The tip of my middle finger on my right hand feels like it is asleep. Its felt like this since last night. What caused it? I’ll tell you.
Edited on June 27th 2007: So if you are reading this it’s probably because the tip of your finger has been numb for a long period of time. Quite possibly caused by carrying numerous bags of groceries. So, let me cut to the chase…you’ll be fine. My finger got better after a couple of weeks and most people recover even faster.
Now you can read the rest of my story or read the comments for other people who have had similar problems.
I was in my nearby grocery store around 10pm last night when the lady in front of me was begging the cashier to find someone to deliver her 4 bags of groceries to her door. They explained that their delivery service is only until 9, and they couldn’t find anyone to send. I stood there listening and thought about helping her. Then I thought about how I failed to get a pretty good job today and that I could use the karma.
I wish I had just wanted to do it right off the bat, and didn’t need to bribe myself into doing it, but I’ve been told that it doesn’t matter as long as I am doing the right thing. So let’s hope that is right.
So I offer to help her carry her groceries. She says they are really heavy. I tell her I can handle them. (It doesn’t look like much). The she glances at my groceries and says I already have such heavy stuff to carry. My groceries are very light. Bread. Cheese. Meat. And one bottle of soda. That is it. Oh, and some Ritz crackers. I tell her its less then I usually carry. So she agrees to let me help. And then she immediately realizes that she can’t find her child and goes to look for him. I grab her bags and follow.
The kid has gone outside and is a block away as she calls him to come back. He finally does and runs right past us in the other direction. This is the direction of her place so she doesn’t seem as concerned. So we start walking. Its only a 4-5 block walk, but she walks so slow it took us over 15 minutes. Plus she had to keep stopping to call her child back with exclamations like “Stay near me or you are going to get grabbed!”
As we neared her place she got a phone call from her husband. I couldn’t understand what she said to him, but it was brief and the phrase “American” was uttered. Then she hung up and said to me that she has seen me before – doing laundry. And she pointed at the laundromat we were passing. This was not my laundromat and I never do laundry (I use the drop off service). So I told her that it wasn’t me. We then talked about living in Astoria until her husband called a second time.
Anyway, we finally reach her place…she has me set the groceries on the stoop. And I head home. This is when I notice my finger is numb. I expected it to go away (assuming some circulation got cut from holding numerous bags of groceries. But here I am 16 hours later and it is still bothering me.
Stupid Karma.
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170 Comments
Add me to the list! I was carrying several heavy (really heavy) shopping bags for about two hours. During these two hours I did set the bags down a few times for a few minutes but still, I had carried these bags way too long. I have had the numbness in the tip of my middle finger for about 6 hours now. This site is very helpful, I now know what to expect and realize that the numbness could be gone by tomorrow or stick around for awhile. If I had not come across this site and my finger continued to stay numb I definitely would have started to really worry… I hate this feeling, and cant wait for it to go away…
Thanks!!!
At last I’m not going mad……My index finger on my right hand has gone numb (and a little on my thumb) but I wasn’t carrying shopping bags. I fell asleep doing a crossword (sad I know) and woke up in the early hours still gripping the pen but extremely tightly and my finger and thumb were completely numb. That was yesterday and my finger is still totally numb. Thank you for this blog, until now I thought I muct be developing some nerve disorder but I guess I’ve just crushed the nerves by gripping the pen so tightly…..not sure how long I was asleep like that for. My mind is now at rest that it’s nothing serious. I’ll post again when the feeling returns!
Thank you all for your reassurance!!
Deb x (with Crossword Finger Syndrome)
Hiya! *waves with her no longer numb thumb*
I just wanted to report that I have 99.9% sensation in my thumb back! Hurrah!! the remaining 0.01% are me still being aware about the exact spot that once was numb.
