Hands, forearms "fall asleep" at night
 

Hi:
I can't sleep through the night because I wake up once or twice with numb, tingly forearms and hands every night. Both arms, but the right one is worse.
Forearm and hand also get numb and tingly whenever I hold the phone for more than a minute or two.
I sleep with bent arms and I know that bending my arms is putting pressure on the nerves and causing the problem.
Questions:
1) Can sleeping this way cause further damage to the nerves in my arms?

2) Are there things that I can put on arms when I sleep? I tried wrapping a pillow around my elbow area. That didn't work. I tried different sleeping position, but 54 year old habits are hard to break.

3) Is this happening to others? Is it symptomatic of a certain cause or type of PN?
I have idiopathic PN. Advice appreciated. Thanks!
IG

Me too!
 

Hello IG, I just read your post and I have the same problem. My elbows are the worst when I sleep. Because I put my arms under my pillow to sleep my elbows hurt so bad that it wakes me up. My hands will also become numb if they sit still for too long. Not sure about what to do about it...I now try to sleep with arms straight somehow..not easy for me. Mary:(

Those symptoms sound more like some sort of RSI {repetitive strain injury} to me.
I don't know if PN causes that also??

What kind of work do you do?
office, desk, computer, assembly work, lots of reaching or detail work?
many other causes also, but these are the most prevalent.

I had "wrist strains" that evolved into forearm, then elbow then shoulder & neck pains & strains, so if any of that sounds familiar you might want to visit our Thoracic Outlet Syndrome forum or the RSI sub forum there.

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum24.html

be sure to look thru the useful sticky thread above the main postings list.

The first thing to do is pad your elbows with a kitchen towel or something and retrain yourself to sleep with arms more straight.
It takes a few days or maybe a week but it is doable.

There are some metabolic causes of this too.

1) low thyroid functions lead to deposition of a tissue in the periphery that blocks the spaces in the ligaments in the hand and ankle.

2) insulin resistance and pre-diabetes (and also type II diabetes) will cause fluid retention in the hands and feet and squeeze the nerves causing pain/numbness.

3) there are hereditary nerve pressure palsies.

4) too much salt during the day, MSG food additive, or alcohol will do it.

Nerves that are not being nourished properly will give pressure signs as a first signal.... low B12, low essential fat intake (flax and fish like salmon), low magnesium, low potassium all will cause this problem.

Repetitive strain further magnifies the nerve vulnerability.

People with arthritis or gout may have irritated nerves which act this way. Inflammatory cytokines that respond to Ibuprofen or Aleve, point to an inflammatory cause.

If you lift weights, or do turning motions with the wrist over and over during the day, you put further pressure on the small spaces where the nerves and blood vessels go thru to get to the fingers. That is why weight lifters wear those wrist braces.

Females have hormonal issues that can affect the carpal tunnel as well. This is less common for men, obviously. Carpal tunnel can occur during pregnancy for this reason. (this is not your problem ...but others reading here may need to know this too)

I've had carpal tunnel for over 30 yrs. One thing that can still set me off, is gripping the steering wheel of the car for long periods (I have a cover that cushions this now) or tight gloves. Both will make my hands go numb! I use the night braces for tough times. But so far over the years I have avoided surgery. It was totally very bad during my pregnancy however! Back then my whole arms would go numb at night and then burn when they woke up.

besides the excellant pointers that you have gotten in the above posts you might want to do a search on here for double crush phenomenon which has been posted about by Glenntaj here as well as numerous other posts.

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...t=double+crush

TOS {thoracic outlet syndrome} can have double crush and triple crush also..the collarbone/scalenes/top rib are the main TOS areas of cause & sometimes the pec minor is involved , then the other "crushes" could be the elbow/ulnar nerve involvement and the carpal tunnel involvement.

but sometimes if you can fix or repair the top of the body chain first the lower body sx will resolve.

Thinking, and per Drs suggestions, some with these RSI sx have had ulnar or carpal surgeries only to find out they still have pain & symptoms.. it was coming up the chain from the neck/collarbone/top rib areas.

I hope both members post again, I'm interested in their thoughts on the ideas posted.

I've had carpal tunnel (CTS) for over 20 years
(& PN for about 12-15) and the same problems Mrs D mentioned
are mine, as well.
I wear a night brace every night and get a cortisone shot
in my right wrist every 10-12 mos.
I've been staving off surgery for about 4-5 years, now.
PN causes numbness, but the every night and positioning that Ian mentions would seem to indicate that he should get tested for CTS.
EMG & nerve velocity tests would probably confirm CTS ,
along with PN...... to compound the problem.
Quite common with us PN'ers

I have this issue too....plus deforming arthritis...if one thing isn't acting up the other is, or both! sux.

I don't know if this might apply for the poster also, but certain cervical spine problems can cause arm & hand symptoms - another thing to consider.
just wanted to mention that too.

thanks for the responses
 

Thanks for the quick response.

TOS doesn't seem to fit me. I'll try the kitchen towels. Whenever I try to sleep with straight arms I either can't get to sleep or wake up in the night in my customary sleeping position. But I think I need to keep trying.

Thyroid, blood sugar and other blood tests all normal.

I teach so I don't have repetitive movement issues.
Thanks again.

IG



The first thing to do is pad your elbows with a kitchen towel or something and retrain yourself to sleep with arms more straight.
It takes a few days or maybe a week but it is doable.[/QUOTE]