6 Warning Signs You May Have Nerve Damage

From care2.com/greenliving

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.

https://www.care2.com/greenliving/6-warning-signs-you-may-have-nerve-damage.html

Back pain: Having this warning sign could mean a major health issue

From express.co.uk

BACK pain can massively affect a person's life in a negative way. We use our back in pretty much everything we do and when pain strikes it can often leave a person being completely immobile. Having this symptom from your back pain could indicate a serious health issue and you should speak with your doctor. Do you have this symptom?

Back pain is a common pain that is either sharp or gradual and felt in the back. The back is divided into neck pain, middle back pain, lower back pain or coccydynia (tailbone). The majority of back pain is nonspecific and has no identifiable causes. It is estimated that nine out of ten adults experience pain at some point and five out of ten working adults have it every year with many unable to work due to the severity. Luckily, most back pains do ease up after time however having there is one back pain symptom that could be serious, and you need to speak with your GP if you experience this.

When you experience a tingling feeling or a pins and needles sensation in your back it could be a major red flag warning.
These sensations could be a result from conditions that affect underlying nerves or is a result of a problem with the spine.
Known as parethesia, the causes can include infections, spinal injuries, fibromyalgia and vascular malformations.
The numbness and tingling is usually an indication of nerve irritation or damage and is clinically more significant than your typical pain.
When these sensations don’t go away, you may be experiencing one of several conditions such as spinal stenosis causing nerve pressure.
Left untreated, the prolonged nerve irritation and damage can lead to permanent disabilities.

Night time back pain is also a sign of a serious health issue and is a special type of lower back pain.

              Back pain: Having a tingling sensation could be a serious underlying health issue

                                                         Image: Getty Images)

These worrying symptoms may require surgery and if left untreated could cause permanent damage or even paralysis.
The NHS offers advice to relieve back pain:

• Stay as active as possible and try to continue your daily activities.
• Try exercises and stretches for back pain such as walking, swimming, yoga and pilates.
• Take anti-inflammatory painkillers such as ibuprofen.
• Use a hot or cold compression pack for short-term relief.

“Often its not possible to identify the cause of back pain and doctors call this non-specific back pain.
"Occasionally back pain can be due to a medical condition such as a slipped disc or sciatica which is an irritation of the nerve that runs from the pelvis to the feet.
"Feelings such as numbness or a tingling sensation are treated differently to non-specific back pain,” added the NHS.

Avoid heavy lifting as this will increase your risk of back pain. Exercising, weight management, better posture and quitting smoking are all ways to reduce your risks of back pain.
You should speak with your doctor if you have a loss of bowel and bladder function, loss of coordination or difficulty using the arms or legs or a sudden and severe pain and numbness down one or both legs.
Most back pains go away after six weeks and your GP will want to investigate more serious underlying causes if your pain is still severe after this time.
After an evaluation of your symptoms and a physical exam, your GP may order blood work and imaging tests to help determine a diagnosis.

https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/1139946/back-pain-symptoms-middle-back-lower-back-nhs