I just realized this week that I’ve been waking up a LOT to an asleep left arm. I keep forgetting that it happens because as soon as I move the arm, it goes away. I wake up on my back with my elbow kind of pressed into the mattress. Unpress elbow, arm wakes up. Hence my assumption that it’s a compressed nerve, same as if I sat with my leg in a weird position and my foot fell asleep. I feel no residual numbness throughout the day.
I’ve also noticed in the last month or so that my left palm, the same arm that falls asleep, it’s itchy in the middle. There’s absolutely no dry skin or rash. It just itches all day, sometimes I scratch it, mostly I just ignore it.
Anyway, should I be concerned about this recurring nerve compression? Is there anything I can do to stop it from happening? Should I bother or is “make sure you wake up and move it” the only real cure?
And do you think the itchy palm is related? I am a Type II diabetic but it’s under control. No nephropathy in my feet, as far as my doctor and I know.
Is it your whole left arm or just part of it? If it’s mostly your pinky/ring finger and up that side of your forearm to your elbow, if could be your ulnar nerve.
I have that, it gets triggered by keeping my right arm bent at the elbow (hand up to my face bent) for more than say a 20 minutes. Falling asleep like that leaves me in a good amount of pain and occasionally numbness in my pinky and ring finger.
Anyway, just tossing it out there, if it sounds similar, look into Cubital Tunnel Syndrome.
Probably not relevant to your situation, but I was having itchiness on my wrists for a while. Eventually the itchy spots started to get red, but for several months there was nothing visible on the skin. I talked to a dermatologist and when I described my lifestyle, she was suspicious about my pet rats, which I handle a lot. I was sure that the rats couldn’t be the issue, because I thought if I were reacting to the rats, I’d have problems on my palms, not my wrists. She suggested wearing a glove on one hand while I handled them. Sure enough, the problem cleared up on the gloved hand. So you might consider an allergic reaction to something you handle.
It could also be a tight pectoralis minor muscle. When I saw a medical practitioner and started stretching that muscle the ulnar nerve numbness started improving.
Seriously, I sometimes had my arm numb when I woke up because my T-shirt bunched up in my armpit, and cut off the circulation. I started wearing sleeveless shirts to bed, and the problem went away.
I have exactly the same thing - these days I just have to sleep in some way that I don’t bend my elbows at all, otherwise I’ll wake up to no feeling in one side or another. I’ve taken to sleeping on my stomach - that took a bit of getting used to, but it works pretty good now.
I believe there are a couple of points where your nerves can become compressed (elbows, shoulders) - if you go see a doctor they should be able to figure out fairly straightforwardly which, if any, apply to you.
I have my regular diabetic checkup in June so I’ll bring it up with my doc.
Wonder if it’s related to the bout of golf elbow I had last year? It’s from the elbow to the hand fwiw.
Good thought on the shirt but I sleep naked as a jay bird for precisely that reason.
Mattress is 1 or 2 years old, high quality.
I don’t handle anything weird like rats with my left hand (or my right) but before my palm was itchy, the heel of the same hand was itchy. Hmm.
I fear the answer to most everything is “you’re over 40 now, Dude”
Thanks for all the replies. Still wondering if there’s any long term effects to compressing my nerve every day. Good to hear other anecdotes and stuff!
