That familiar tingling feeling sometimes described as "pins and needles" has a medical name: paresthesia. The nerves are the body's communication system sending information from the body to the brain and instructions from the brain to the body. Tingling in the appendages is a common result when the nerves of the hands and feet have been irritated or damaged. Nerve damage, or neuropathy, can arise from a number of different causes.
Diabetic Neuropathy
Diabetes is disease characterized by high levels of glucose in the blood that result from a failure of the body to produce or respond to insulin. When blood glucose levels are overly high, the blood vessels can be damaged and fail to supply adequate nourishment to the nerves. This is most often experienced in the nerves of the hands and feet.
Carpal and Tarsal Tunnel Syndromes
Carpals are wrist bones. The blood vessels and nerves of the hand must travel through a narrow opening in the wrist known as the carpal tunnel. Repetitive hand movements can cause irritation and swelling in the soft tissues of the wrist, leading to compression of the median nerve, which supplies motor and sensory function to the hand, according to the Center for Peripheral Neuropathy. Numbness or tingling of the thumb, index, middle or ring finger, or of the palm of the hand itself, can be a symptom of carpal tunnel syndrome.
Ankle bones are called tarsals. They too have a narrow opening through which the tibial nerve passes. Though less common than carpal tunnel syndrome, the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons states that compression of the tibial nerve as it passes through the tarsal tunnel can cause symptoms similar to those of carpal tunnel syndrome including tingling and numbness.
Thromboangiitis Obliterans
Inflammation of the blood vessels hands and feet is a characteristic of thromboangiitis obliterans, a vascular disease most often seen in men between the ages of 20 and 40 who have a history of tobacco use. The lack of blood supply leads to damage to the nerves and other soft tissues of the hands and feet and can cause tingling sensations that may progress to burning and severe pain.
Drug Side Effects
Numerous pharmaceutical preparations have been reported to cause paresthesia in the hands and feet as a possible side effect. Drugs.com lists propranolol, topiramate, influenza vaccine, pregabaline and sertraline among the many medications that may cause this side effect.
