Nervous system & nerves
Organ / systemThe wiring that carries signals to your hands, feet, organs, and brain.
What toxicants do here
Metals and solvents are toxic to nerve fibers, producing numbness, tingling, burning, or weakness — usually starting in the feet and hands.
Nerve agents and organophosphates block the enzyme that switches nerve signals off, which is studied in the chronic multi-symptom Gulf War pattern.
What targets it — tap to learn each one
Early-onset peripheral neuropathy is presumptive for Agent Orange; ATSDR links solvents and metals to nerve injury; Gulf War illness covers multi-system neurological symptoms.
Numbness and burning are often the visible edge of a wider process that can progress. Nerve-conduction testing and a neurological evaluation help define it.
Bring this to your clinician and your VSO — they decide what testing and care, if any, is right for you. For general, whole-person ways to support your body, see Whole health.
Drafted from the government's and science's own record — VA presumptive lists (PACT Act, 38 CFR, Camp Lejeune), ATSDR ToxFAQs, IARC, and NTP. Sources are cited on every page, and this library has not yet been reviewed by a named clinician or toxicologist. This is documentation to bring to your clinician and VSO — not a diagnosis, a treatment plan, or a determination of service connection. Veterans Crisis Line: dial 988, then press 1.