Yesterday, I experienced another weird side-effect of weight loss that I’d forgotten about – periodic, transient numbness.

I spent a lot of the day sitting at my desk with my legs crossed.  My right knee is not a fan of being crossed over the left; so, I spent most of the day with the left over the right.  Last night, the skin on outside of my left calf was numb. This happened throughout the Great Reduction; but, I’d forgotten about it. Funny how quickly I forget some things – like this numbness, how pregnancy wrecked my hair and how much I dislike parades. (I try to like them since it just seems so anti-social not to.  Just can’t do it.) Anyway, as I’ve said over and over: I am not a doctor; so, I can’t give you the scientific reason for this. However, my guess is that while my legs were crossed, I put pressure on the nerves on the outside of the calf and around the knee.  As a result, they are now numb for awhile.

During the Great Reduction, I experienced this several times in my toes, my lower legs, the middle of my back and sometimes in my fingers.  The numbness never lasted very long, was never accompanied by any tingling and never seemed to do any lasting harm.  It was just disturbing at first and weird afterwards.

As I lose these last few pounds, I expect that I’ll experience this more frequently. Insulating fat is being lost, making nerves more accessible to pressure. There is less fat between the nerves and the hard surfaces of the bones and of, well, hard surfaces. The nerves will get pinched between bones and pressure from the outside.  If it happens like before, eventually, everything will settle down, find a new place without all of the insulation and the instances of numbness decrease and finally disappear.

In the meantime, if you’re experiencing this, try not to be alarmed. I went through it, too.  And, although I’d hardly classify the experience as normal just because I’ve had it, too, at least you know that you’re not alone.  Kind of like all those people who have been abducted.