close window
Housecall Archives
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
close window
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Causes
By Mayo Clinic staffPossible causes of numbness in one or both of your hands include:
- Alcoholism
- Amyloidosis (when substances called amyloid proteins build up in your organs)
- Brachial plexus injury (an injury to the network of nerves that conducts signals from the spine to the shoulder, arm and hand)
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Cervical spondylosis (age-related wear and tear affecting the disks in your neck)
- Type 2 diabetes
- Ganglion cysts (noncancerous fluid-filled lumps that most commonly develop along the tendons or joints of your wrists or hands)
- Guillain-Barre syndrome (an uncommon disorder in which your body's immune system attacks your nerves)
- HIV/AIDS
- Lyme disease (a tick-borne illness)
- Paraneoplastic syndromes of the nervous system (a group of rare disorders that develop in some people with cancer)
- Peripheral neuropathy (nerve damage that often causes numbness and pain in your hands and feet)
- Raynaud's disease (a condition that causes some areas of your body to feel numb and cool in response to cold temperatures or stress)
- Side effects of chemotherapy drugs
- Sjogren's syndrome (an autoimmune disease that causes dry eyes and dry mouth)
- Spinal cord injury
- Stroke
- Syphilis
- Syringomyelia (the development of a fluid-filled cyst, or syrinx, within your spinal cord)
- Ulnar nerve compression
- Vasculitis (an inflammation of your blood vessels)
- Vitamin B-12 deficiency
Causes shown here are commonly associated with this symptom. Work with your doctor or other health care professional for an accurate diagnosis.
References
- Rosenfeld J, et al. Numbness: A practical guide for family physicians. American Academy of Neurology. http://www.aan.com/familypractice/pdf/FINAL%20NUMBNESS%203.pdf. Accessed Feb. 1, 2011.
- Briemberg HR, et al. Approach to the patient with sensory loss. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Feb. 1, 2011.
- Amyloidosis. The Merck Manuals: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/sec12/ch160/ch160a.html. Accessed Feb. 2, 2011.
- NINDS brachial plexus injuries information page. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/brachial_plexus/brachial_plexus.htm. Accessed Feb. 1, 2011.
- Cervical spondylosis (arthritis of the neck). American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00369. Accessed Feb. 1, 2011.
- Ganglion (cyst) of the wrist. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00006. Accessed Feb. 3, 2011.
- Peripheral neuropathy fact sheet. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/peripheralneuropathy/detail_peripheralneuropathy.htm. Accessed Feb. 3, 2011.
- NINDS Paraneoplastics syndrome information page. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/paraneoplastic/paraneoplastic.htm. Accessed Feb. 5, 2011.
- Raynaud's syndrome. American Heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4687. Accessed Feb. 5, 2011.
- About Sjogren's syndrome. Sjogren's Syndrome Foundation. http://www.sjogrens.org/home/about-sjogrens-syndrome. Accessed Feb. 3, 2011.
- Syrinx. The Merck Manuals: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/print/sec16/ch224/ch224j.html. Accessed Feb. 4, 2011.
- Carpal tunnel syndrome fact sheet. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/carpal_tunnel/detail_carpal_tunnel.htm. Accessed Feb. 3, 2011.
- Vasculitis. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/vas/vas_whatis.html 2/. Accessed Feb. 6, 2011.
- What you need to know about stroke. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/stroke/stroke_needtoknow.htm. Accessed Feb. 5, 2011.
Find Mayo Clinic on