My hands get numb when I type

[Kurt Codean]

 Whenever I type or have my hands on my keyboard for a little while either one or both of my hands (and my fingers/fingertips) start to get numb (like that feeling when your foot falls asleep). I don't know if this is a sign of diabetes but it must have something to do with my circulation. I don't even have to be typing, I find that anytime my hands are elevated to about the height of my desk when I am seated I stat to get that unusual numbness/tingling feeling. It goes away when I put my hands back down to my sides (hips), but If I'm typing too long they start falling asleep. I recently started smoking cigarettes again so I was thinking maybe that has something to do with it. Maybe the cigarettes are harming my circulation. I don't really get this feeling in any other part of my body like my feet, unless I'm sitting with my legs crossed for too long. I have a job washing dishes which really involves a lot of hand usage, so I thought maybe it could be the job causing it. I can't remember if I was experiencing this before I started doing that job. Aside from the numbness though, my hands are pretty sore all the time because of the strain when I am working. I also feel like my fingers are becoming more stiff like I am beginning to have arthritis or something. This is a little off topic from this post but this job also messes up my back because I'm somewhat tall (about 6 feet not that all) and the sink is kind of low so I have to stand in a bent position for a long time. That really starts to hurt after a couple of hours and that is the main reason I am taking pain medication just to not be in so much pain when I am working. I got a back x-ray not long ago and my doctor told me that the intervertebral disc  between by L4/L5 vertebrae is beginning to wear away and I am showing the early stages of arthritis. He recommended a change in occupations. But anyway getting back to my original question is the numbness in my hands and fingers when I type something I should be concerned about? 

 

[PTFC]

It would do no harm to see your Doctor about. I get numbness like that too, but it's nerve related and poor posture in my case. Nothing permanent, it goes away when I change the position of my arms. 

 

[Kurt Codean]

It would do no harm to see your Doctor about. I get numbness like that too, but it's nerve related and poor posture in my case. Nothing permanent, it goes away when I change the position of my arms. 

Yeah same here, it goes away if I change the position of my hands/arms. That's why I'm not overly concerned about it, if it were constant numbness I would be much more worried. It might be my posture too, I don't think i have great posture either. I suppose I will see a doctor though at some point just to ask whether I'm showing any signs of diabetes or pre-diabetes. I don't have any family history of diabetes, but I'm a little bit overweight. I'm not obese or anything but I am probably twenty pounds heavier than I should be. I also used to drink a lot of soda during my teens and twenties, but I cut down on that . I tried to quit it all together, but I've been drinking soda again pretty often now. Also I started smoking in my teens, and only seriously tried to quit once. I went a little over a year, but I started up again. It doesn't seem to bother me in any way except the financial aspect of it, but I think I do need to quit at some point to avoid getting cancer. I heard smoking also increases the chances of developing diabetes. 

 

[PTFC]

Yeah, I quit smoking 18 months ago, best thing I ever done for my body. I started late, 22 I was when I started puffing, 36 now, so stopping has been a good idea, financially AND for health. The price of cigarettes is terrible in UK, I was spending roughly £300 a month towards the end. Anyway, probably mention it on your next appointment. A diabetes check is very quick too. 

 

[Kurt Codean]

Yeah, I quit smoking 18 months ago, best thing I ever done for my body. I started late, 22 I was when I started puffing, 36 now, so stopping has been a good idea, financially AND for health. The price of cigarettes is terrible in UK, I was spending roughly £300 a month towards the end. Anyway, probably mention it on your next appointment. A diabetes check is very quick too. 

36? No shit I'm 36 myself. wow what are the odds of that. Yeah the price of cigarettes went through the roof. I remember when I was a little kid sometimes when my parents had company who were smokers (my parents were not) they sent me to the store to by a pack of cigarettes for the guests. It was like $2 and some change back then. This must have been in the mid-late 80's. Back then the store owners weren't so strict with carding people for cigarettes, but usually if a pre-teen kid showed up they would know that it was for someone else. I think they only carded people back then who looked like they're at least 14 or 15, or highschool/middle school age. Maybe that's still the case today but not too long ago I went into a store that I don't go to often and asked for a pack of Marlboro lights and the guy asked me how old I was. I don't think he was serious though. 

oh yeah i just edited this post to add that I've probably been spending easily about $200-$250 a month on cigarettes. That is money that could be more wisely spent, and I do worry about long term health problems. 

