting your elbow against a corner to serious medical problems like diabetes or poisonous inhalations. If hand numbness occurs, it is important to consult a physician in case the numbness indicates a more serious condition.
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Nerves
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Hand numbness is most often caused by damage or diseased nerves. If the nerve running from the arm to the hand, the median nerve, is pressured or otherwise affected, the hand could go numb. This could happen simply by bumping your elbow or holding the arm in such a way that puts pressure on the nerve. Damage to the nerves through spinal cord injuries or syringomyelia, a cyst on the spinal cord, also causes numbness. Often in these cases, the numbness is proceeded by possibly painful tingling, or paresthesias.
Disease
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Several diseases can also cause numbness of the hand. Diabetes, Raynaud's phenomenon, lupus, pernicious anemia and dermatomyositis are all known to cause hand numbness. In addition, carpal tunnel syndrome, chronic kidney disease, hyperventilation and syphilis have the same effect of possibly numbing hands.
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Injury
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Injury to the hand, arm or finger can have the side effect of hand numbness. Injury through whiplash or the elbow has a similar effect. Finally, injury to the brachial plexus, which helps control the nerves from the shoulder, can affect feeling in the hand or fingers.
Drugs
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Certain drugs can cause hand injury, including calcium carbimide, zalcitabine, dipsan, hivid and disulfiriam. In addition, when thalidomide interacts with either chloramphenicol or dapsone, it can result in hand numbness.
Other
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Other causes of hand numbness are difficult to categorize. Certain poisons cause hand numbness resulting from the inhalation around acidic dry cell batteries, or chemical poisoning from allyl chloride. Excessive dieting can cause hand numbness, as can pyridoxine or vitamin B-12 deficiency.
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