Numbness is one of the symptoms that occurs after a cerebral infarction.
Although numbness that continues while awake is an unpleasant sensation, it is not a visible symptom, and many people are troubled by the fact that it is difficult to understand the discomfort and pain.
Pain and numbness are symptoms that can be easily confused; in some cases, you may feel only numbness, and in other cases, you may not be able to tell whether it is pain or numbness.
First of all, the fundamental cause of numbness is that there is a problem somewhere in the sensory nerve pathway.
This time, I will explain the numbness that is a sequela of cerebral infarction.
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Causes of numbness due to cerebral infarction
When a person touches something, they sense the sensation through sensors in their skin called tactile receptors.
That sensation is converted into a chemical signal that travels through the spinal cord via sensory nerves, then passes through a relay point in the brain called the thalamus, and reaches a part called the somatosensory cortex.
Ultimately, by receiving information in this somatosensory cortex, it becomes possible to accurately recognize "what kind of sensation it is."
This series of pathways is called the "sensory conduction pathway."
Even if there is no problem with the skin, and even if the sensory nerves correctly deliver information to the brain, cerebral infarction damages parts of the brain such as the thalamus, somatosensory cortex, and sensory conduction pathways in the brain. and cannot recognize information correctly.
As a result, you may experience a tingling, tingling, or tingling sensation that lasts for a long time, even though you are not touching anything, or you may experience numbness, which is a strong and unpleasant sensation of tingling every time you touch something.
The right brain is responsible for the sensations in the left limbs, and the left brain is responsible for the sensations in the right limbs.
- In case of right cerebral infarction/cerebral hemorrhage: left limb
- In case of left cerebral infarction/cerebral hemorrhage: right limbs
This means that numbness may occur on the same side (in the case of the face, it will occur on the same side).
A cerebral infarction involving a large artery will inevitably affect the sensory cortex, and the thalamus is also known to be a site prone to bleeding, accounting for approximately 30% of intracerebral hemorrhages.
Numbness due to cerebral infarction or cerebral hemorrhage is a relatively common symptom.
Conversely, even if the area of infarction is wide or there are multiple infarcted areas, if the somatosensory cortex, thalamus, and sensory pathways are not affected, numbness will not appear.
Furthermore, even if numbness occurs immediately after the onset of a cerebral infarction, the degree of numbness will become lighter or disappear as blood flow resumes, brain function recovers, and various symptoms become lighter through treatment and progress. Cases are not uncommon.
Impact on life
Numbness can cause problems in daily life.
The situation in which numbness occurs will vary depending on the area where the numbness appears, but examples are summarized below.
Specific examples of difficulties in daily life due to numbness
Eating: Dropping chopsticks or spoons even when grasping them, or having trouble grasping food
The area around your mouth is numb and difficult to move, causing you to bite your lips and tongue.
Changing clothes: I feel uncomfortable when my clothes touch my hands and feet when I take them off.
Cooking: Cooking takes time because knives are difficult to grip and you have to be careful.
Delicate movements: It is difficult to do fine manual movements due to numbness in the fingertips.
Handwriting: It is difficult to feel the sensation of holding a pen, so you often have to readjust your grip, and you cannot write well.
Walking: The soles of the feet become numb, making it difficult to feel, making it difficult to walk and prone to falls.
I feel anxious about going up and down stairs without handrails.
Sleep: I can't sleep calmly because I'm concerned about numbness in my hands and feet.
Social life: I find it difficult to eat, so I start to refrain from eating out.
The numbness in the mouth makes it difficult to have a conversation, making it difficult to speak in public or interact with others.
Avoid going out on cold days as you may feel more numbness
Other: It hurts because I tingle every time I am touched by an assistant.
When you look at it, you can see that although it does not mean that you will not be able to perform daily activities, there are noticeable inconveniences such as it takes more effort and time, there are safety issues, and you start to refrain from doing your old habits.
Chronic numbness has a strong psychological burden
Furthermore, as inconveniences arise in every aspect of daily life, life satisfaction inevitably declines. Some people say, ``It's an indescribable feeling, and just thinking about how this will last forever makes me feel depressed.''
