Numb hand
 

I know a lot of us have compression neuropathy symptoms. But have any of you ever woken up with a numb hand and it doesn't go away in a reasonable time?

Yesterday I went to bed with a perfectly normal hand (except for the usual tingling) and I woke up about 4:00 a.m. and my left hand was numb (pinky, ring finger, middle finger). I didn't think much about it, just thought I had slept on it wrong. So I went back to bed on my back with my arms down by my sides to hopefully let everything normalize. I woke up again and the entire left hand is numb. It is now 10:42 a.m. and the hand is still numb. Everything else seem normal, at least for me.

Billye

I occasionally have that issue...with the feet...
 

But did experience it with the hands after I'd acquired carpal tunnel in one hand [did the damage in ONE day]. I'd found that IF I slept a certain way, hand would take a while to 'wake up', when I didn't sleep that way...no problem.

With my feet, it really does matter how I sleep, and then wake up w/or w/o numbness depending on the How of sleeping. It's sort of hard to correct yourself from sleeping wrong when you're asleep tho...unless your spouse is awake to roll you over...Took a long time to 'reprogram' myself about how I sleep...sometimes it works, other times not.

I understand, tho I'm not sure this helps with answers tho - hugs! - j

Still there
 

It's now 1:04 p.m. and my hand is still numb.

Billye

Same thing happened to me except it included my left arm and its been this way 2 months now....plus it slowly moved to my saddle area so it seems I now have cauda equina syndrome to go along with my arachnoiditis! I sure hope yours is temporary.

Hi Silverlady
 

I would notr have actual numbess,but a feeling of numbness in my left hand. Meaning that it felt numb,but if I poked it with a sharp object I could still feel it, or a tickle. So I first had to distinguish between actual loss of feeling,and a feeling of numbness.

It has happened to me on several occassions with my fingers on left hand. It has always resolved. Longest it's lasted was about 2-3 weeks. It generally resolves,it may even be healing as well.

Bilye--I know you're going to Mayo soon--
 

--but if this doesn't resolve, at least somewhat, in 48-72 hours--given, of course, that no other symptoms unusual for you pop up--you might need to go get it checked out. There may be pressue on the nerve roots leading to that hand or on the spine itself, caused by such things as disk slippage.

Another possibility would be a circulatory problem in that hand--blood clots in certain major arteries in the arm or wrist, or compressive swelling (and you're certainly prone for that with the autoimmune issues you have) might produce similar symptoms. Keep monitoring closely, and tell us of any changes.

Are there differences in the degree of the feeling, finger to finger, or on different parts of the hand?

I don't like this
 

Billye---Has your hand been numb ALL DAY? That just seems not good to allow to persist, and, while I'm not sure what it means or what would be done for it, I'd suggest letting your doctor know ASAP. I've awakened with a numb hand, or leg, many times. Compression, even mild compression, makes my body "fall asleep". But it has always gone away in a reasonable amount of time.

Let your doctor examine it, okay?

Ditto...
 

This needs a medical evaluation.

Little numbness comes and goes...one that stays? That is a different animal.

It's still there
 

It's now 8:56 and it's still there. I have been better able to analyze it. The little finger seems to be o.k. now and the ring finger is only slightly numb. But the index, pointer and thumb are numb big-time. The hand itself seems to be fine, it's only the fingers. I've also got a very painful neck on that side I've discovered. I don't remember doing anything to my arm or neck. I haven't even been in the pool for a week. I've been packing, training dogs, etc,etc. all the little details that drive you crazy. The hand has been very cold today. I'm hoping that sleeping in a carpel tunnel brace will help it. I tend to sleep on my right side with the left hand braced against the bed to balance me. Maybe I put too much pressure on the carpel tunnel nerves. We'll see.

Thanks for caring everyone...
Love,
Billye

Hi Billye
 

Please call Dr. T and tell her nurse what is going on if you wake up like this in the morning. Hopefully, it will be resolved, but if not, someone needs to look at this right away. If you call early enough and are insistent, probably they will ask you to come in tomorrow.
Cathie

Whew!!!
 

The feeling is back. I'm o.k. Thanks so very much for all your concerns. It really scared me. I had decided that if it wasn't o.k. this morning I was going to call my neurologist and see if I could get in right away. But I'm o.k. Thank you all so much for caring.

Billye

Whew...
 

that is a relief....!

you know Billye I have been forced to wear my carpal tunnel braces
lately because of my job... the working extra, has put a lot of strain on my
hands. I have these little setbacks now and then. Wearing the braces at
night really help to take the pressure off that channel in the wrist..so I hope
you wear yours for a while, until it gets better ;)

Personally my hands had been pretty good, but the tasks I am doing now
involve lifting, twisting the wrist and using a laser scanning gun with both hands, alternately. So my left hand is acting up. (Those Lidoderm boxes do
get heavy...when you have to handle as many as I do!).

