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Understanding Nerve Damage – Symptoms, Causes, and More

The nervous system is responsible for the optimal functioning of all body parts. Nerves carry messages from the brain and spinal cord to the rest of the body, performing functions like controlling movements and sensing heat and cold. An injury or pain in the nerves can affect the brain’s ability to communicate with muscles and organs. Understanding the condition and its early symptoms can help one receive early treatment to repair the nerve damage.

Types of nerves
There are three types of nerves in our body that are each responsible for different functions. Harm or injury to any of these nerves can result in varying degrees of pain and dysfunction.

Motor nerves: These are connected to the muscles and carry signals from the brain to perform functions like walking, talking, and holding objects. Injury or dysfunction in motor nerves can affect the way one carries out their day-to-day chores. People could face painful cramps, muscle weakness, and twitching if motor nerves are hurt.
Sensory nerves: These carry messages from the skin and muscles to the brain and spinal cord. Sensory nerves are responsible for passing information related to sensations like touch, temperature, pain, numbness, and tingling. People experiencing sensory nerve damage may not be able to detect pain or changes in temperature accurately using their touch.
Autonomic nerves: These nerves control involuntary activities like breathing, heart and thyroid function, and digestion. Dysfunction in the autonomic nervous system could have a serious impact on the communication between the brain and different organs of the body.

Common symptoms
Recognizing warning signs and keeping an eye out for unusual body responses can help people detect a problem in the early stages. Nerve damage symptoms can initially affect nerves in parts farthest away from the brain and spinal cord. This is why the condition usually results in sharp pain in hands, feet, or legs, a tingling sensation, or even numbness. However, one may experience varying symptoms depending on the severity and kind of damage they suffer.

Motor nerve damage symptoms: This is associated with muscle weakness, and people with the condition can experience symptoms like:

Muscle cramps
Uncontrollable muscle twitching
Muscle shrinkage
Weakness
Paralysis
Difficulty in holding objects

Sensory nerve damage symptoms: The condition can affect the ability to feel things by touching them. Other symptoms include:

Numbness
Tingling or prickling sensation

Burning sensation
Issues with sensitivity
Pain
Balancing issues

Autonomic nerve damage symptoms: People can experience problems with different organs and other symptoms like:

Excessive sweating or no sweat at all
Inability to sense chest pain or signs of heart attack
Lightheadedness
Dry eyes and mouth
Bladder dysfunction
Sexual dysfunction
Constipation

Causes
Nerve damage can be classified into minor or major damage to help determine the course of treatment. Minor damage can be healed by the body and may require little or no treatment; however, major damage has to be repaired using different treatment options. One or more types of nerves can be damaged simultaneously owing to causes like:

Injury from sports, other physical activity, or accidents
Diabetes, Guillain-Barre syndrome, and carpal tunnel syndrome
Autoimmune diseases like lupus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and Sjogren’s syndrome
Hormonal imbalances and developing tumors
Narrowed arteries

Apart from these causes, other potential risk factors are cancer, compression/trauma, side effects of treatment options, ingestion of toxic substances, nutritional deficiencies, infectious diseases, and motor neuron diseases.

Nerve damage in legs
This occurs when nerves in the legs become inflamed, compressed, or injured due to injury or health conditions. The discomfort is characterized by a sharp, shooting pain at times accompanied by a sensation of warm or cold water running down one’s thigh. The pain may be intermittent or constant. Common symptoms associated with the damage may also include pain or numbness in the hips, thighs, feet, or buttocks. Numbness or a prickling feeling in any part of the lower body and loss of balance are common symptoms. One may experience a burning sensation or coldness in affected areas, or they may also feel some sort of vibration in their thighs. Recognizing these symptoms and discussing them with doctors can help them provide early treatment.

Nerve damage in hands

The condition affects the nerves between the shoulders and fingertips. These nerves contribute to sensing temperature changes, pain, and even controlling reflexes and movement. An injury to the neck, arm, shoulder, and hand can cause harm or dysfunction in the nervous system. Common symptoms may include lack or total loss of sensation in the arm, loss of function in the hands, wrist drop or inability to extend one’s wrist, reduced strength and muscle tone in the arms, and abnormal changes in sweating patterns.

Various treatment options can help repair nerve damage, including non-surgical and surgical options. A neurologist can provide an accurate diagnosis and determine the right course of treatment based on the symptoms and extent of the damage.

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