Late yesterday afternoon I was taking some stuff out of my old apartment and down to the trash. While carrying something, I suddenly felt a numbness in my fingertip. I can still feel a slight numbness – it’s on one side of the fingertip of my left middle finger. I tend to be a hypochondriac, but I wonder if it’s carpal tunnel or what? Of course my first thought is “will I need surgery”? But a bit of online research shows that that’s not necessarily the case. I’m such a big worrier when it comes to anything out of the ordinary involving my body. I guess I’ll make a doctor’s appointment if it doesn’t go away.
[Update: It went away in a few days. Nothing to worry about.]
I’ve had something similar happen several times. It is almost certainly a pinched nerve- it should go away in a while. I pinched the nerve in my thumb while scraping paint and it was numb for months!
I’ve seen this a few times, but only while traveling in warmer and usually very dry climates. The symptom (usually just one side of a finger tip becomes tingly and then, if ignored, numb) is probably caused by what non-American doctors call a “cuticle parasite”. They tend to infest dusty/dirty, hot, and dark crevices — like the air spaces in between corrugated cardboard. If you rip open most old cardboard boxes, best found in dusty attics, and look wicked close, you’ll see thousands of them running around in panicked circles at the dawn of light. I don’t recommend *you* do this, however. It’s not exactly a calming site to witness for the likely infected.
The most common way to contract these is while you’re handling the edges of cardboard box. While moving the boxes people sometimes (accidentally) perforate the cardboard with their fingertips, digging in with their nails as they struggle with oft too heavy loads. This is when the little finger-buggers get a chance to burrow underneath the nail, making their way to your cuticle. If left for several hours without being washed away, they’ll then make their home underneath the cuticle. In time (circa 3-7 days) they’ll gnaw away at nerves, muscle, etc., and will certainly cause permanent cuticle damage (i.e., no more finger nails) for said infected finger in about a month’s time.
It goes without saying, this is about proper handwashing rituals not being followed adequately.
(Relax, and a do a few hand-n-finger stretches — and then ignore it for several days. If given the psychic opportunity it will (with patience) disappear. It’s actually a part of aging, tendons not repairing with adolescent rigor, etc. Relax and enjoy your next weekend a bit better.)
rob@egoz.org
I’m just so shocked that you have the ability to sense “a slight numbness on the left side of the tip of your middle finger.” Really?
Cuticle parasite! OMG! ROFL!!!