As appear's common, I too woke up with what I call "dead arm". Have had it happen many times before, simply from sleeping on it. Always kind of laughed about it, not thinking much of it as it always came back to life in a few minutes.

Three weeks ago, it happened again. Only this time, it didn't wake up. Like other's noted, my first thought was a possible stroke. I'm a 47 y.o. male. I don't drink. Basically healthy. Went to the emergency room and was diagnosed with Radial Nerve Palsy, aka: Wrist Drop, Saturday night palsy or Honeymoon palsy.

The doctor told me it could be a 5-12 month recovery. I had all the typical symptoms that you see in youtube videos. Couldn't lift my wrist or fingers. Could close my fingers. Doctor said to give it three weeks and see if I had any movement. Then they would determine a treatment plan. Being that I have to type 40 page reports for a living, this was terrifying, being that I couldn't type.

I've had major injuries in the past (unrelated) and have always beaten the odds on recovery time, simply due to my diligence to do so.

First night, placing my hand flat on a table, zero movement when trying to lift my wrist or any of my fingers.

I share the following on in hopes that it may help someone. I however am not a doctor, nor qualified in any manner what so ever to give medical advice. My nerve injury occurred in my upper forearm. I was still able to utilize my triceps. There was discomfort, apparently since it's connected to the same nerve that travels from your index finger / thumb up to your neck, but at least everything above the elbow still functioned.

I can only assume my injury was not as severe and that's why I've recovered so quickly, but figured I'd share, just in case. I don't believe it can hurt, but as I stated, I'm not at all qualified to give advice, so check with your doctor before doing anything.

I read up on everything I could find on the internet. Thought electro-shock therapy could be useful. I hadn't seen anything about icing your arm for this scenario, but that same night, decided to try it.

Up until this point, there was no pain, basically no feeling what so ever "dead arm". I could feel the skin on my arm, but was mostly numb around the web between the index finger and thumb.

I placed ice on my upper forearm for about 7 minutes, while using my right hand to lift my left hand up and down, then each finger individually during this period with my mind trying to tell my arm to move. After 7 minutes, I moved the ice to the lower forearm and upper hand area, covering the knuckles and web area of the index finger / thumb. Again, for seven minutes while massaging the upper forearm area and relaxing the hand/fingers.

Then repeated back to the upper forearm, again, lifting my hand with my right hand several times as well as each individual finger. Another 7 minutes, only this time, I began to experience a little bit of pain in my upper forearm, presumably the radial nerve or muscles around it. Again, moved the ice back to the lower forearm and hand area for another 7 minutes. Massaging the upper forearm again and feeling additional pain.

I thought "pain must be good, it's reacting". Still no movement, but at least I felt something.

After the last 7 minutes, my arm was certainly cold, no movement. But after about 15 minutes, with my hand/arm flat on the table, all of sudden, my index finger wiggled. Talk about getting excited over nothing!! But, it was the first movement I had seen all day.

I wore a wrist brace off and on. Continuously moving my wrist and fingers with my left hand. When resting, did so with my left hand on my leg to put it in the retracted position.

Morning of day two, I was able to get my index finger off the table, just barely. I repeated all of the above, completing the icing process three times in day two. The final time, the evening of day two, the middle finger wiggled.

Within 4 days, I was able to lift my wrist and fingers off the table. Still couldn't lift it to a level position with my arm. Almost each morning when I woke up, there was a notable improvement in motion.

When not icing and just doing every day life's chores, I kept my wrist in a brace and used that hand for anything that I possibly could.

Today is the three week anniversary of that scary morning and I can say I have 100% movement capability back in my wrist and fingers, only lacking in strength. I estimate the strength is at about 70-75%. I can no hold a glass of water and drink it pretty normally with my left hand. The only weakness that remains is lifting any weight upward with my wrist and in pinching my thumb against my index finger. But for the most part, I almost barely notice it now, except when I try to pick up something heavy.

Clearly by my writing this, I'm able to type again. I believe my constant effort in typing was good exercise as well. After the first week, I could type about one word, then my fingers would lose strength and not allow me to continue. Would also experience pain in the radial nerve area of the forearm. Similar to just working out and the pain you feel the next day. After about 11 days, I could type a sentence or two before the same condition occurred. 3 weeks later, no real problem typing. I feel the muscle pain in the forearm from using it, but I'm able to continue typing. Taking only a few seconds between paragraphs to give it a brief rest.

So again, I don't know if my case is different from others. I assume it is and was not as severely injured as many. But after seeing multiple videos of people saying 6-8 weeks or 5-12 months and they were still not fully recovered, I figured I'd at least share my experience, just in case it might be helpful. The doctor told me, check back in 3 weeks to see if I had ANY movement by then. At three weeks, I'm nearly back to normal function, so I couldn't be happier that my recovery was much faster than the worst possible diagnosis. Assuming that's based on my injury not being as severe, but just in case my method's contributed to a quicker recovery, I want to at least share it with others.

In conclusion, the icing, followed by rest seemed to yield immediate results. I think my attempts at typing and using my fingers like that also assisted. Along with attempting to use that hand for anything that I could while in a wrist brace.

I am still icing once or twice a day. Keep in mind, that even today, when I ice my arm then hand, I actually lose ability (range of motion) immediately following the icing, am not able to lift my hand and fingers to full range, but after about 15 minutes when my arm/hand warm back up, full range, at least to the point where I was before icing, is restored. In almost every case, slightly improved and notably improved after resting each night.