Carpal tunnel is neuropathy. My hands do that too, not all the time anymore, but it still happens. My carpal tunnel was diagnosed long before I found out about neuropathy. If it continues, talk to your doctor about an RX for hand braces, or just buy some yourself...wear them at night and see if it helps. You must be holding your hands a certain way while sleeping, and pressing on the nerve, causing the numbness.

there could be pressure on the nerves anywhere from the vertebra to the wrist....good luck

--compression on the nerves and lack of circulation to the pressure of the position.

I certainly have both, and also suffer from developing numbness in certain parts of the body if I keep them in certain specific positions too long. Sitting too much on my left thigh, for example, will slowly bring on the feeling of the limb "falling asleep", which slowly ebbs when I shift or get up. And I have an unfotunate tendency to lean on my left elbow while reading or working at the computer, which will produce those symptoms in my ulnar distrubution.

While it's kind of difficult to explain, I can distinguish between the "circulatory" effect and the "direct nerve" effet--the numbness/tingling has a slightly more prickly, less global quality when the nerves are involved, and the circulatory issues fade faster upon pressure release.

What kind of testing have you had to find the cause of your neuropathy? A number of causes--vascultic autoimmune, diabetes/glucose dysregulation--involve a mechanism in which circulation to the nerves in compromised, and they begin to be damaged due to lack of nutrients/oxygen, so circulatory insuffiency can certainly be involved.

Carpal tunnel is my first thought too.

There are braces to wear at night to keep pressure off the nerves in the wrist. Do you use tools, or have an activity which stresses the hands? Like the guitar?

Secondly, this could be a signal of your blood sugar dropping during the night. Low blood sugars can cause nerves to misfire.
So you need to look at that too. Having a small protein snack before bedtime may help. Smaller dinners, and then a snack later can keep the blood sugars more level.

Also too much salt or MSG in your diet can do this.

I also have PN in arms hands, feet and legs. even an experiance with my face this past week. that was not fun.

i was given some hand splints by my dr. to wear at night and they do help. I was waking up and my arms and hands wouldnt work. awful.

Of all the descriptions and comments left so far, this is the one that sounds the most similar to what I'm experiencing.

For my feet, if I sit with my legs on something that puts pressure on my calf area, my feet will pretty readily "go to sleep". If I start moving or shift around, it comes back.

I guess that's what's now happening to my hands, sad to say.

I've had most every autoimmune and diabetes tests there are with nothing found, but perhaps they missed something.

I do live a fairly inactive life -- i.e. not enough exercise. Could it be something as simple as not enough basic circulation happening to keep the nerves at my extremes adequately "fed"? It seems like most circulatory issues also surface with discoloration, though. I don't have any such thing. Although my toes/feet and fingers often feel cold (to me) long before the rest of me does.

Quick thought, my husband's first symptoms of Rheumatoid were his hands going to sleep every night. He is sero-negative....the steroids worked so it was that that pegged the right diagnosis, medicine is still being Practiced

--sent you a long PM (just in case you look here first).