Hand Asleep

[ewallace]

This has happened to me before, and I had to be shot up with steroids. What happens is that I lean on my left arm around the "funnybone" for an extended period of time. It makes the bottom of my left hand, starting from the tip of the pinky finger, almost numb. It feels like it is "asleep". This will last for many days to a couple of weeks.

Does anyone know of a remedy for this outside of a shot of cortisone? It's really annoying and I don't want to pay to see two doctors.

[ewallace]

I don't think so. Ever hit your "funny bone" on something? It feels like that only it doesn't go away. I am 100% positive that it is a result of leaning on a certain spot on my arm. My doctor seconded that opinion and the specialist that shot me up with cortisone confirmed it as well.

[ewallace]

I only had it done once. It was about 3 years ago.

[Cody]

Sitting here and trying to figure this out. First thought was a localized nerve problem resulting from an old injury. That flag is still flying. After reading your second post, I burst out laughing and wondered if you leaning on a strike area which is used to immobilize or numb. I know they exist in the elbow area, but am not knowledgable enough to know precisely if you are doing this.
Have the docs looked into exactly where the problem is, even trying to replicate it in the office? I think you need to find out what is going on here, but I guess you are at that point.
A fine Chinese medical practitioner might be able to do just that.

my two cents.

wishing you well,
Cody

[PLCrane]

Try ice next time, instead of cortisone. Besides depressing the immune system, cortisone causes a breakdown of the connective tissues around that joint, making it easier to injure the joint.

What guohen says makes sense. Pressure anywhere along a nerve makes it more susceptible to the effects of pressure in other places along the nerve. So a neck problem could make an elbow problem worse, or vice versa.

I had the same problem with my elbow for awhile, but I know what caused mine - a mishap with a nine-link steel whip. Wish I could hit that precisely when I intend to. For several months, I couldn't even let my elbow rest against the seatback when I was driving. It's still a little sensitive there, and I guess there's some scar tissue. I put jow on it and did transverse friction massage to break up the scar tissue. Not fun on a nerve, let me tell you. Good luck.

[ewallace]

Outstanding advice from everyone and it's greatly appreciated.

PLCrane: Are you saying to treat the nerve area with ice or the hand, which is where most of the numbness is?

TIA,
Eric

[PLCrane]

If the numbness is coming on after leaning on the elbow, then the source of the problem is irritation, inflammation and swelling at the elbow. Cortisone works by reducing inflammation. So does ice. Ice your funny bone (S.I. 8 if you refer to an acupuncture chart).

Use one of those blue gel packs or a ziplock bag with ice cubes and some water, to keep it at exactly 32F, so you don't freeze your skin.

I think that seeing someone like a TCM practitioner, or a DC or a PT is a good idea. There might be trigger points in the area of the elbow and the shoulder that are contributing to it.

[ewallace]

Ok thanks a bunch. I'll try the ice for a few days first. The key term here is "free".

[TaoBoy]

Definitely *sounds* like an irritated nerve in the elbow. PLC has the right idea. Definitely visit a TCM doc. They can work wonders with this kinda stuff.

[IronFist]

I dunno, but sometimes when I wake up my arms are asleep to the point of numbness where I can't move them. It's kind of funny, but annoying at the same time.

Dude, if my hand felt asleep and it lasted for a week I would flip out. Also, I would go to the doctor :)

IronFist

[TaoBoy]

I once woke up with my right arm completely asleep. I do mean completely. I couldn't feel a thing. In my daze I rolled over and my dead arm hit me in the head. I looked around for the culprit because there was no feedback through my arm. Scary stuff. It just hang there for a good 5-10 minutes. Couldn't move it. Poked it. Nothing. Gave me this quasi-understanding of paraplegia. Felt terrible.

[inic]

happened to me today. feel asleep on my hand and when i woke, felt like i had no hand. couldnt move the fingers or anything. have to move it manually with my other hand. definetlly funny, scary, and a shocker all at once

[Serpent]

There was a girl (in the UK I think) that fell asleep on a train with her hands between her legs (keep it out of the gutter you lot!) She slept that way for several hours and when she woke her hand was completely asleep. Anyway, long story short, she ended up having fingers amputated because they'd "died" from lack of blood! Scary!

[IronFist]

****... I was thinking about that last semester, though... like what if you fell asleep in a chair with your armpit pessed against the back of the chair (like your arm hanging over it) and you woke up hours later and all the blood had been cut off and you had to get your arm amputated.

I guess it can happen. Scary...

