I’ve been having this very strange, yet painful problem lately when I’m sleeping.
Every damn night, usually 1-3 times I wake up because my COMPLETE right arm (from my shoulder to the tip of my fingers) is all numb and even more wierd, my two middlest fingers are extremely numb! So much so the middle fingers actually feel three times fatter/bigger then the others that are normal. I have no option but to get up and walk for 20 minutes. It takes that long for things to return to ‘normal’.
This is kinda hard to explain, but I’m not sleeping on my arm at all. I’ve never had this problem before. Its just been in the past month… It fucks like a MOFO too!
Im really concerned because its very painful and is really affecting my sleep.
If I had to speculate. I’d say its either a pinched nerve or something wrong with my heart (blood flow)???
I had a problem like that, so I called an ART guy to set up an appointment, and he was super nice and just consulted me over the phone, and just had me switch my sleeping positions around. He recommended getting a body pillow to drape my arm and leg over, and to not put my bottom hand under my pillow when asleep. Basically he said that if the symptoms aren’t there during the daytime, then you’re just sleeping in an awkward position.
i had a similar problem but the pain ran down my pinky and ring finger. but everything else was almost identical to your situation. at first the only thing i could do is sleep with my arm over my head while lying on my side (like raising your hand in class). that took the pain out of my shoulder. it wasn’t till after I met a chiro who told me the problem was in my neck that things started to get better. I had a chek practioner do a rom assesment on me and they found nothing in my shoulder or upper back. I felt this supported what the chiro said about my neck. it makes sense since the muscles are fed by different nerves in the spinal column (I think deltoid is c5). I did two things to eliminate my problem, one, i worked on correcting my foreward head posture which put less strain on my cervical spine and two I sleep with a rolled up bath towel under my neck instead of a pillow. if i go more than two or three days with a regular pillow and not the towel, my shoulder and entire arm ache and cause constant pain. if i am consistent with my exercises and towel pillow i have no pain despite no drug use or chiro adjustments at all. I hope that helps you out.
im having this problem, almost on a nightly basis… It happens anywhere from twice to 6-7 times a night… I wake up and one of my arms is DEAD from the shoulder to my finger tips… Once in awhile its both arms
Same deal, not sleeping on them… And can you imagine trying to roll over with no arm or shoulder use, yet having both as dead weight… it isnt fun, and takes alot of “flopping” around… then laying in pure pain until they awaken again.
Although i;m unable to offer an answer, I’d like to let you know you arent alone :S
i normally sleep star fish, hand above my head and if i dont sleep with my arms on pillows i get the whole numb thing. the bigger i get the worse the problem is. i think it is some braichial plexus nerve thing…
I, too, have had this, and ben cured of it. Don’t know if it’s the same cause as yours, but here goes (without any technical jargon or exactitude, I’m afraid):
There is a single nerve that runs from your neck down your arm to your fingers. It runs through a narrow tunnel under your delt whose position in relation to other muscles, liek the pectorals, is such that it is easily impinged. If you do mucho pec work, and do not balance it with decent stretching and mucho upper-back work, then the tendency you will have to hunch forward pinches off this tunnel.
During the day while you are constantly moving your shoulders and arms, you won’t notice it much. At night, when you sleep and things start to stiffen up a little, the impingement can take over, and suddenly there are no nerve signals traveling to/from your arm/fingers. The result: dead weight. Damn scary the first time I woke up like this! But smart stretching and attention to upper-back work means I haven’t had it in over 2 years.
Basically, the brachial plexus is a series of nerves that leave your spine between the level of C5 and T1 (near the bottom of your neck).
The axillary nerve supplies the skin over deltoid and the upper rear part of the arm.
The median nerve supplies the skin over the lateral (thumb side) of the PALM and the first two fingers.
The ulnar nerve supplies the skin over the medial (pinky side) of the palm, the half of the ring finger, and the pinky.
The radial nerve supplies the skin over the back of the arm and forearm, back of the hand, and the back of the lateral (thumb side) two fingers.
If you are experiencing numbness in any one of these areas chances are that there is a nerve blockage somewhere between your neck and that area. If you are experiencing all of them the blockage is likely to be at the cervical level. If this is the case either see a doctor, chiro, or try different sleeping positions.
Does that help?
It sounds strange to me if only your two middle fingers are numb. The me However, the fact that your whole arm is numb is more understandable.
What worked for me was a stretching regimine for my shoulders. I figure that I was cutting off blood flow when I slept with my arms up near my head. Stretching seems (seeeeeemmmss…) to have helped.
