No need to be sorry, the whole purpose of this site is to find a listening ear and some support. I just wanted to reassure you that it wont always be this consuming, although it can be frustrating since doctors can often do very little.

I do have the same issues with my arms having pins and needles every night, in fact as I type this my left hand is numb. Enough of your symptoms sound familiar that Mrs. D's advice to check family history is particularly important, it could be CMT. All of your symptoms fit neatly under a diagnosis of some type of peripheral neuropathy, I wouldn't worry that it is something more dangerous. This is bad enough, but it is not life threatening.

Work on trying to make your holiday enjoyable, be creative with your ideas, and take things that make you more comfortable. You may not be able to do everything that you had planned, but it is still nice to get away and be somewhere else, see different things. I hope that you are able to get some pain relief before then so that you can enjoy the trip.

Sleeping seems to be a big problem for you as it is for many of us. I sleep easily because of the meds, but I wake up a dozen times a night with limbs falling asleep, muscle spasms, etc. now I sleep flat on my back with my arms at my sides like a corpse. It isn't comfortable but nothing else is bearable. Experiment with pillows under your knees, lighter covers, and try not to compress your arms in any way. An ace bandage wrapped loosely around the elbow will keep you from bending it too close in your sleep, if that is a problem for you. Wrist splints can help with the hands falling asleep but not the whole arm.

Please feel to free to vent. I did not mean to sound Pollyanna-ish. Anyone here will tell you that is not my style. This is a scary set of symptoms and yours came up suddenly. I just wanted to convey the idea that your coping skills increase even if your symptoms don't improve, and they may. Sudden onset is more likely to be treatable than other types. Have you had any other CMT markers like restless legs, poor or absent reflexes, high arches?

Kitt, you are right that the weakness doesn't go away, but I do have a lot of pain in the morning which combined with the arthritis makes me less mobile. It is the worst part of the day for me. Karen may be experiencing the same confusion of symptoms. I am trying to adjust my dosing schedule so that I still have some morphine in my system when I wake up since my doctor wants me to stop relying on a Percocet to get going.

I find that the mattress toppers of gel foam stuff are very helpful for me. I have to wear a carpal tunnel support mostly for my right hand lately. This summer was stressful on that hand. If I don't, I'll have a numb arm some mornings. I also rub in the Epsom lotion into my wrists at night and that helps too.

Over last winter I didn't use my carpal tunnel brace at night and eventually my whole arm started to ache. I've had the carpal tunnel as long as my foot PN (30+yrs). So this summer when I sprained my thumb and first 2 fingers trying to open a dang jar, I wore the brace again, and slowly my arm got BETTER! That median nerve was acting up all the way up to my SHOULDER!

I don't have any problems with my hands normally during the day, unless I strain them some strange way.

So I find the mattress toppers very helpful. Only my right hand so far needs extra help at times with the brace.