6 Warning Signs You May Have Nerve Damage

Nerves play a crucial role in your body. When they’re functioning optimally, they help you sense pain, move your muscles and keep internal organs working properly.

Sadly, peripheral nerves get damaged more often than we realize. And when the damage occurs, the effects can be devastating. You may suffer agonizing pain, loss of feeling and inability to move muscles.

Since nerve damage develops slowly, you may not identify the condition until it’s too late. Therefore, look out for these warning signs of nerve damage and see a doctor immediately if you have any of them.

1. You have never-ending pain that runs down one leg

Pain that runs from your lower back, through your buttock and down the back of your leg could mean you have sciatica. The pain is usually triggered by compression or pinching of the sciatic nerve.

Keep in mind that you may experience pain on one leg due to muscle strains or cellulitis. Therefore, look out for other sciatica symptoms such as numbness and a tingling sensation in the feet and toes. 

And beware of these common sciatica myths.

2. You don’t sweat or you sweat too much

Do you fail to sweat even after a long intense workout? It could mean that the nerves that signal your sweat glands aren’t functioning properly.

Nerve damage can also have the opposite effect – excessive sweating.

3. You have trouble moving body parts

You may struggle to move a body part if your motor nerves have been damaged. This problem could also be an early sign of movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease.

See a doctor if you have lost control of your hands, legs or any other body part. Don’t wait until the body part totally loses functionality. Even slow movement should be cause for alarm.

4. You have constant numbness and tingling

We’ve all experienced the strange feeling of numbness and sometimes pain due to a bad standing or sitting position. This usually occurs when abnormal pressure compresses blood vessels that supply your nerves.

Luckily, this experience is usually temporary and the unpleasant feeling disappears when you change position. With peripheral nerve damage, however, you may experience numbness and discomfort day in day out.

5. You have bladder problems

Nerve damage can lead to an overactive bladder, urine retention or leakage.

For instance, damaged nerves may send signals to the bladder at the wrong time, causing bladder muscles to squeeze without warning. In other cases, the bladder muscles don’t receive the signal to release urine.

6. You’ve become more accident prone

Damage in your sensory nerves can increase your risk of being injured. Sensory nerves help you avoid dangerous situations such as placing your palm on a hot surface.

You’re more likely to suffer cuts and burns when sensory nerves don’t function optimally.

See a doctor immediately if you have any of these symptoms. Nerve damage tends to worsen the longer you ignore it.