# My thumb is numb **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 1, 2007, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-thumb-is-numb/413988 "2007-08-01T15:48:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-thumb-is-numb/413988/21 "2007-08-01T21:41:19Z")
[QUOTE=Bobotheoptimist] Arthritis can do this? That explains everything … Except why my doc keeps recommending shark cartilage and Birkenstock’s. [/QUOTE] I’m willing to try anything. I’ve tried grape juice, pectin, cherry juice, and a supplement with extra gelatine in it, but nothing has helped yet. Maybe I need to give these things more time. ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-thumb-is-numb/413988/22 "2007-08-01T21:47:24Z")
Shark cartilage don’t work. Glucosamine don’t work. Birkenstock’s are hard to swallow without grinding them up first. And they don’t work. $250 insoles work for my destroyed arches, but I’m not convinced that has anything to do with arthritis. Tramadol works, but I can’t afford to keep going to Mexico (and I’m afraid it’s addictive) so I only have about 2 months pain free each year. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-thumb-is-numb/413988/23 "2007-08-01T21:57:18Z")
The very tip of the pinkie finger on my right hand, like the last half-inch of the finger, has been numb since I was a teenager. I didn’t injure it or anything; it just kinda went numb. I don’t really notice it anymore, and it hasn’t gotten worse over the two decades or so since it first appeared. Or I suppose disappeared. Somehow, I soldier on. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-thumb-is-numb/413988/24 "2007-08-02T01:31:39Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] Hm, I do tend to sleep in this very weird “arms wrapped tightly around me” position, so it might be that. Plus I have been experiencing a sore neck the last few days. I don’t have a chiropractor, though. I hope a week at the beach (week after next) will be adequate therapy. Although that’s also the only week of the year I play any golf, it’s all putting. 😉 Doesn’t sound like my thumb is going to fall off, though. Unless it’s from the fact that I keep wiggling it around to see if it’s still numb. [/QUOTE] Twicks, that beach trip will be a perfect opportunity to relax and do some swimming, which will help loosen up the neck/shoulder tension with more shoulder rotating movement. I’ve been having neck/shoulder tension as well, and sometimes notice numbness in hands. Swinging rotations of the arms really has helped loosen it all up. Swimming is an easier way to do that, so go soak and loosen those muscles up. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-thumb-is-numb/413988/25 "2007-08-02T10:45:27Z")
Still numb. **does a few arm-swinging circles** Well, they make a pleasant change from experimental thumb wiggling, anyway… ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-thumb-is-numb/413988/26 "2007-08-02T11:02:59Z")
Have you tried hitting your foot with a sledgehammer? It won’t do much for your thumb I admit but you’ll forget you even had a thumb, numb or not ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-thumb-is-numb/413988/27 "2007-08-02T19:35:54Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] Still numb. **does a few arm-swinging circles** Well, they make a pleasant change from experimental thumb wiggling, anyway… [/QUOTE] Are you a side sleeper? Have you tried sleeping with a body pillow? You could sling one arm over it. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-thumb-is-numb/413988/28 "2007-08-03T13:30:10Z")
[QUOTE=vivalostwages] Are you a side sleeper? Have you tried sleeping with a body pillow? You could sling one arm over it. [/QUOTE] It’s the arm that’s under the pillow that’s having the problem. 😉 Day Three: The nightmare continues. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-thumb-is-numb/413988/29 "2007-08-03T20:31:29Z")
I’ve got something similar going on - the tip of my left forefinger is numb - has been for the past few days. Since that’s my mouse finger, I think it’s due to overwork - plus my left arm and shoulder are aching as well. Shall go off to the doc soon. ---
**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-thumb-is-numb/413988/30 "2007-08-03T20:38:31Z")
Weirdly, I had a similar thing happen to me the other day, except it was the fingers (on both hands) and it went away over night and popped up again in the evening. Asked th edoc who says not to worry but to keep an eye on it and ‘rule out MS’ if it gets worse or goes on forever. For what it’s worth, my neck was sore too (and ‘maturing’ seems an unlikely cause as I am 24). ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-thumb-is-numb/413988/31 "2007-08-03T21:08:45Z")
Have you been masturbating… a LOT? Nothing to do with your thumb, just curious. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-thumb-is-numb/413988/32 "2007-08-03T22:59:28Z")
[QUOTE=cmyk] Have you been masturbating… a LOT? Nothing to do with your thumb, just curious. [/QUOTE] If you’re about to ask me what I’m wearing – gray shorts and a Reality News Online T-shirt. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2007, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-thumb-is-numb/413988/33 "2007-08-04T00:11:26Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] If you’re about to ask me what I’m wearing – gray shorts and a Reality News Online T-shirt. [/QUOTE] Waiiiit… then is [THIS](http://goodcomics.com/sdmb/tee.jpg) you?! ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2007, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-thumb-is-numb/413988/34 "2007-08-04T00:28:20Z")
Alas, my tummy isn’t _nearly_ that taut. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2007, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-thumb-is-numb/413988/35 "2007-08-04T00:35:03Z")
Damn. Then I’m onto canvassing the rest of the SDMB. Good luck with your thumb! 😉 FWIW, I had the same thing happen to me, but it only lasted for less than a day. I’m sure It was a compressed nerve from sleeping on it funny. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-thumb-is-numb/413988.md?page=1)