Originally Posted by
taai gihk yahn
from a GENERAL perspective, not having taken a thorough history or examined u, what u report suggests that there is something about the way that u position urself when sleeping somewhere from ur neck down to ur hands is creating entrapment / compression - it could b local at the wrist, but it also could b up at the cervicals, creating nerve root compression;
the distribution suggests something along the path of ulnar nerve, but again, the entrapment / compression could be further up, or at multiple levels;
the fact that u get tingling when holding ur arms straight out in front and doing circle could suggest restriction at the level of the thoracic outlet (junction of cervical and thoracic spine and then out to the side a bit, in the groove behind the clavicle)
I would suggest getting thoroughly evaluated by someone GOOD; for example, one option is to go find a GOOD manually oriented PT who can do neural tension testing and neural glide treatment (a la David Butler); of course, a GOOD chiro, osteo, acupuncturist, etc. could treat u out of their own paradigm with excellent results as well, but NTT is very specific to the nerve as well as the location of the compression, so it's a useful tool in ur case; in theory, a GOOD neurologist / physiatrist can give u an accurate diagnosis as well (notice emphasis on the word "GOOD"; unfortunately, as Fa Xing points out, a lot of MD's r less than helpful w this sort of thing; of course, a lot of PT's, chrios and osteos su(k as well - unfortunately, mediocrity is not profession specific...)
if it's sleep related, that can b tricky to work with - I do things w my patients to address that, but it's very individualized, and requires a lot of analysis (we try to recreate their sleeping position, which involves something almost like a guided imagery process where u have to get them to spontaneously assume their sleeping postures);
lastly - is it one side or bilateral? either way, u shud get it evaluated, but if it's bilateral, u shud go c a neurologist or physiatrist ASAP, as bilateral stuff can b spinal cord related (it doesn't have to b, but if it is, u want to know that);