Numb Hands or Feet? Here’s What Tests to Get
Experiencing numb or tingling hands and feet? Learn which diagnostic tests, and why, they’re crucial for uncovering causes like diabetes, B₁₂ deficiency, thyroid issues, and neuropathy.
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Last updated on 21st Jul, 2025
Feeling numbness, tingling, or "pins and needles" in your hands or feet can be more than just a strange sensation. It often points to a problem with your nerves. For adults, especially those with diabetes or who are older, these feelings, known as peripheral neuropathy, need to be checked out. Knowing what causes these symptoms and which tests can help is crucial to maintaining your nervous system's health.
What is Peripheral Neuropathy?
Peripheral neuropathy happens when there's damage to the nerves outside your brain and spinal cord. These nerves are like wires that connect your brain to the rest of your body, including your hands, feet, arms, and legs. They help you perceive sensations (such as touch, pain, and temperature), move your muscles, and regulate automatic bodily functions (such as digestion). When these nerves are damaged, they can't send signals properly, leading to various symptoms.
The symptoms can vary depending on which nerves are affected and the severity of the damage. Common signs include:
- Numbness: A loss of feeling in the affected area, like it's "dead" or asleep.
- Tingling or "Pins and Needles": A prickling, buzzing, or crawling feeling.
- Burning Pain: A sharp, shooting, or burning pain, often worse at night.
- Muscle Weakness: Trouble with small movements, balance, or walking.
- Increased Sensitivity: Feeling extreme pain from even a light touch.
This nerve damage can affect just one nerve, a few nerves in one area, or many nerves throughout the body (which is the most common).
Many things can cause peripheral neuropathy like Diabetes, Lack of Vitamins; Especially not enough Vitamin B12, Immune System Problems like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, Infections Such as shingles, HIV, or Lyme disease, Thyroid Problems, Kidney or Liver Disease, Alcohol, Exposure to Harmful Chemicals Like certain heavy metals, Medicines like Chemotherapy drugs, some antibiotics, and cholesterol-lowering drugs, Injuries or Pressure or Inherited Conditions.
For people with diabetes and older adults, the chance of getting peripheral neuropathy is much higher. That's why finding and managing it early is crucial to prevent it from worsening.
Essential Tests to Find Out Why
If you have ongoing or worsening numbness in your hands or feet, your doctor will likely suggest some tests. These tests help figure out if your nerves are damaged and what might be causing it.
Vitamin B12 Test
Vitamin B12 is crucial for maintaining healthy nerves, producing red blood cells, and supporting other bodily processes. A deficiency in B12 can cause nerve problems, leading to numbness, tingling, weakness, and balance issues, often affecting the hands and feet. This problem is quite common in older people and those who don't eat meat or have trouble absorbing nutrients.
Why it matters: A lack of Vitamin B12 directly harms the protective coating around your nerves, leading to damage and symptoms.
Normal Range and What it Means: A normal Vitamin B12 level is usually between 200 to 900 picograms per millilitre (pg/mL). Many doctors prefer levels to be above 400−500 pg/mL for optimal nerve health.
- Low Vitamin B12 levels indicate a deficiency. Nerve problems can even show up if your levels are on the lower side of normal.
- Very low levels: Point to a severe deficiency that needs quick treatment to prevent lasting nerve damage.
Taking B12 supplements or adjusting your diet can often resolve nerve problems caused by B12 deficiency if detected early.
Blood Sugar Tests
Diabetes is the most common reason for nerve damage. High blood sugar levels over time can hurt nerves, leading to diabetic neuropathy. Therefore, checking your blood sugar is extremely important if you experience numbness or tingling.
Why it matters: Excessive sugar in your blood is detrimental to nerves, particularly the tiny ones, leading to ongoing damage. Checking blood sugar helps find diabetes or prediabetes and manage existing diabetes to protect your nerves.
What it measures:
- Fasting Blood Sugar (FBS): Checks your blood sugar after you haven't eaten for 8-12 hours (usually overnight).
Normal: Below 100 mg/dL
Prediabetes: 100−125 mg/dL
Diabetes: 126 mg/dL or higher (on two separate tests). - Post-Prandial Blood Sugar (PPBS): Checks your blood sugar 2 hours after you eat a meal.
