Foot numbness

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Hello again. :slightly_smiling_face: My brother had a stroke last March. He told me today that he has numbness in part of his foot. Is this common ? He also says he cannot sleep on his weaker side as it is too uncomfortable. Also, one more question, he was doing really well with his walking. Then during November and December he couldn’t walk outside at all due to dizziness. Thankfully this seems to have passed but he is now struggling to get back to where he was with his walking. He gets weak and wobbly and it’s frightening for him to go out alone. I’m hoping with help from physio therapy he’ll gain confidence again. Thanks for any advice. Wishing you all well. Stephanie x

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Hi Stephanie
2 years on, tomorrow as it turns out, I still find it very difficult to lie on my stroke side because it is over sensitised. Even a light touch can be very uncomfortable.
I have numbness on my stroke side but it is something which comes and goes. It does feel very odd being very numb as it’s like walking with one leg when you can’t feel the other foot in the floor.

Physio should hopefully build strength and confidence with the walking. Dizziness is something which can come and go as well, not pleasant when you have it. If it’s really bad, perhaps mention to the GP ?
Thanks
Nigel

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Thank you so much for your reply. I will let my brother know that he is not alone with these symptoms. No wonder it’s difficult to walk when you can’t feel your feet on the ground. I wish you all good things for the future.
Stephanie

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@Stephy1 dizziness is quite common after a stroke but if it is a new symptom for your brother it’s definitely worth seeing a gp just to rule out other things like vertigo etc.

As @Nigelglos says your stroke affected side can become very sensitive so it can be difficult to lie on it.

A numb foot will also make walking difficult as you can’t feel the floor so you’re not sure if your foot is down or not. This will take time to get used to and physio should help with this.

Best wishes to you and your brother.

Ann xx

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Yes, as the others say, these symptoms are relatively post stroke. But it is still well worth getting the dizziness and foot numbness checked out with his gp. Just to out any other conditions such as diabetes or being deficient of certain nutrients in the body. So make sure his gp does blood tests to check these, it’s best to err on the side caution and these things checked out before you settle with it as a stroke symptom.

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Thank you for the reply Ann. I will pass this on to my brother. I wish you well. Stephanie

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Thank you. I have asked for blood tests. Stephanie

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Like I said, its more likely the stroke effects.

But for his foot, it wouldn’t do him any harm to do the the foot exercises Simon posted this morning.

As a result of my stroke, I was left with foot drop. I do remember at the time I was receiving physio the therapist reckoned that it was coming from the hip. So just rolling the ankle inwards 30 times a set a couple times a day for just a few days was enough to trigger an unlocking effect that went all the way up the outside leg to the hip and into the lower back. It was a couple of days discomfort, particularly in bed at night…fine now and no more foot drop.

So if he has say a pinched nerve, that can have this sort of numbing effect…for example S1 of the lumber region, the nerves that travel down the leg. And there are 26 bones, 30 joints and over 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments to be affected by those sciatic nerves. So get him gyrating like Elvis :laughing:

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