Numbness may affect a small area of the body or it can affect whole areas of the
body.
Numbness can be transient, lasting only for a short time, or can last for a considerable
period of time.
Usually, numbness does not affect day to day activities but in severe cases, it can
interfere with a person's ability to function normally. For example, if the numbness
is in an entire leg or in both legs, it may hamper mobility.
Numbness can affect any part of the body; including the face, mouth, lips, tongue,
the trunk, arms, hands, legs, feet, and also the sexual organs.
For some people a course of steroids may help.
Dysaesthesia, or Paraesthesia, is the medical term for uncomfortable, abnormal sensations,
such as pins and needles, burning or crawling feelings, numbness or tightness for
which there is no external cause.
Although these are often perceived as affecting the skin, the sensation is caused
by interrupted nerve messages in the central nervous system. These feelings are classed
as neuropathic pain symptoms.
Numbness in Multiple Sclerosis -The sensory deficits that arise from lesions in
the sensory cortex or the supraspinal (above the spine) pathways lead to numbness.
People may also experience radicular symptoms due to a lesion at the dorsal root
entry zone of the spinal cord or the brainstem, although this is very rare.
People with sensory deficits involving the dorsal column pathways subserving vibration
and propioception, can experience a “useless hand syndrome” in which motor movement
is preserved, but the ability to manipulate the arm in space is impaired.
Numbness of the face, body or extremities (arms and legs) is one of the most common
symptoms of MS. Often it’s the first sign experienced by people who are eventually
diagnosed with MS.
The numbness they experience may be from mild or severe to the extent that it interferes
with their ability to use the affected body part.
A person with MS who may have facial numbness must be careful when eating or chewing,
as they may unwittingly bite the inside of their mouth or tongue.
A person with numbness over other parts of their body should be careful near fires,
hot water and other sources of heat.
