I keep sleeping on my arm, and wake up with it completely numb.

[moonyham]

Hi,

I consistently sleep on my arm every night and wake up with it completely numb and unmovable. I cant feel it at all, and i cant move it at all.

For the last.. couple of weeks, maybe over a month, this has been happening. And its happening more and more, like i will do it multiple times a night sometimes. Ill wake up, move it so it can regain feeling(which is very uncomfortable.. its an intense tingling) and then fall back asleep and then wake up later on and have the same problem.

I am not so concerned if it isnt causing long term damage but i have a feeling that it probably is. Like, its easier to happen the more times i do it or something? Im really not sure, but it very much so concerns me.

Does anyone know if this is causing perm damage? And does anyone know of someway i can stop myself doing this? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

note: Most of the information i find on google is peoples arms becoming 'mostly' numb, but they can still move it. My arm goes *completely* numb, and cold.

 

[artaxerxes]

I suffered from this when I was doing a fair amount of opiates, xanax, and seroquel to sleep. One night I fucked up and drank too much on top of all I was taking… went to bed. Woke up with my right arm paralyzed. I could barely move my fingers… just the pinky finger.

Scared the shit out of me (I need small motor-coordination to make my living) and I went to the doc. Compressed radial nerve. Apparently I had slept deeply without moving and I had compressed the radial nerve in my right arm. The doctor I saw was my regular spine doc, so I didn't have to go through any bullshit about it. Actually, his quote was, " E--, what are we going to do with you?"

Apparently, compression of the radial nerve, resulting in paralysis, is often labeled "Saturday Night Palsy," and it is not uncommon at all. Basically, SNP manifests in people who get really fucked up and sleep on their arm for hours, while their nerves and brain are ignoring signals from the arm to "Wake up, goddamnit."

I did a lot of research on it, and you can search on the guitarist from Megadeath if you want to find out more. He was seriously fucked up behind this shit. Junkie who fell out hard with his arm over the back of a chair.

Sleep on your back is the only advice I can recommend. Or cut down your dosages of things that will totally knock you out.

It was not a good experience. It cost me a lot to see the doctor (repeatedly), but the fear of my livelihood scared me so much that I don't use the dosages that I used to. And if I feel that I'm too high on opiates and too sedated (with other meds), I will stay awake or put off sleep then sleep on my back.

Aside my big episode I've related, I've experienced this effect in lesser degrees with hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine IR and dilaudid. So be safe.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

And does anyone know of someway i can stop myself doing this?

When I take temazepam I pass out on my back and don't roll over at all, it's like a constant sleep paralysis. But it's probably something you shouldn't do every night...so... hm...

You could sleep next to pillows, or find a person to sleep next to so you don't roll over on them LOL. That's my best guess, really.

 

[moonyham]

Unfortunately i dont get fucked up on anything. So its not a case of simply being able to cut a drug out of my diet as i dont do any drugs besides a bit of weed now and then.

I may see my GP about this and see what he says and if theres anything he suggest or prescribe. Ive never been able to sleep on my back so thats not really possible for me. Ive always slept on my side and sleeping on my back(or trying to) is just so uncomfortable that i cant fall asleep.

 

[jamesmartin]

I get what OP has .

I find it's the most comfortable sleeping position for me which I why I do it .

But it's always with my right arm for some reason .

I often wake up in the middle of the night with this searing pain in my shoulder socket . I cannot move my arm at all and it almost feels like it has been dislocated . To stop the feeling I have to massage my right arm until
it feels normal again and I can move .