Numbness on one side of a large portion of the body is not normally caused by diabetes. Other causes can be an emergency.
It also depends on how much of the body you’re referring to.
“Diabetes can cause painful diabetic neuropathy in about 25% of cases, causing significant discomfort and affecting quality of life of these patients,” says Natasha Fuksina, MD, an internal medicine and obesity specialist who combines traditional, integrative and functional medicine to restore health and function.
“Symptoms include pain, burning, numbness — typically in stocking-glove pattern, meaning in both feet and hands, starting from the most distant to the torso parts and progressing closer to the torso with time.
“Typically, these symptoms are affecting both sides of the body.”
While diabetic neuropathy can cause numbness in one foot or in one lower leg, it usually starts in both lower extremities at about the same time.
Diabetes will not cause one side of the entire body to go numb.
However, the condition of diabetic proximal neuropathy typically begins on one side (thigh, pelvic and lower back region) and remains asymmetric in most patients for about three months, according to a study in Neurology Today. But within three months, the other side becomes affected.
But there’s more: Diabetic proximal neuropathy does not involve numbness.
The condition presents with severe, asymmetric leg pain and weakness. Pain and weakness are different from the experience of numbness.
Numbness on One Side of the Body in Diabetes
In distal neuropathy, the hands or feet are affected, causing numbness or tingling.
It usually and gradually affects both feet or both hands, but can also be asymmetric — affecting just one hand or foot.
This is a focalized problem; an entire leg or entire arm is not affected.
In summary, diabetes does not cause one side of the entire body to go numb while the other side is perfectly fine.
”Numbness on one side of the body raises concerns for other causes such as radiculopathy (pinched nerve in neck or back), TIA (transient ischemic attack) or stroke,” says Dr. Fuksina.
If you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes and then one day experience numbness or heaviness on one side of your entire body — do NOT chalk this up to diabetes.
A prompt visit to a doctor is called for, especially if there are other symptoms such as vision changes, facial numbness, confusion, headache or difficulty with speech.
Especially alarming is if the one-sided numbness comes on suddenly.
Dr. Fuksina
