For some reason, on average perhaps once a month, I will wake up and one of my arms (it can be either) will have no feeling. And when I say no feeling, I mean no feeling. It’s paralysed. From the shoulder down. I can’t even wiggle the tips of my fingers… because I can’t feel them. At all. When I wake up and this is the case, I will sit up in bed and shake my dead arm around with my “good arm”… and after about 15 secs I get a tingling sensation at the tips of my fingers. Then slowy I can move my hand… and after about 30 seconds it’s pretty much back to normal. But… why does this happen? Is it causing damage to my arm? Is it common? So many questions… so little answers…
Kiddo, have you asked your doctor about this? Just to rule anything major out. Frankly though, my WAG is that you occasionally sleep on your arm in such a way as to cause it to go to sleep. I do this myself sometimes – this morning I woke up with both my arms above my head, and both were asleep. But you ought to ask your doctor next time you see her. That’s why you pay her the big bucks, right?
My guess would be a pinched nerve. This happens to me a lot. I have a very physical job, and the harder I work, the worse it is. I just live with it; I do get occasional massages for a temporary fix. I’ve had this for about ten years & have never bothered seeing a doctor for it. When the sensation is returning to your hand, which fingers are the last to regain feeling? If it’s your pinky, it could be the ulnar nerve, if the other way around, radial(?) nerve. If there’s no pattern, you’ve got about two months to live.
Just kidding.
How old are you? If there’s heart problems in your family, you may want to rule that out.
Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional, although I have sex with one on a regular basis.
I too suffer from Mortuus - Armomane syndrome, a common ailment of many that is often overlooked by the medical establishment as it’s effects while annoying, are temporary in nature.
I suffer from a variation of this syndrome called Mortuus - gluteus - feyynis. It usually occurs when I sit in certain positions over long periods of time and the effect although similar to Mortuus Armomane syndrome affects my hips and legs. This can be hazardous as there can be some danger from standing up only to discover you have no feeling in your legs.
Mortuus Oriundus Collum Supra is the most debilitating form this disease takes and can often become permanent.
Doc Moss, this happens to me often. Your description matches mine to a “T”. As far as I can determine, you ARE indeed experienced regular old “dead arm”. It doesn’t seem to be a big deal to me personally. However, if you feel differently about it, by all means, consult a doctor. The following anecdotes are simply my personal experiences and can in no way substitute for true medical advice:
I doubt it’s actually a full-blown pinched nerve - I always thought it was interrupted blood flow, like when your foot falls asleep, only on a much bigger scale. I can accept that a nerve is temporarily compressed somewhere in the arm – but I think it’s mainly a blood flow problem.
I’ve never gone to a doctor for it either. I never really felt like I had to, since it familiarly felt so much like an asleep foot (except much less tingly). Whenever “dead arm” happened, I never thought it was going to be permanent - but it can kind of spook you.
FYI, I used to get it invariably if I fell asleep “spooning” with my wife. When I do that, I wind up sleeping on my side with one arm crooked over my head. Lately, I make sure to roll back onto MY back before falling asleep - and that prevents “dead arm” attacks.
When your foot falls asleep, that’s a pinched nerve, too, not a blood flow problem, which would be much more serious, as it would probably lead to tissue damage!
hmm. same thing happens to me every so often. it’s always when i sleep on my arm funny. i basically wake up with my arm asleep. i have to roll over and swing it like a dead weight or use my other arm. i never thought it was a problem. like bordelond said, i never thought it was a big deal. it feels just like any other body part falling asleep. and by my arm being asleep, i mean i can’t move it either. completely useless for 15 seconds. if i sit funny, my leg will fall asleep in the same manner. usually not completely paralyzed, unless i’ve been ignoring the fact that it was asleep for several minutes. then it is completely useless for 15-30 seconds. sounds just like your arm. my WAG is you slept on your arm funny, and since you didn’t move it (being asleep and all) it became completely paralyzed. i’m not a doctor, but i’ve never been concerned by it. if others disagree, well, then maybe i’ll get it checked out. honestly, never thought much of it.
It’s happened to me once, and rather freaked me out.
Although we have a queen-size bed, more often than not we share it with our 1-year-old. When she’s there, I usually sleep on a side. But if I do that too long, I get an earache in the pillow-side ear. So I usually sleep on my back, right next to the edge.
This one morning, I was over the edge and my right arm was completely off the bed, pointing straight at the floor, completely unresponsive. It took me 10 seconds to sit up without its use. Then I shook my right arm with my left; it was just like a dead piece of meat. I was getting a little worried, then started to feel a slight tingle that usually goes with “sleeping” body parts. Then the most intense tingling I’d ever felt hit me; that took about 10 minutes to clear up.
As I long time sufferer of this condition(for me its below the bicep) I can tell you there is danger involved. I’ve never really been able to figure out the cause, and I hope there is no long term damage. But as far as the danger involved, when my alarm goes off, I instinctively roll over and attempt to hit the alarm with my right hand, noticing only too late that the lower part of the arm has no control or feeling. I have actually Broken my nose twice doing this, as well as clubbing myself in the balls many times.
I was all ready to tell a story about the time I woke up with a dead arm and reached for my alarm clock and nearly put my eye out, but this is much better. Or worse.
I have a question related to this, though. If you get really drunk and pass out on top of your arm, can it become permanently paralyzed?
I don’t have much to add except another data point for anybody trying to keep score.
It’s extremely common for me to wake up in the middle of the night with part of one hand numb. I sleep on my side, and my lower arm often gets pinched. Almost invariably, though, it’s simply numbness - I still have full motor control.
Actually, now that I think about it, the muscles controlling the numb fingers are in my forearm, which probably explains why I can still move the “dead” fingers.
I can recall only two occasions on which I awoke to the dead-piece-of-meat arm sensation. Scary at first, then fascinating.
I’ve also gotten a totally dead leg once or twice. I’d never quite believed the tales about falling over until I got out of bed only to find that one leg would bear no weight. Down in a heap I went. My girlfriend got quite the laugh after finding that I was OK.
This happens to me once in a while, though usually only my hand (from the wrist down) gets paralyzed when I end up sleeping on it. It seems to me that it’s just been “asleep” for a really long time, past the usual tingly stage associated with snoozing appendages. After flailing my arm around for a few seconds, the tingling returns (sometimes slightly painfuly) and then full feeling and movement. I have never thought anything of it.
IIRC, there’s a condition colorfully named Saturday Night palsy. This happens when you fall asleep (pass out) with your arms over the back of a chair after a heavy night’s libation. The chair back pushes up into your armpits putting pressure on the posterior cord of the brachial plexus (which gives rise to the major nerves controlling arm movement and sensation) or the radial nerve. Normally, after a short period, your body signals you that it’s time to change positions. This even occurs during sleep (which is why having your arm fall asleep in bed is normally not dangerous; your body alerts you to change positions before it’s too late). However, in combination with a heavy load of alcohol, the alert mechanism does not function properly, and with sustained pressure on these nerves, they can become permanently injured.
Symptoms of Saturday Night palsy reflect the nerves that are damages. Areas affected include the triceps and the extensor muscles of the wrist and hand. Loss of sensation also occurs in the area of radial nerve innervation.
Can this also occur just from going to bed drunk in a bad position? I imagine so.
