Should I see a doctor about my fingers going numb?

It happens to me off and on. It seems to occur after over use, like if I ride the bicycle and put weight on my shoulders for a long period of time, for the next couple of days, off and on my fingers will go to sleep or get numb. Or if I am doing a lot of wood carving, holding the power tools. It also happens to my toes after about 5k of running. I don’t know why, I have never gone to the doctor for any of it. It has been going on for a lot of years and I am still here to tell the tale so I don’t worry about it.

Hope someone has a more useful answer, maybe it will help me too.

Good to know!

I would, personally, but I’m also lucky enough to have (relatively) great insurance. So I don’t know if that’s a big factor for you or not.

It sounds like the kind of thing that goes away on its own. I’d give it another week or two, unless it starts to get worse.

My own advice would be to log this kind of thing, and other occurrences like it, and just do that: maintain journal entries of what you have felt and when and for how long, and what else was happening at the same time, such as sleep patterns, diet, exercise, anything that you think might be relevant.

But I wouldn’t see the doctor (other than for routine checkups) unless I felt pain, loss of range of motion, persistent and unexplained weakness or inability to function in ways that were normal for me, or other “capability” type of issue.

Because the fact is that “numbness” (even “prolonged numbness”) can have so many causes, both benign and potentially life-altering (such as Lupus and Multiple Sclerosis, to name two) ... but it doesn’t mean that just because you feel some numbness that “you must have Lupus” or worse.

What I mean is, if you see the doctor and tell him the generalized complaint that “I’ve had this numbness for a few weeks” (absent pain, absent “range of motion” issues, absent “weakness”, etc.) then he could start to run tests for everything under the sun if he thought you needed that kind of certainty and reassurance (and could cover the costs) ... or he might just suggest the same thing: Let me know when it gets worse.

The problem is that some diseases, and I know that MS is this way, have no “sure diagnosis”. When every other potential cause of symptom (including numbness, but also including a lot more than “just” that) is ruled out, then a doctor might say, “I think you have MS.” Because there’s no way to know for certain. I don’t know if Lupus is like that; the tests for that may be more certain.

But in point of fact, as we age (and especially if we move or sleep in awkward ways sometimes) our joints act weird – even without autoimmune disease as the cause – and nerves get pinched (or twisted or something) and we can feel out of sorts for quite awhile sometimes.

Maybe after reading all this you’re thinking, “Great, I might have Lupus or MS and the advice is ‘do nothing?’ I don’t think so!”

So try this if you feel a need to “do something”: See if you can schedule some physical therapy through your doctor / insurance carrier. It’s relatively inexpensive and can help you feel a lot better. They can do amazing things to correct the kinds of muscle / skeleton issues that might be all you’re experiencing, and if the problem goes away, then so does your worry about “how much worse it could be”. If the problem persists or worsens during PT (or while doing the exercises they’ll suggest at home), then you’ll have a clear indication that something else is wrong, and will have more to discuss with your physician – and a logbook.

I remember Eddie Money slept on his leg for nearly a full day, and ended up with severe nerve damage.
It is serious stuff. Go to the doctor.

That’s how carpal tunnel syndrome started for me: with occasional symptoms when I’d held a certain position for too long or done the same hand-cramping activity (such as pinning a seam before stitching) for a prolonged period. Do you have any other CPS symptoms?—for instance, numbness and tingling of fingers when driving a long distance, doing a lot of steady writing by hand, stirring something on the stove for a long while? Have you ever been checked for carpal tunnel?

For me it was most pronounced in three fingers of each hand but over time affected the whole hand.

If you have small carpal tunnels, you might also have small tarsal tunnels (ankle).