IronFist

[l@zylee]

about two months ago i woke up and my arm was a sleep, this has happened many times b 4 but usually the feeling would return quite quickly, if i touch my lower arm it feels like someone else is touching it, I have always had full use of it as normal it was never completley asleep it just feels like someone elses when it is touched,the feeling is coming back very very slowly, at first my whole arm felt that way now its just the lower arm the doctor said it is probably a trapped nerve, Im goin back to the docs next week maybe he can refer me to a specialist........

if anyone has had a similar problem plase let me know

[ewallace]

It's been about a week now. This is my 3rd day of icing it. I'll give it about another week and if it's not better I'll go to see the doc. Only my left pinky finger is totally numb. The edge of the hand is too. It really is a pain in the ass to type, which ain't cool when you have to bang out code all day.

[guohuen]

If it turns out to be carpal tunnel, don't let them cut.

[ewallace]

Nope not carpel. I still have use of my middle finger if they want to cut.

I actually have found the sweet spot. If I press on it the numbness gets a lot worse.

[awakenwired]

I'm kind of a computer geek. I used to spend ALOT of time in front of the computer. And I used to get that quite alot. Same hand too. I'd place my elbow near the corner of the desk with my head in my hand waiting for the download Lol. Sure enough it finally resulted in numbness in the pinky and that side of the hand. It was scary at first, not knowing what it was. I finally discounted it as a pinched nerve and it went away on it's own after a couple weeks.

My brother had the same problem, a bit more severe the numbness encompassed 50% of his hand. It was beginning to effect his work. It too passed with time on it's own.

[woodsnake]

Hey e-wallace - my wife just recently had this problem. 8 years (yipes!) of having her right arm constantly "asleep". Constant tingling and little to no ability to feel pressure, heat, or pain.

She went to a number of doctors in our previous HMO (worthless a******s), and was advised that it was tennis elbow or the beginnings of carpal tunnel. All baloney!

Last month she went to our new family doctor who was simply feeling her lymph nodes and felt a bundle of nerves in her shoulder. He manipulated her shoulder and she felt/heard a "pop" . She then IMMEDIATELY felt her arm come back to normal.

Before you go for drugs, try that route. Don't know if a chyropractor would be good (I've never gone to them) - but it sounds as if this is very similar to her situation.

Good luck - I understand how frustrating it is.

[CrushingFist]

ok i read your second post and i think thats all i need to read..if the doctors said it's from leaning on a certain spot on ur arm, why don't you just stop leaning on your arm in the first place and you wont have that problem? i know it's a pain in the as.s to have to switch arms to lean on but, it beats getting a numb arm.

[ewallace]

It's kind of a subconcious thing. It happens while driving and at work. I'll correct it when I noctice it but it's such a natural thing to do for me.

I'm not really sure if it's getting better or if I'm just getting used to it. I am hoping it just goes away. It's not my whole hand just the bottom edge and the pinky are pretty numb. If it's still like this after I get back from vacation I'll consider having it looked at.

Thanks to all for the input.

- EW

[12345]

What is carpal tunnel syndrome and how treatable is it - just wondering because I have read it can be brought on by cycling and I do quite a lot.

If your hand goes dead using a computer mouse try a track ball mouse. I found this worked for me when I was doing a lot of work on the PC.

DIfferent topic but I didn't want to start another thread. Our gym has a number of *records* on the wall where you see how fast you can row a certain distance, do so many steps etc etc and they note it and put it on the wall chart with your name and age - just lets you see how you match up with other people.

The other week I had a go at rowing 1000 metres, not a machine I often use but I thought I'd have a go (took 3min 30 btw). Anyway at the end of it apart from being half dead my toes were really painful for about 5 minutes - what is that about? I thought maybe lack of blood or something? Never ever experienced this before.

[dwid]

A friend of mine knows a girl who took a lot of prescription pain pills, but not enough to OD. Anyway, she fell asleep in a really weird position and slept that way for hours. They had to amputate one of her legs, and she's all messed up in other ways as a result.

[ewallace]

I use a right handed mouse and my left arm is the one that is effected. The first time this happend it was mainly from leaning on it while driving. Which is really strange since I had a manual transmission. Must have been all those highway miles when I got too comfortable.

[neptunesfall]

I lean on my left arm around the "funnybone" for an extended period of time.

stop leaning on your elbow.:D

[Repulsive Monkey]

Or from a TCM angle it seems like there a blood deficiency in the Small Intestine channel that runs down the arm into the little finger. Stagnation in the form of pressure on the channel causes Qi and probably blood stagnation. If the Qi of the SI channel is weak then it may fail to propel navigate a substantial, or any, degree of blood along that side of the arm hence the numbness and temporary paralysis on that side of the arm.