 

[PTFC]

Get yourself a good quality vape kit and start vaping, I love it, and feel a hundred times better and fitter than when I smoked cigarettes. Now is a good time to quit at 36. Depending on how many a day you smoke and for how long, you can stop the damage and health risk, even reverse some of it. The human body has an amazing ability to heal itself. 

 

[PennyWize]

I second the idea of getting a vape kit.  Even if cigs are not the reason for numbness in your hands.  After 38 years I stopped smoking tobacco three years ago and I will never go back to it again.  I feel better without it, no smokers hack, no smelly cigarettes, the list is long.  I think it would me much easier to stop vaping than to stop smoking tobacco.

Several months ago I had a problem with my hands going numb.  I was starting to get worried because it wasn't one of my many aches and pains that last a week or two and then disappear.  No, this went on for months.  I too thought it was my back because?

I have back problems.  My problem ended up being my bra straps were a bit too tight.  That was an easy fix but it was weeks before I got all the feeling back in my hands.  Typing was almost impossible, I had to type with one finger.  Yes Ive checked and

I know this could not be your problem./default_biggrin.png  ..but...how long after you started your job did you notice your hands felt numb?  I still think

your problems with your back could cause this.  I hope you find your reason for this! 

O and when I started smoking in the mid 70's a pack of Salem was .53 cents.  I don't want to even know what they cost today.  It wasn't the cost that made me switch it was the inconvenience

 

[Kurt Codean]

I second the idea of getting a vape kit.  Even if cigs are not the reason for numbness in your hands.  After 38 years I stopped smoking tobacco three years ago and I will never go back to it again.  I feel better without it, no smokers hack, no smelly cigarettes, the list is long.  I think it would me much easier to stop vaping than to stop smoking tobacco.

Several months ago I had a problem with my hands going numb.  I was starting to get worried because it wasn't one of my many aches and pains that last a week or two and then disappear.  No, this went on for months.  I too thought it was my back because?

I have back problems.  My problem ended up being my bra straps were a bit too tight.  That was an easy fix but it was weeks before I got all the feeling back in my hands.  Typing was almost impossible, I had to type with one finger.  Yes Ive checked and

I know this could not be your problem./default_biggrin.png  ..but...how long after you started your job did you notice your hands felt numb?  I still think

your problems with your back could cause this.  I hope you find your reason for this! 

O and when I started smoking in the mid 70's a pack of Salem was .53 cents.  I don't want to even know what they cost today.  It wasn't the cost that made me switch it was the inconvenience

I second the idea of getting a vape kit.  Even if cigs are not the reason for numbness in your hands.  After 38 years I stopped smoking tobacco three years ago and I will never go back to it again.  I feel better without it, no smokers hack, no smelly cigarettes, the list is long.  I think it would me much easier to stop vaping than to stop smoking tobacco.

Several months ago I had a problem with my hands going numb.  I was starting to get worried because it wasn't one of my many aches and pains that last a week or two and then disappear.  No, this went on for months.  I too thought it was my back because?

I have back problems.  My problem ended up being my bra straps were a bit too tight.  That was an easy fix but it was weeks before I got all the feeling back in my hands.  Typing was almost impossible, I had to type with one finger.  Yes Ive checked and

I know this could not be your problem./default_biggrin.png  ..but...how long after you started your job did you notice your hands felt numb?  I still think

your problems with your back could cause this.  I hope you find your reason for this! 