The core of the problem is that numbness or the pain that accompanies numbness becomes a concern no matter what you do, and your motivation to live your life itself decreases, and your range of living becomes narrower. As a result, one of the characteristics of numbness is that it has psychological effects, such as people becoming more depressed or becoming more introverted than before.
How to treat numbness
Until now, there are almost no established treatment methods for numbness, and the main focus has been symptomatic treatments such as medication to treat the pain and depression associated with numbness.
However, in 2022, a treatment method that uses a special electrical stimulation called "numb entrainment TENS" developed by Nagasaki University's Department of Biomedical Sciences (Health Sciences) and Kio University Neurorehabilitation Research Center is available at some medical institutions. It is starting to be available at.
Although it is not yet a common treatment and there are only a limited number of medical institutions that can use numbness tuning TENS, let's take a look at this electrical stimulation therapy and conventional symptomatic treatment.
Numbness tuned TENS (tuned transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation)
To begin with, TENS is a low-frequency treatment device that has been commonly used in the medical field to alleviate pain and numbness, but its effectiveness in improving numbness has been poor.
An improved version of TENS is numbness tuning TENS.
Specifically, the method involves applying electrical stimulation at a similar intensity and frequency to the sensation of numbness that is actually occurring, and "synchronizing" it, but the detailed principle behind why the numbness improves has not been elucidated. yeah.
Initially, research was conducted on patients with spinal cord injuries, but studies have since been conducted on patients with stroke, and its effectiveness has been demonstrated.
It is attracting attention as a new rehabilitation method for numbness, as the therapeutic effect continues not only during electrical stimulation but also the next day and improves sensory disorders other than numbness. This is good news for people who are suffering from numbness or for those who have tried various folk remedies without success, but as mentioned above, this is not a treatment that is widely used nationwide, so there are only a limited number of medical institutions that can treat it. That's the problem.
drug therapy
It is a treatment method that uses drugs. It may be prescribed to alleviate numbness, or it may be selected to ease the pain associated with numbness, making life easier, or feeling depressed.
Vitamins may be effective for numbness caused by peripheral nerves, but care must be taken as the effectiveness of drugs, including the effects of vitamins, has not been proven for numbness caused by the sequelae of cerebral infarction.
Analgesics
It's a pain reliever. It may be used when numbness and pain are mixed.
antidepressants
It may be used in cases where numbness has caused a strong depressed state (depression) and is interfering with daily life.
herbal medicine
Different Chinese herbs are prescribed depending on the area, such as numbness in the limbs or tongue.
heat therapy
Since numbness often becomes stronger when the temperature drops or the hands and feet become cold, there are also heat treatments using hot baths and hot packs.
It seems that there is often an improvement in the pain associated with numbness, but the effect on the numbness itself varies depending on the person, and the effect does not last long, so this is only a solution for when your body is cold and you are concerned about numbness. It's best to keep it.
rehabilitation
In rehabilitation settings, massage and the aforementioned electrical therapy called TENS are sometimes used to treat numbness.
Massage loosens muscles and improves blood circulation, which may improve pain in the same way as heat therapy. The same goes for TENS, but the reality is that it has little effect on numbness.
summary
When a person suffers a cerebral infarction, attention is focused on helping the person live as independently as possible and active interventions are carried out, but little attention is paid to the decline in quality of life caused by numbness and numbness. That is the reality.
In the future, I hope that as the treatment mechanism is elucidated, a systematic treatment for numbness will be developed.
In addition, regenerative medicine using stem cells etc.Treatment methods recognized as effective in the field of cerebral infarction preventionis.
Research and clinical trials are still ongoing, but regenerative medicine such as stem cells is still used as a treatment method. In the future, it will be developed as a more familiar treatment. We hope that you will take this opportunity to develop an interest in regenerative medicine, acquire knowledge about it, and actually consider treatment.
Omotesando Helene Clinic specializes in regenerative medicine that does not place a burden on the body, and provides pre-counseling for those who cannot immediately start treatment.
"I'm curious, but I can't decide if prevention is really necessary now." You may be at risk of wandering life and death without realizing it, so Please feel free to contact us.
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