Normal: Below 140 mg/dL
Prediabetes: 140−199 mg/dL
Diabetes: 200 mg/dL or higher. - Glycated Haemoglobin (HbA1c): Gives you an average of your blood sugar levels over the past 2-3 months. It's the best way to see how well your blood sugar has been controlled over time.
Normal: Below 5.7%
Prediabetes: 5.7%−6.4%
Diabetes: 6.5% or higher.
What it Means: High blood sugar levels in any of these tests show that your body isn't handling sugar well, which can directly cause nerve problems. For people already diagnosed with diabetes, high HbA1c levels mean their blood sugar isn't well-controlled, raising the risk of more nerve damage.
Thyroid Profile (TSH, T3, T4)
Your thyroid gland makes hormones that control your body's metabolism. Both an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism) and, less often, an overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism) can lead to nerve damage. An underactive thyroid, in particular, can cause nerves to be squeezed due to fluid build-up or directly harm them.
Why it matters: Thyroid hormones help nerves grow and work. Imbalances can directly or indirectly affect nerve health.
What it measures: A thyroid profile usually checks:
- Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH): This hormone tells your thyroid how much hormone to make.
Normal: 0.4−4.0 mIU/L.
High TSH: Means an underactive thyroid.
Low TSH: Means an overactive thyroid. - Triiodothyronine (T3) and Thyroxine (T4): These are the main hormones made by your thyroid gland.
Normal levels vary slightly by lab, but generally, normal total T3 is 80−200 ng/dL and total T4 is 4.5−11.2 mcg/dL. Free T3 and Free T4 often give a better picture of active hormone levels.
What it Means: Abnormal levels of TSH, T3, or T4 show a thyroid problem. If an underactive thyroid is found, treating it can often improve or get rid of the nerve symptoms.
Other Important Tests Your Doctor Might Consider
Depending on what your doctor suspects, you might also need:
- Kidney and Liver Function Tests: To determine if these organs are functioning properly, as problems can lead to the accumulation of harmful substances and nerve damage.
- Tests for Immune System Problems: Blood tests to check for specific antibodies if an autoimmune disease is suspected.
- Infection Tests: Tests for HIV, Hepatitis C, Lyme disease, etc., if there's a reason to suspect these.
- Scans: MRI or CT scans of your spine or limbs to check for nerves being squeezed.
Member priceWho Should Get These Tests?
If you have ongoing or worsening numbness, tingling, or weakness in your hands or feet, especially if it makes daily activities hard, you should see a doctor. These tests are particularly important for:
- People with diabetes: Regular checks for nerve problems are vital, even if symptoms are mild, to stop them from getting worse.
- Older adults: Nerve problems become more common with age due to various reasons, like vitamin deficiencies and long-term health issues.
- Anyone with unexplained numbness or tingling: Especially if it's getting worse, affects both sides of your body, or comes with muscle weakness or pain.
- People whose family members have had nerve problems.
- Those with other health conditions like kidney disease, liver disease, or immune system disorders.
- Anyone taking new medicines that might cause nerve problems as a side effect?
Finding out what's wrong early and getting treatment is key to preventing lasting nerve damage and living a better life.
Why Choose Apollo 24|7 for Your Tests?
When you're dealing with symptoms like numb hands or feet, choosing a reliable and easy-to-use testing service is very important. Apollo 24|7 offers a complete and patient-focused way to get your tests done. They make it convenient with home sample collection for most blood tests, which is great for older people or those who find it hard to travel. As part of the trusted Apollo Hospitals group, they ensure accurate and dependable results using high-quality labs and advanced technology. They offer many different tests and health packages, including specific ones for diabetes and seniors that cover many nerve-related checks. You'll get your results quickly, often within hours, so you can talk to your doctor sooner. Their expert team processes and interprets your results, and their easy-to-use website and app make booking, tracking, and accessing your reports simple.
Conclusion
Numbness or tingling in your hands or feet should not be ignored, especially if you have diabetes or are older. These feelings can be important clues to underlying health problems, particularly nerve damage. Tests like checking Vitamin B12 levels, thorough blood sugar checks (Fasting, After Meals, and HbA1c), and Thyroid Profile are important first steps. If needed, special nerve function tests like Nerve Conduction Studies and Electromyography give crucial details about your nerve health. By seeing a doctor and getting these recommended tests through trusted services like Apollo 24|7, you can understand what's happening, get the right treatment, prevent lasting nerve damage, and keep your independence and quality of life. Taking action on these symptoms is a vital step towards protecting your nerve health.
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