I was really worried, especially when it didn’t go away after a couple of days. I kept pinching, rubbing, shaking, poking, scratching the numb spot and had to seriously stop myself from inflicting potential pain to my thumb in order to shock it back into sensation! Horrid! In the end it took over 2 months to get back to nearly normal, so don’t despair over numb thumbs, crossword finger syndrome or similar injuries. Nerves (re)grow and regenerate at a rate of 1 – 3 mm per day and in all likelihood your numb limbs will come back to life at some point!
Take care,
Mue xx
Wow, so many of us. I was carrying my grocery bags on vacation and waiting on my 2 kids and an elevator to arrive to take us up to the 12th floor. This happened 4 months ago and still not 100%. You seem to get used to it, made typing kind of wierd, but I am learning that it can take days to months to get the numbness to completely go away. I would say I am about 85% back to normal.
I had no idea that the middle finger fingertip numbness was going to be so popular! But my numbness wasn’t from carrying groceries. This is weird. Okay, I was making some Christmas ornaments out of felt. I was cutting through 3 layers of thick felt (not the thin squares of felt you get in the fabric store. No, mine was by the yard and super thick. When I had cut through a lot of multiple layers of felt; I started to pull out my finger from the small scissors when WHAM major numbness! I couldn’t stop as I had a deadline. But, I stopped for a couple of days and the numbness is still there. I guess I can’t use a clock on mine because I have not totally stopped using scissors. In a few days I will completely stop and then start the clock. But, I am happy to hear that it will get better. If it doesn’t go away after 2 weeks I will go in to see my doctor but we know what it is. I will use the “neuroplaxcia” diagnosis before she gets a chance to give me a diagnosis. I want to see her face when I tell HER what is wrong with me. She will have a good laugh, I am sure. So far, no one has gone to a doctor. I will let everyone know what a doctor says in less than 2 weeks from now so keep checking this blog, okay?
I can’t wait to hear what the Doctor says, thanks Gigi!
i had same numbness and tingling in my middle right hand finger carrying bags lol but its weird and cant wait for my finger to be back to normal its just weird lol
Wow…it is so hilarious to me that so many people are having this problem–so many so that you all have named a new syndrome (or several syndromes haha)!! I never ever respond to blogs, but I just had to tell my story because it is definitely a strange, funny one… My roommate BIT my right index finger 3 days ago, and it has been numb ever since. Yes…bit. I was pointing at her while talking to her for some reason, and she hates being pointed at. So she just decided to bite my finger to teach me a lesson. In addition to the fact that we had been drinking for a few hours, I don’t think she knew her own strength. I immediately put my finger in a cup of ice and assumed it would be fine in the morning. I told her that she would have to pay for my surgery to fix my finger, but she said that it was my fault for pointing. So, the right side of the tip of my right index finger has been strange, tingly, and numb for 3 days now, and until reading this blog, I was almost sure that I would lose part of my finger or have to have surgery to repair it (I often assume the worst). Thanks to you all, I now know that my finger will be OK, and thanks to my roommate, I now know that I should never point at someone while speaking to them ever again. And now I know that I merely have a mild case of MRBMS (My Roommate Bit Me Syndrome). Thank you all.
This is awesome! I think you should become the official blogger of finger numbness! like..
Home of the official blogger of finger numbness..
My finger has been numb for one day.. yesterday when i got home from work i decided i was going to wow my boyfriend by taking out the trash for once.. unfortunately.. i bit off more than i could chew. I had a small trash can of cat litter in one hand.. and in the other hand a large trash bag and 3 small grocery bags full of trash. I thought wow.. He’s gonna be so impressed! .. well how impressive is it to carry so much trash that you can no longer feel your finger.. the fingers that hurts are my left ring finger and middle finger and then my arm is a little tingly and cold.
I went to school for medical billing and i thought it would be funny to look it up in my ICD-9 book.. under symptons, signs and ill-defined conditions..
I looked it up under numbness and it is .. *782.0* Disturbance of skin sensation
-anesthesia of skin
-burning or prickling sensation
-hyperesthesia
-Hypoesthesia
-numbness
-paresthesia
-tingling
you could probably type that code into wikipedia.org and look up the info on it.. but i just think .. we should probably let all our friends know .. even if you think you are super strong its totally not worth it.
