Another non-heart related question...

[MikeHeim]

I have been struggling with an issue over the past year that I am just plain tired of and would like to know the reason for. Hopefully (for me) someone here has had a similar experience.

I go through periods (usually a couple weeks at a time) where I will wake up repeatedly during the night and both of my arms are asleep. Basically when I wake up, they immediately begin getting the same tingling feeling that you would get when you leg falls asleep if you were sitting on it the wrong way. About a minute later, everything is fine and I'm back asleep. Two hours later, I wake up with the same issue. I find it very hard to believe that I would shift in my sleep in such a way that I could cut of the circulation to both arms and what seems even more unlikely is that I would migrate to that position repeatedly during the night. The main issue is that I just don't like the idea of circulation being cut off to various extremeties for extended periods of time while I'm asleep. Don't know if that could cause issues later on, but it certainly doesn't sound good.

Has anyone else had similar issues or have the faintest idea what could be going on? Any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Susan BAV]

Perhaps this is similar...

Perhaps this is similar...

I've had a lot of hand/arm numbness, in both arms, when I sleep--which began after OHS. If I can keep my shoulders back when I sleep (on my side--it's just a matter of balance) without my arm dropping forward, I don't have the problem. I must have some misplaced nerves getting squeezed in certain positions, around my collarbone I think, but rolling my shoulders up and back helps me.

 

[Nancy]

I have the same problems from time to time, and I think it is directly pillow related. I think the old pillow I was using was hitting the nerves in my neck wrong and impinging on them causing the prickly numb feeling.

I changed pillows to one that is wider and thicker and found that if I made a sort of "well" for my head, and then used two other pillows, one at either side of the main pillow, longways, these feeling went away. I had to fool around with the pillows for a couple of days to get it right. Sounds like a lot of work, but waking up with that feeling was very annoying.

I also found that being better hydrated lessened the symptoms.

 

[gadgetman]

I had to fool around with the pillows for a couple of days to get it right.

foolin' aroun' wif pillers!!

ah's shocked, SHOCKED ah tell yo'!

Bubba

 

[hensylee]

sounds like a new sleeping arrangement/position is desired to relieve whatever nerve you have disturbed. try sleepin w/o a pillow - or an extra one. If you sleep on your back, you might try sleeping on your side, however in our sleep we tend to go to the position that we have always used. Can you try putting one of your pillers at your back so you don't turn onto your back? Sometimes during surgery, we get positioned and a nerve or muscle gets messed up by hospital staff.


Bubba, I mess with pillers all the time. Sometimes they are on the floor or across the room when I wake up.

 

[Bina]

I also think that it is nerve related. After OHS I had to sleep on my back for a long time and I just got used to it. Now when I am on my side too long I can get weird sensations in my arm. Rolling over or propping the arm on a pillow does help.
Yup, fool around wif some pillers...

 

[MikeHeim]

Thanks all for the advice. I've always been a thin pillow or no pillow type of person, so I'll see what an extra pillow does. I also sleep on my stomach, so I'll try my back - post-OHS style. Always good to hear that an issue I have is not unique.

Thanks again!

 

[aussigal]

I have had the same sort of stuff (numbness) going on for 5+ years. My neck has Arthritis pretty bad and when I lie on my back I guarantee my arms will go numb in a few minutes. An X-ray would show if your neck is the likely guilty party!. I am so hopeless that I had to be put on my side in ICU less than 24 hours after OHS. No permanent damage, but it did take over a week for my hands to work properly again.

Home remedies that help me include an extra extra pillow for under my arms and 1 behind me to try keep me from rolling over and a nice new "Latex" pillow for my head. I still wake to numb arms every night but not as many times. I also had Carpal Tunnel surgery for my aching arms, this did nothing to help with the numbness though.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

I go through periods (usually a couple weeks at a time) where I will wake up repeatedly during the night and both of my arms are asleep. Basically when I wake up, they immediately begin getting the same tingling feeling that you would get when you leg falls asleep if you were sitting on it the wrong way. About a minute later, everything is fine and I'm back asleep. Two hours later, I wake up with the same issue. I find it very hard to believe that I would shift in my sleep in such a way that I could cut of the circulation to both arms and what seems even more unlikely is that I would migrate to that position repeatedly during the night. The main issue is that I just don't like the idea of circulation being cut off to various extremeties for extended periods of time while I'm asleep. Don't know if that could cause issues later on, but it certainly doesn't sound good.

Has anyone else had similar issues or have the faintest idea what could be going on? Any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

YES ! I've had similar 'tingly feelings' in one arm or the other (rarely both at the same time) when laying on an firm wedge pillow on the couch or my office chair with a padded but firm back.

I too thought I was pinching off circulation to the arm (thought it was pressure around the shoulder blades) but when I asked a Doc I know about that, he said it was probably a Pnched Nerve in my Spine at the Neck (and even told me which vertebrae it likely was).

He told me that if it only happened ocassionally and was position related, to just change position. If it becomes chronic and a nuisance, surgery may be needed to remove 'growths?' on the spine.

Bottom Line: Talk to your Doc about the problem (and report back to us with more complete details than I recall from my brief conversation with a Doc).

'AL Capshaw'

 

[hensylee]

last night daughter mentioned to me that she has numbness in her foot/toes and she had dedeuced that she has pinched a nerve maybe in her neck because she has been doing exercises this week at the Y - on her lunch hour. our bodies can get thrown off kilter by many things and often we don't know it and can't find out where the real beginner/culprit of the numbness starts.