Hello Emerald. Welcome to DS.

Yup. I have two flavors. One is a very generalized numbness my pros have called, "Dissociation." It feels close to an out of body experience. During severe episodes, I might not have even been aware I had a body, much less been able to feel it.

The other flavor typically begins in my fingers and toes. I believe it is inhibited blood circulation from clenching muscles, etc. Stretches and/or exercise typically address the problem.

Yeah, that resonates. I was just reading about Guillain-Barre Syndrome and freaked myself out a bit. I think it's definitely stress/anxiety related. thank you

Welcome to the anxiety board at DS.

Yes, those sensations are anxiety protection measures to help us. When you are in overload anxiety, it's hard to realize that those sensations are "normal response to anxiety".

Relaxing those tensed muscles help to naturally reduce the anxiety level to a more normal range. Even breathing will help, too.

Keeping a private journal with stick figures to show where the numbness is happening will also help.

Best wishes as you find your way to a better balance.

Hi Emerald. I feel emotional numbness. I can’t cry, yell, laugh or feel love. I have been like this for years. My Doctor says it has to do with anxiety and all the trauma I have been through. Medications can also cause numbness. As far as limps and parts of my body experiencing numbness, I do have numbness in my hands, feet and legs, but this is due to nerve damage. I hope you can find peace.

It seems like you're referring to physical numbness. In very bad anxiety episodes I had before, I have had burning/itching tingling sensations up and down my back that would culminate and what felt like a board of nails being slammed into my back repeatedly. When I did some research on it back then, I found websites claiming that this was a result of your body releasing too many stress hormones, I guess it messes with your body. Hope this helped.