PASS IT ON!
Thx for d info. My fingers also went numb… Those looks like blood didnt flow thru…Hoping heel itself!
http://www.idahostatesman.com/1289/story/271475.html
Above address i found in the net…Quite technical info hoping helps~ : )
Hey, yeah..i went bowling. i usually don’t go bowling. but we got in for free at park lanes so whatchya gonna do. and it was cosmic bowling so i felt motivated.
anyway, unlike a lot of the stories (i didn’t read EVERY single one), i felt it happening. it wasn’t like went bowling next day numb. it was like wow the tip of my middle finger is starting to get numb at that last bowl. (however, i was doing really well that game. 2 strikes in a row.) so pretty much i’m no doctor and i’m a girl so the last thing i want to do is put my fingers in the holes of a ball that tons of unhygenic gross who-knows-what-they’ve-done people have used and nobody cleans em and if they do they don’t do it often. and then i thought that there was some nasty chemicals in the bottom of the hole and my skin absorbed it like i heard that cocaine makes your face go numb so, really really stupidly i imagine, i thought that my finger absorbed coke. yeah i’m dumb.
anyway, like everyone else has said, this is a good blog. i went to another blog and read through the stuff and the only answer was “it might be carpal tunnel”. honestly that’s so dumb carpal tunnel doesn’t make the tip of your finger tingle.
One more for you. Your blog. Relieving the worries of folks everywhere from the US to China. All the stories were so comforting. GBS. :] Thanks!
Shout and thanks from the UK.
Another numb finger from carrying shopping.. Told my wife I can’t go again as it’s obviously a risk to my health!!
i got back from school, but during it i put a little pressure on my left middle finger, and it tingles and burns and stings, LIKE HECK! i need help, i dont know what im supposed to do, see a doctor? im afraid i did something bad…..i dont remember carrying anything heavy……HELP!
Ok i have to put my story in the numb finger blog! I didnt do it with shopping bags, but was trying to hold my dog back from another dog by his harness. After it was over my middle finger was numb. I figured it would go away bu thas been 5 days now stillll numb!! So glad i found this site i feel much better!! Hoping it dosnt take months and months to go away. Thanks again! saved me a doctors bill.
Just wanted to give you a shout out from Thailand. I was laughing the whole time I was reading this, yet also reassured that I wouldn’t need to get amputated. Thanks GBS Guru!
Half the tip of my index finger has been numb here in england for just over 24 hours now, i went to bed after a mammoth driinking session, slept on my friends uncomfy sofa and woke up with a numb finger thought it would pass in a while and it hasnt, the site is reassuring but its a straaange feeling! before going to bed i was massively sick for about an hour lol and at one point felt pins and needles over my whole body and boiling hot (when drunk i thought this may be the dawning of my death!!!) however i didn die and just have this numb finger now!! hopefully it goes!
Well i cant help you guys with your Numb fingers now but i do have an easy solution so this dosent happen again. Next time carry the bags on your wrists instead of in your hands. I do it all the time just put your wrist through the bags and if you have like clorox jugs or anything just hold onto them. Bags dont cut off the circulation on your fingers Wooooot
This blog has stopped me from freaking out over my own case of grocery bag-induced enduring finger numbness. I lugged a weeks shopping (complete with heavy stuff like orange juice 4 packs and coke offers) across a postcode without having the sense to rest. That was less than 24 hours ago as of writing this comment, but the finger next to my little one on my right hand has since been suffering an enduring tingling, and it feels a bit heavy.
Was worrying that I’d managed to doom myself to a lifetime of weird finger sensation by carrying too much…and being a software developer, that wasn’t a happy thought!
super blog.
I just came from shopping, carrying about 5kg of stuff from my left hand. Even though I came on my mobike, I did carry the bags with my hand. It took about 10 minutes for me to return home. But as soon as I kept the bags down, I realized that my left middle finger was numb and had a slight tingling sensation. I assumed, as usual, it would go away in about a minute but it did not. Immediately I went online to search for possible causes then found your blog. Thanks a lot, I was really worried that I had permanently damaged my finger until I saw your blog. Already it has started to get better and I assume if it improves at this rate my finger would recover soon. Thanks all for sharing.
