Numbness and pins n needles during sleep

Hiya

Over the past few months my sleep is broken 3-4 times a night by my arm being in a pins and needly state. Its my right arm only (my good one ironically) and it seems that i am holding it in such a way that the blood is draining out of it and making it numb and tingly etc.

AFAIK i am sleeping in a normal position as i always have done. (usually foetal on my right if that helps0 or on my back with my arms in a 'rabbit' style pose (its comfortable but a little stupid looking for my left arm problem).

Does anyone else experience this?

Obviously having my sleep interrupted is a tad annoying but not too big a deal at this stage but i am keen to have it sorted.

The usual answer would be to see a GP – would this be in their 'remit' or a bit too specialist?

The solution when it happens is to dangle my arm off the bed to get it blooded up again but there must be a reason for it occuring in the 1st place.

Anyway. Any thoughts?

Ta

Mark

I've got this. Google ulinar nerve. It can get bruised by biking (ergo grips help) It's als to do with bending your elbow whilst you sleep. What I do is to wrap a towel around my arm to encourage me to keep it straight whilst I sleep.

GP will prescribe ibuprofen.

Must admit I also got a referal to a wrist specialist as my pinky is going numb, I broke my wrist about a year ago.

Mine goes numb if I bend it to much in sleep. Not a big issue though. INteresting.

I once woke up on the bathroom floor after a night of chemical merriment, I was on my knees with my face on the floor and my arms behind me – I couldn't feel my legs or my arms
I've never really panicked in my life, but that was one time that I did
thankfully no-one was there to see my attempts to get off the floor
think 'new-born wildebeast on ice'

Bloody hell Bakes, you were probably pretty lucky there… :-S

I get the numb arm thing – I tend to sleep on my back with my arms above and curled around my head and I regularly get numb hands. Try as I might, even if I start out in a straight armed position, I invariably end up bent and numb. (might try the towel trick)
It doesn't bother me too much now, now I know what is going on, but it used to freak me out really badly at first.

Thanks for the towel tip. I will use that for a few nights and see what happens.

Double it up a few times so it's firmish round your elbow / arm, just makes it more difficult for you to bend it in your sleep.

Let me know if it helps 🙂

I had the same some years ago, I put it down to biking, but it staedily got worse, ended up going to the Hospital for a "Nerve Conduction Study" basically they tested the nerves in my arm with small electrical pulses….. when the results came back the suggeted Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, had the surgery (10 mins worth) never had a problem since

The numbness and pins and needles waking you up at night is classic carpal tunnel syndrome.

I had a "nerve conduction study" thinking i had carpal tunnel turns out i have "muscular dystrophy"

Go see the doc

My wife had similar & needed surgery on her neck to fuse a couple of the vertebrae to prevent serious spinal damage
She's since been back to have some injections in her neck

don't fool around with this sort of thing

if you do some googling the ulinar nerve generally affects pinky and ring finger, and is called cubital tunnel, and can quite often be caused by sleeping with a bent arm, and from bike handlebars

Carpal tunnel is a different nerve, the median, I haven't read up that that cause 'dead arm' whilst sleeping or is generally caused by cycling

Obviously see a GP, but if you want a proper diagnosis I think you'll need to be referred to a specialist

Simply shave it, add some pink nail varnish and use it as your "lady arm".