Thanks for the update!

thank G-d for this.

Glad to hear this--
 

--but keep your attention up, and don't forget to mention the incident to the Mayo people.

I can relate on some level--not so much as to compressive numbness, as when I get that (rarely) it bounces back in minutes to hours, but I have had MANY incidents over the years of compressive forces resulting in sudden tingles, shoots, pulses (with periods of several seconds) that hang around for days to weeks and then disappear as suddenly as they arrived.

Sometimes these may be due to nerves attempting to regenerate/reconnect; it's very difficult to know except in long-term retrospect (which doesn't help anyone's peace of mind while it's happening).

I think it was Wings who originally said--and I concur--that those of us with neurological damage, from any cause, will tend to be far more prone to compressive effects in the future than those who have never experienced such damage. (I wonder if that may have something to do with your peroneal pain, and with my muscle tear associated right thumb/index finger/back of hand tingles/numbness, and some of Liza Jane's on-again/off-again symptoms not related to the spine, and to a number of weird patterns reported by people on the Gluten board.)

Thanks all of you
 

Mrs.D,
I'm going to wear my brace to sleep at night. I'm putting a lot of stress on my wrists and the left one is weak from an injury. I'm not taking any chances. Almost drove me crazy yesterday.

Glenn,
I think you are right. I've noticed that when I sit on my cushion at the computer for any length of time both feet go to sleep. Mind you I'm not talking about hours, I'm talking about minutes. I frequently start an email or post on one of the forums and have to get up and down while I'm doing it. Sitting time is so limited. And I noticed years ago that my tailbone area would get numb at work.

Anyway, my hand seems to be back to normal today. I sure appreciate all the support from all of you.
Billye

Billye
 

That's great news. I am really happy to hear that the feeling is back. Somewhere in the old BT forum I remember reading that someone wore elbow guards backwards or something similar. This was to stop compression during sleeping hours.

gluten...
 

Billye have you started eating gluten again? If so this might be connected.

I have horrible swelling/numbness in my hands if I slip and eat it.
The worst reaction was from semolina pasta. (we normally use Tinkyada).

Yes Mrs. D
 

Yes,
I've been eating oatmeal for about 4 days. Not much else in the way of gluten unless you count the cream of celery soup in my chicken soup. I struggle with swallowing bread, rolls or anything of that kind because of the dry mouth issue.

That one hand is the only thing different. And it seems fine today. It must have just been the way I slept.

Billye

Hi Billye:

I had two emgs for carpal tunnel. The first, a long long time ago and the technicial looks at the screen and says "beautiful, beautiful", and I said "Oh, I'm good?" and she looks at me and goes, "Oh, no, you have very bad carpal tunnel, but the image on the screen is beautiful, beautiful"

They gave me a pair of splints to wear to bed.

I think I wore them for a week.

Forget it. I'm too stubborn, just like I don't wear my sleep apnea mask that the sleep apnea place gave me 5 years ago.

I got tired of looking like the creature from the black lagoon.

I am so happy your got feeling back.

good luck hon.
Melody

Hi Billye,
Yes, I get this occasionally. My whole arm and hand go numb. I have had days where the feeling doesn't come back until the evening but hasn't gone past that amount of time.
I'm glad the feeling came back for you as I know how scary it is.
Take care,
Linda:)

Hi Billye
 

Well, this is a relief to hear! I cannot imagine what must have caused that, but I hope it is gone for good and that you don't have to experience anything like that again...

Did this just go away all at once?

Cathie

To Cathie
 

Hi Cathie,
Yes it started overnight, and was that way all day until I went to sleep that night, then was gone the next morning. Scary.

Do any of you have bodywide muscle soreness? I'm up right now 4:09 a.m. because my left arm is aching. It's sore too. I am having this problem all over my body, anywhere I rub something I find soreness. I mentioned this to my doctor and he pooh-poohed it and said well you are getting old and people have osteoarthritis. It's nothing. But this started all at once, it hasn't been a gradual thing. I started having deep tissue massages like Liza Jane and everywhere the massage therapist rubs is sore, even the attachment points.

Billye

Dan
 

Hi - in regards to having constant symtoms - my PN is pretty much body-wide - but the only real constant is the numbness.... the pain, the tingling, pins and needles, etc.... come and go depending on how worn out I am - and how much physicall stress I've put on my body in the prior day or so (even though the NCS results still show the same amount of damage)........ also, I get IVIG and my foot - which is super numb - starts to tingle during the treatment - and does for the next day or so - and I think its a good thing in that I can tell my body is responding to the treatments in some manner...... (assuming that perhaps the type of PN we have (small fiber, large fiber, sensory, motor etc. - may make a difference?)