No, it’s not “ok”. Have experienced physical problems when in contact with plastic for several years now.
First was the “finger tingling”. Yes, it does eventually subside. THe danger is that it occurs at all when bare skin is in contact with plastic. It means there is a toxin, or toxins, in the plastic which causes a physical reaction. Am now so sensitive to plastics that contact with some items causes actual muscle ache.
It’s the plastics, folks, that are the danger! And plastics are “everywhere”, nearly impossible to avoid coming into contact with plastics during a normal day.
Life on earth did not evolve with plastics, we have no natural protection from plastic toxins.
Wow, silverbells – you are the first person I have heard to not recover, and most of us dealt with plastic. Sounds like there might be more going on with your problem…
Great post and comments. Today I visited three different shops and carried so heavy bags that I feared my arms are going to fall off. Now the tip of my middle finger has been tingling for hours…
Add me to the numbers who have experienced this (in my case it was a paper bag with those twine handles.) I overstuffed the bag and was carrying it through a couple of airport terminals. I kept changing hands, thinking I could avoid problems, but now I have numb fingers on two hands! And yes, searching for information on whether I might have done permanent damage was how I found this comforting blog posting/replies. It just shows how important and enduring shared experience is…I am writing this almost 4 years after the original post!
The other thought that occurs to me in connection with this is (when this transcends one’s own stuff) that old saw “No good deed goes unpunished”. Both Kevin and Krystle were trying to do something nice for someone else when it happened. I didn’t see any posts from people who were injured trying to do bad things. This is not to say it’s healthier to be evil, though. Perhaps we’ll all be numb do-gooders rewarded beyond this physical realm!
The tip of my left pinkie has been numb for several years now. It may sound strange that I haven’t seen anyone about it. My last physical less than a year ago I never mentioned it. I have great blood pressure and low bad cholesterol. But when I touch the tip of that pinkie it hurts a little. It has for a few years now. I don’t have a clue what caused it maybe an accident. I’ve been thrown from my bike a few times. Maybe I injured a nerve hitting the pavement too hard once. I don’t know. It never gets better and it doesn’t cause me inconvenience. It’s just there. Sort of like a mole that’s out of site. You don’t like it. But apparently not enough to do anything about. The finger nail on that pinkie looks less normal than the other. It looks a bit flattened. But if this is the worst of it I don’t mind. If it was a choice between a numb pinkie and surgery on my pinky I’ll take numb pinkie any day over the knife.
I was cutting paper four days ago to piece together a collage for class. I couldn’t find my new scissors, so I found these rusty old scissors and I had to use a lot of force to cut the paper. Well, My hole hand was numb for 24 hours and I’m left with having a tingly right-thumb and the tip of my thumb is completely numb right now.
I’ll post my results if and when I gain recovery in my thumb.
Damn rusty scissors…
Sadly, I too was the victim of a plastic grocery bad injury. My story is similar – I was carrying several heavy bags 4 blocks home from the store. I wasn’t aware of it during the trip, but one of the handles wrapped itself around my left ring finger, and cut off the circulation. When I arrived home, my finger was purple and very numb. Like everyone, I’ve had the sensation of a limb “falling asleep” and figured it would go away within a few minutes. An hour later, I was annoyed that the tingling persisted. A day later, and I was concerned. I have student health insurance, and knew I would get the “take anti-inflammatory medication for 7-10 days” prescription, so I never sought medical advice.
For the first week, it was very annoying in normal daily activities, and even slightly painful to type. Now, 1 month out, I’d say it has recovered 70%. Interestingly, the intensity varies throughout the day, with no pattern that I can discern. While I’m 99% certain this was an injury, and not some strange coincidence with a chronic condition, I’ve notice radiating tingles up my left arm that I never had before. Has anyone else experienced this? The coloration, skin, etc. at the tip of my finger is completely unchanged.
