When you have to fill out those pain charts where you rate the quality of the pain, the intensity, etc. it is always a bit frustrating. Tingling is as you describe it -- or like when you bang your "funny bone" and you almost get a shiver through your body, or it can be pins and needles. Being numb is a lack of sensation. There can be degrees of numbness, from feeling nothing (a long pin can be jammed into you and you don't feel it), to a less severe form where there is a loss of sensation. I have one sensation that feels like warm water trickling down my leg. The first time it happened, I honestly thought I had wet my pants. I even wiped my leg with my hand to see if it was wet. (It wasn't.) Then there is a feeling that feels to me like what it would feel to stick your finger in an electrical socket -- it is a sudden feeling of electricity coursing through the limb, or whatever.

You would not necessarily drop your keys if your hand is numb. You can still have some sensation or some control and have numbness. I have numbness in my toes and both feet, up to above my ankles. It gets less intense as it goes up my legs...but I can still walk, stand on tip-toes, etc. But sometimes I won't notice that I have one sock on and one off. I can't really feel the difference. But I know when the doc touches me and asks "can you feel this?"

There are many different sensations that come with nerve damage or compression. I'm sure others would give you other descriptions for the same condition.

I would suggest you keep a pain journal for a month or two. You don't have to be fanatical about it -- just jot down when you have a change in sensation, how strong it is, where it is located, etc.

I think "pain" is sort of an umbrella word that includes all these different sensations that occur through the sensory nerves. Sometimes you can feel numb without having pain, but often there is pain associated with the loss of sensation.

Hope this helps a little bit.

Gwennie

I like to call nerve pain ignorant pain. It has no rhyme or reason to it. Doesn't always feel the same and often sets off other nerves. As Gwennie said keeping a pain journal is a good idea. A good pain journal was just given to me from a doctor. It was laid out in spread sheet form. The titles where as follows:

1. Where is the Pain? Rate the pain 1-10 scale, 10 being you need emergency care.

2. What where you doing when the pain started or increased?

3. Did you take medication? If you did, what did you take and how much?

4. Other than medications what did you try for relief?

5. After a hour of the onset of pain how did you feel?

6. Describe the pain or feelings you were getting at the time of the event?

when I describe pain to a doctor I try to use things they would understand or could have had happen to them. For example one of them I like to use is if they have ever hit a ball with a bat wrong and the sensation you get from doing that? So I am trying to find things that will help them understand what I feel like. It is often hard to describe the feelings but it is important to the doctor so they can get a better idea of what is happening. Also keep in mind different digits are coming from different levels of the spine. Also where those pain patterns are on the arms will help them understand what levels it could becoming from. Another thing you may want to track is sensations of your arms or hands getting to cold or to hot even to the physical touch. Hope this helps some, it is just so hard to explain.

Numbness definitely doesn't mean you can't feel anything. A lot of times it's just partially numb. If something feels wrong it probably is. Don't doubt yourself, because your really all you have.