Hypoesthesia in the context of Touch

Paresthesia is a sensation of the skin that may feel like numbness (hypoesthesia), tingling, pricking, chilling, or burning. It can be temporary or chronic and has many possible underlying causes. Paresthesia is usually painless and can occur anywhere on the body, but does most commonly in the arms and legs.

The most familiar kind of paresthesia is the sensation known as pins and needles after having a limb "fall asleep" (obdormition). This is typically achieved by not moving the limb for a long period of time. Hitting the ulnar nerve (the "funny bone", actually a nerve) also induces paresthesias. A less common kind is formication, the sensation of insects crawling on or under the skin.

Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear and discomfort that may include palpitations, otherwise defined as a rapid, irregular heartbeat, sweating, chest pain or discomfort, shortness of breath, trembling, dizziness, numbness, confusion, or a sense of impending doom or loss of control. Typically, these symptoms are the worst within ten minutes of onset and can last for roughly 30 minutes, though they can vary anywhere from seconds to hours. While they can be extremely distressing, panic attacks themselves are not physically dangerous.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) defines them as "an abrupt surge of intense fear or intense discomfort that reaches a peak within minutes and during which time four or more of the following symptoms occur." These symptoms include, but are not limited to, the ones mentioned above.

Focal seizures are seizures that originate within brain networks limited to one hemisphere of the brain. In most cases, each seizure type has a consistent site of onset and characteristic patterns of spread, although some individuals experience more than one type of focal seizure arising from distinct networks. Seizure activity may remain localized or propagate to the opposite hemisphere. Symptoms will vary according to where the seizure occurs. When seizures occur in the frontal lobe, the patient may experience a wave-like sensation in the head. When seizures occur in the temporal lobe, a feeling of déjà vu may be experienced. When seizures are localized to the parietal lobe, a numbness or tingling may occur. With seizures occurring in the occipital lobe, visual disturbances or hallucinations have been reported. Some focal seizures begin with an aura — a subjective experience that precedes or constitutes the seizure itself, particularly in focal preserved consciousness seizures.

Under the 2025 classification of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), focal seizures are divided into three types: those with preserved consciousness, those with impaired consciousness, and those that evolve to bilateral tonic–clonic activity. Historically known as "partial seizures," focal seizures were previously subdivided into "simple partial" (preserved consciousness) and "complex partial" (impaired consciousness). These terms have been deprecated in favor of biologically grounded terminology aligned with advances in neurophysiology and imaging.