Given that I’ve made some progress, I’m hoping another month or two will put this ridiculous incident behind me. I guess this is just another reason to use reusable canvas grocery bags…
Here I am another victim of the grocery bag syndrom. It is might ring finger on my right hand and typing really bites. I am so glad I found this blog…I was really worried.
I wish I could say that I had yummy food in the plastic bags that I could at least eat. I was carrying 30 beverages to another building at work for a meeting. I guess I deserve a drink this weekend for all my hard work.
Thank you very much for this blog.
Same thing just happened to me. I do have this thing from bed bath and beyond that you can hook all the grocery bags on and hold it like a handle so you don’t get your fingers pinched. It works, but i always forget to bring it with me.
FYI just google “grocery bag holder” and you’ll find it. Just a little handle thing.
Well, same thing happened to me last night – grocery bags and middle fingertip. Very glad you started this blog post on it, though a little concerned that some people hadn’t fully recovered after years. Hopefully it goes away within a few weeks. Thanks for the original post and thanks to the others who also posted after they got better – very helpful to know how long it took or if it got better at all. I feel much better for now.
One more to add to the list. Glad to hear that it goes away. Thanks for the inital post.
Hey folks,
Yet another blogger having the same problem. I was spray painting a highback bar chair (refurbishing it, so to speak) and after about 20 minutes or so of constant pressure to the spray can nozzle, my right index finger went numb at the tip and underneath the fingernail on the right side of the tip of the finger (if that makes any sense-go figure). This was at about 7:30 p.m. on July 17, 2009. It is now 4:18 a.m., on July 18th, and the one side of the tip is still numb. Like most of you, it doesn’t hurt or “tingle” per say, it’s just annoying and unnerving to not have the feeling back in my fingertip after almost nine hours. I, like most of you, googled for about 45 minutes with no sucesss and no real “answers”, before I found Kevin’s blog, which has been really reassuring. I am up because I couldn’t really sleep due to worrying about the numbness in my fingertip. I was going to go the the Emergency Room, but now with this seeming to be such a common phenomena after a simple trauma is suffered to the nerves, and after reading all of these posts, I will wait a bit longer before I pay someone my hard earned cash just to give me inflammatories and tell me to “wait it out”. Like one blogger said, we all managed to type pretty well despite it all.
This has been one of the most helpful blogs I’ve come across in a while.
Peace and love to all. May all of your numbness woes subside!
Hey Folks,
I am now six days post-numbness and I can honestly say that all of the feeling has come back to my fingertip; thankfully! The numbness actually had completely subsided by Monday morning, to the best of my recollection (7/20/09). I guess I completely put the nerves in that part of my index fingertip to sleep! LOL It still feels a little “quirky”, if that makes sense, because the part of my arm that was intensely sore that correlated with the numbness in my index fingertip is still sore, so as the soreness subsides, I’m confident that the quirkiness will also.
Hope this helps someone!
Peace and love!
Thanks everyone! It’s been about 18 hours since my finger went numb and I was starting to freak out! Thank goodness I found this wesbite, I was considering going to the Dr. soon if it didn’t stop!
When I move my right index finger a certain way I get a shock like an electrical shock. Today it shocked really bad. It scares me cause I don’t know what could cause it.
Hey yea my brother bit my thumb like right on the join by the wrist and now the middle of my thumb is completely numb but there isnt a tingly feeling and the palm side near the base of my thumb between my wrists throbs every now and then and has a dull pain to it… also another thing my pinky toe on my left foot goes numb every now and then from walking.. im a waitress so i thought it could just be me on my feet all the time.. but its been happening for a good week now.. O.o whats goin on any ideas??
I’m in Izmir, Turkey. Same problem, trying to be a hero in front of my wife. Didn’t realise the battle scars would remain! Day five of numbness, hoping it will go away. Had a similar ‘numb thumb’ injury last year from the shopping bag on wrist maneuver.