PN is a strange creature - I think we all suffer differently!:confused:

My numbness in my feet, which is severe, is constant. They have become more numb over time, but the numbness never goes. My pain symptoms do vary from throbbing, to burning to stabbing. My feet also hurt the worst. The only constant pain that I have is the broken bones feeling on the entire bottom of my feet, everytime I stand or take a step. Its always there, sometimes worse than others but always there.

Well, Dan..
 

Now I am quite variable. In the past before my thyroid was "fixed" I had '
constant foot pain (like walking on broken glass).

I was left with some numbness in the tips of the two middle toes..which has
not gone away.
My carpal tunnel comes and goes too, depending on use of the hands.
Right now, I am working full time (not for long) and it is flaring up. Also my car
has been giving off fumes...new fumes...and my hands are much worse. I think
that might be connected. I am wearing my braces at night again.

I have epidsodes of burning in my feet..that is worse in the hot weather.
And after certain foods...some tomato sauces set them off. When cold weather comes, my feet don't burn much at all. Very infrequently I get a shooting pain in either foot..but that does not last long. When I had an infection last year (upper respiratory) I had full body burning for about 2-3 days. That was very unpleasant, and the first time for me. I do alot of supplements, as you know, and I think that helps tremendously for me.

And, while my most severe symptoms--
 

--the searing, bruning pain ones--have been slowly receding over time (though I'm still prone to flares there that start up very rapidly, hang around days to weeks, and then disappear with the same rapidity), I do get intermittent tingles and shoots that are not painful so much as annoying. I have attributed them, and my neuro tends to agree, to a cerain amount of permanent damage to my nervous sytem that results in my being far more prone to compressive symptoms than a normal person would be.

For instance, my recent muscle tear in my right shoulder has resulted in numbness/tingling symptoms in my right hand (thumb and index fingers and back of the hand extending over to the space between middle and ring finger--a medial nerve distribution). These symptoms are quite distinct from my usual painful ones, and are likely due to compression of the C6/C7/C8/T1 nerve root area, or compression of that nerve further towards the throacic outlet. I am still waiting on results of cervical/thoracic MRI's (though I'm still trying to get them to MRI the shoulder itself). My thinking is the muscle tear moved the shoulder blade into a position in which it compressed the nerve somewhere--possibly several somewheres. But I also believe it's quite possible I would not be having these symptoms, or having them to this extent, if my nerves had not been compromised to some degree by my initial syndrome.

Wings and I have both speculated that anyone who has nerve damage from any cause is far more likely to have compressive problems with their nerves in the future, with compressive symptoms that "normals" would not get or not get to this extent. This is well-documented for neuropathy from diabetes, but we suspect it may extend to neuropathy from almost any cause.

Hmm
 

If you are experiencing sore spots all over your body, and PN, you really need to Google myofascial trigger points.

Myofascial
 

Steve,
Thanks for this post. I suspect you are right. I've been treated for myofascial pain in the past. It seemed to go away when I retired from work. Probably less stress and less upper body strains from computer, paperwork, really tight schedules, etc. But it just seemed to come back all at one time. I am really stressed and trying to do more than my body can in order to prepare for this trip to Mayo. So I may have stirred the old devils up again.

I haven't thanked all of you for your posts in answer to my queries. If I fail to or forget, please know that I do so much appreciate all your answers.

Billye

Pain....
 

Aaahhh... a subject I have come to know well... Before PN, I thought pain was what a teenager caused his/her parents... Afterwards, well, that is a whole new ball game...

I am sore all over, particularly after repetitive movement, like when you use the same muscle group, lifting, straining, reaching or just using them period-even if it is simple light use. Also, I have pretty much all over burning pain, which right now really is bothering me, maybe because it is raining here and pain increases with a drop in the barometric pressure.

I have some numbness and tingling, but not a lot now, as the steroids I take help check some of my problems.

If I go to the Natatorium, the cool water feels good on the pain. I am trying to keep down use of pain meds as much as possible, because of elevated liver enzymes, sed rate and C-Reactive Protein.

Cathie

i woke up with numbness in my pinky of my left hand, over time it moved to my ring finger as well. then also to the leftern most section of my palm and wrist. also my hand has become weak. it started like 3 months ago.

Have you been tested for Carpal Tunnel (CTS)?
I have both, PN & CTS, but CTS can mimic PN.

Remember caution I have no clue about things but I have had my arm/hand go numb in the night to where it won't go away. I told my docs and they of course give the I don't know and no tests indicate an issue. It is very rarely for me because mine is my legs and now other area. I do feel I am sleep wrong on my arm not knowing at then that sticks where with others it goes away without our issues. I have noticed if I am on the computer and lean my arm a way but it doesn't go away for a long time. I guess just be safe and talk to your docs and by the way one of my docs thinks I have myofacial pain too. Who knows though anymore. Many thoughts