O and when I started smoking in the mid 70's a pack of Salem was .53 cents.  I don't want to even know what they cost today.  It wasn't the cost that made me switch it was the inconvenience

I don't recall exactly when I started feeling this numbness in my hands but I believe this was going on before I started that job. At that time I wasn't smoking cigarettes, I was about a year into the date when I quit. This numbness also seems to be off and on. Sometimes it doesn't happen, but other times it does, usually in one hand but sometimes in both. It mainly happens when I'm typing on my computer. I guess it has something to do with my circulation because when I type my hands are elevated to the the height of my desk. It's also not really permanent because I can revive the sensation in my hands if I just lower them to my sides (around the hip area). I think another reason this might be happening is because I use to have some pretty chronic insomnia for quite a long time. I've tried different meds to treat the insomnia but nothing really worked. Lately however I've been sleeping better because I am usually tired out after I get home from work, but I still have episodes where I only get a few hours of sleep or get poor quality sleep. I was only able to sleep for about 3 or 4 hours for quite some time. I don't know why but I think that may be part of the reason my health could be compromised. I've had doctor visits not too long ago, and even had some blood tests done, but the results were pretty much normal and I never got any bad news from my doctors despite the fact I've been getting by on an extremely low amount of sleep for many years. 

You could be right about the back problem causing this, since any problem with the spine can effect your nervous system. Also aside from the occasional numbness, this job that I am currently doing involves a lo of bending and lifting. Before I go some scripts for some pain killers I had terrible pain in the middle of by back, like about the area between the lower part of the shoulder blades. It was pretty excruciating after 3 hours of work. With the pain meds though I can do this job for 7 or 8 hours without feeling any pain, but if I don't find a different job I will probably end up getting arthritis like the doctor warned me about. Like I said before he told me that the disc between my L4/L5 vertebrae is beginning to wear away (according to my doctor) and if I continue doing this job for a long enough time that disc cartilage will completely be destroyed and I will probably end up having arthritis in my back and chronic pain for the rest of my life. I don't think it is worth messing up my back permanently for this job so I will probably have to quit pretty soon. Even though I don't feel any pain now when I work since I've been taking PKs, when I wake up in the morning I do feel some pain in that area and I feel like my back is a little stiff. 

Anyway getting back to smoking, I started at a pretty early age. I was only 13 or 14 when I had my first smoke, I remember I was in Junior high at the time. I only smoked a few cigarettes in those days and probably smoked about 4 cigarettes while I was in highschool. Then When I went to college I went away from home and I ended up smoking more like half a pack a day and even more than that sometimes. In my first year of college I remember the price of cigarettes increased to $3.50 and I remember feeling pretty angry about that. Th e price before that was $3.00 If memory serves me right. from then on the price seemed to go up by about a dollar every year or so, and now they're over $10.00 a pack. That is pretty ridiculous in my opinion. But anyway I was a pretty consistent smoker from the time I first stated to the present day, I only remember quitting twice, the first time I went 3 months, while in college, and most recently I went something like 18 months from December 2013 to June or July of 2015 when I started again. I'm not sure why I started again. I think I was still having cravings and gave into them. 

I think I am going to quit though for good pretty soon. I am pretty sick and tired of smoking. Aside from the waste of money, I kind of feel like smoking has always kept me from reaching my full potential job wise and relationship wise. I feel like smoking has stunted my mental growth and I have trouble with critical thinking and focusing. Also I definitely think smoking is messing up my health. So far I haven't had any serious problems from smoking so I guess I am lucky, but I think my quality of life is being lowered from smoking. I get tired easily just from walking and I feel like I am lazy when i comes to any physical activity. Let's face it you can't really exercise if you smoke because your lungs are not up to it. If you don't exercise regularly you might get out of shape, and I don't like the feeling of being out of shape. Also you're right about the smell, that's another factor that makes me want to quit. I don't want to have permanent bad breath from smoking. It's going to be hard to kiss a girl or sometimes even talk to people if your breath stinks. 

sorry for the long post but this smoking thing has really been on my mind a lot lately and I am really trying to psyche myself up to quit once and for all. Thanks for your reply, I enjoyed reading it. take care!