It’s worrying that this is the only place I could check my symptoms and get advice, but many thanks to Kevin.
32 lbs. in each hand for maybe 5 minutes. Both middle fingers and a small part of the left ring finger are affected. It’s two weeks today and I’m at maybe 50% better.
Same problem here, plastic shopping bag induced. Planning to cut a slit in a length of thick hose to wrap over the handles in future.
A note to those who have sore/numb hands/fingers upon waking; if your little finger is unaffected, it’s very possible you have carpal tunnel syndrome, and should have it looked at if it persists. The nerve affected doesn’t service that finger, hence it being a very good indicator. Reference wikipedia and elsewhere.
Awesome, I’m also suffering from finger numbness for carrying over-heavy groceries. It’s been two days and my fingers are still not back to normal, I was a little bit worried about the damage to my finger nerves being permanent, until I found this blog.
Oh my gosh, all I can say is THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!
I was so freaked out, I carried a grocery bag of cans on my index finger and it hurt so bad by time I got up the stairs I thought for sure I’d cut throught the finger but it was just a very deep indentation right at the inside nuckle, that was 8 days ago and my finger is still numb! This posting has brought me great relief and at least now I can stop worrying and just wait it out.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
My little finger hurts and feels numbe because i sit on the comp for hrs at work and keep using the mouse…pls lemme know of some excercise to reduce the pain…Thx!
Thank you Kevin!! I was up all night because my middle left finger was bothering me and I was worried that I was going to lose a finger or have to get surgery; however, your website now reassured me. I wasn’t a victim from carrying gorcery bags, but similar. Yesterday around 7 pm, I was helping my boyfriend move and I was carrying one bag in my arm, another bag in my right hand, and I was carrying a box w/ a small hole (big enough to carry the box with 3 fingers). The box wasn’t heavy… but i felt it doing some damage to my nerves; however, I was more concerned about moving. Now.. I have the similar tingly feeling. I’m now glad to know that it will recover eventually
So glad I found this blog – I also suffer from numb finger, the tip of my right index finger, not out grocery bag carrying, but after gripping my pen too tightly for a 3hr exam essay! Must have been so focused on my paper I forgot to loosen the grip.
Anyway, it has been numb for 2 days now… and the worst is that I will inflict more damage to it tomorrow, as I have… another 3hr essay exam!! Not sure how exactly I will write, as I can hardly grab the pen. But needless to say, I have purchased a pen with rubber grip, to soften the pain. Hopefully, this will not make the numbness worse, but I sure am looking forward to having the sensation back.
Gotta love the internet! If it wasn’t for this blog I’d have been heading to the Doc tomorrow. Thanks for letting me know I’m not alone and I guess from now on I’ll make multiple trips from the car to the fridge instead of carrying 6 bags in one hand, 3 in the other with a gallon of milk to boot!
My right index finger has been “asleep” now for about 12 hours. Maybe my wife is right about me being a dufus sometimes!
Phew, I was starting to think I was going to have to go to the doctor! Yesterday at work I was cutting up pieces of paper for more than half the day and my right thumb got swollen and has gone numb. It’s a horrible feeling, can’t wait for it to become normal again!
Thank goodness for your site – all I needed was some reassurance, I didn’t want to rock up to a doctor whinging about a spot o numbness to be told “go home and stop being such a baby!”. My index finger and middle finger became numb after I carried three grocery bags out to my car from the store yesterday, the middle finger started to tingle as I drove home and was fine 20mins later, but the top third of my index finger is still half numb/half pins and needles. I hope typing with it won’t retard the nerve regrowth…
It’s very comforting to know others have gone through the exact same problem. I just bumped my funny bone and everything went numb, but when that wore off the index finger remained tingly. Here’s hoping it heals soon!
(BTW Kevhines, I hope karma came round and you got a sweet reward for your good deed somewhere down the track…)
My finger has slowly regained all feeling and is now fully back to normal.
That’s good news Sasha! How long did it take?