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What Causes Dizziness And Numbness In Face And Tongue After Wrist Surgery?
Question: I had a surgical procedure for my wrist and was under local anesthesia for approximately 30 minutes... It has been three weeks since my surgery and the last few days I have been experiencing numbness of my face, my lips and tongue and have been experiencing dizzy spells.. I'm scared the anesthesia has caused a problem with my nervous system or something. Is this normal?
Brief Answer:
Local anaesthesia is not the cause.Anxiety can be the reason.
Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXX,
Thanks for being on healthcaremagic.com.
I am Dr.Ajay Panwar, a neurologist, here to answer your query.
Please follow up with a little detail about the description of your dizzy spell?
How do you feel in the dizzy spell?
Does the things around you revolve or does your head revolve?
If you would have presented to me as an outpatient with these complaints, my advise to you would have been-
Surgical procedure for hand under local anesthesia 3 weeks ago is unlikely to manifest with such symptoms even shortly after the surgery (3 weeks is too far off). If it would have been local anesthesia (LA) for some dental or head/neck related procedure, it could have caused numbness of face and lips, but with LA for hand surgery, is it nearly impossible.
In clinical practice, such constellation of symptoms is most commonly caused by the anxiety and increased breathing rate. Please do mental relaxation exercises, yoga and meditation for a few days and I'm sure you will be all fine.
Hope I have answered your query.
If this reply helps you,please close the thread and rate it else,follow up with the relevant details and I shall be glad to answer further.
Dr.Ajay Panwar,
MD,DM(Neurology)
Local anaesthesia is not the cause.Anxiety can be the reason.
Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXX,
Thanks for being on healthcaremagic.com.
I am Dr.Ajay Panwar, a neurologist, here to answer your query.
Please follow up with a little detail about the description of your dizzy spell?
How do you feel in the dizzy spell?
Does the things around you revolve or does your head revolve?
If you would have presented to me as an outpatient with these complaints, my advise to you would have been-
Surgical procedure for hand under local anesthesia 3 weeks ago is unlikely to manifest with such symptoms even shortly after the surgery (3 weeks is too far off). If it would have been local anesthesia (LA) for some dental or head/neck related procedure, it could have caused numbness of face and lips, but with LA for hand surgery, is it nearly impossible.
In clinical practice, such constellation of symptoms is most commonly caused by the anxiety and increased breathing rate. Please do mental relaxation exercises, yoga and meditation for a few days and I'm sure you will be all fine.
Hope I have answered your query.
If this reply helps you,please close the thread and rate it else,follow up with the relevant details and I shall be glad to answer further.
Dr.Ajay Panwar,
MD,DM(Neurology)
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Vaishalee Punj
Thank you Dr. Panwar for your response. To follow-up with additional information.
The dizzy spells feel like my head is spinning. I have asthma (not regularly) and yesterday for the first time in years I had an asthma attack.. it felt more like a panic attack but there isn't any underlying reason why I would have one of them. I did have a baby in April 2014 (she's 9 1/2 months old) and I haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately, could that be causing this issue?
I even went to bed early last night to try to feel better; thinking it was caused by lack of sleep.
The best description I can give regarding the dizzy spells... my head feels like it is swimming and my focus is all off; like I was overly tired and my eyes hurt.
I'm relieved to hear that it isn't related to my 'going under'... my husband thinks it could be because I came off the pain meds (oxy) so quickly and abruptly. I just don't want to become dependent on them nor do I want to develop an addiction.
The dizzy spells feel like my head is spinning. I have asthma (not regularly) and yesterday for the first time in years I had an asthma attack.. it felt more like a panic attack but there isn't any underlying reason why I would have one of them. I did have a baby in April 2014 (she's 9 1/2 months old) and I haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately, could that be causing this issue?
I even went to bed early last night to try to feel better; thinking it was caused by lack of sleep.
The best description I can give regarding the dizzy spells... my head feels like it is swimming and my focus is all off; like I was overly tired and my eyes hurt.
I'm relieved to hear that it isn't related to my 'going under'... my husband thinks it could be because I came off the pain meds (oxy) so quickly and abruptly. I just don't want to become dependent on them nor do I want to develop an addiction.
Brief Answer:
Yes,abrupt withdrawl of opioids can be another potential cause.
Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXX,
Thanks for being in follow-up.
Taking note of your history about abruptly stopping the opioid medications, I must say that it can be one of the potential reasons for your symptoms.If this is the reason,the symptoms will improve as days pass by.
Anxiety,however,still remains a strong possibility.The type of dizzy episodes you are having, can be well explained by both these reasons(anxiety as well as abrupt cessation of opioid).So,please continue with mental relaxation exercises/yoga.The symptoms will surely improve.
Hope I have answered your query.If you have further queries,I shall be glad to answer else,please close the thread-rate it and write a review.
Dr.Ajay Panwar,
MD,DM(Neurology)
Yes,abrupt withdrawl of opioids can be another potential cause.
Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXX,
Thanks for being in follow-up.
Taking note of your history about abruptly stopping the opioid medications, I must say that it can be one of the potential reasons for your symptoms.If this is the reason,the symptoms will improve as days pass by.
Anxiety,however,still remains a strong possibility.The type of dizzy episodes you are having, can be well explained by both these reasons(anxiety as well as abrupt cessation of opioid).So,please continue with mental relaxation exercises/yoga.The symptoms will surely improve.
Hope I have answered your query.If you have further queries,I shall be glad to answer else,please close the thread-rate it and write a review.
Dr.Ajay Panwar,
MD,DM(Neurology)
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Vaishalee Punj
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