Hand numbness while in bed

[sr71blackbird]

Hand numbness while in bed.

Dr Steve, this has been happeneing to me for a few months: I will be lying in bed on my back, checking my text messages, posting from my iPod or Blackberry or just laying down with my arms above heart level and my hands will go painfully numb. It starts within a few moments of holding the device at chest level. I will need to put my arms down and lay with my hands on the bed eith my arms below heart level for a while before the sensation goes away and the pain let's up, but the problem resumes as before if I get back into the starting position. I suspect it is a bad sign, but wonder what causes it and how I can make it stop. I'm overweight and 44 and have mild hypertension. It happens even during sleep and the pain awakens me and I sometimes lat my arm hang over the side of the bed to let blood saturate my arm to make it stop. Thanks!

[Dr Steve]

Hand numbness while in bed.

Dr Steve, this has been happeneing to me for a few months: I will be lying in bed on my back, checking my text messages, posting from my iPod or Blackberry or just laying down with my arms above heart level and my hands will go painfully numb. It starts within a few moments of holding the device at chest level. I will need to put my arms down and lay with my hands on the bed eith my arms below heart level for a while before the sensation goes away and the pain let's up, but the problem resumes as before if I get back into the starting position. I suspect it is a bad sign, but wonder what causes it and how I can make it stop. I'm overweight and 44 and have mild hypertension. It happens even during sleep and the pain awakens me and I sometimes lat my arm hang over the side of the bed to let blood saturate my arm to make it stop. Thanks!


Numbness in the hands can be caused by a variety of things. If you cut off the blood supply to the hand, it will go numb. When the feeling comes back, you'll get the "pins and needles" feeling as the nerves reinvigorate, and eventually feeling will return normally. Being overweight can put some pressure on the arteries at the creases (elbows, armpits) and may contribute to this, but that usually doesn't really pan out when you do the workup.

There is a thing called "thoracic outlet syndrome" that can cause numbness and pain in the arm due to compression of the artery that runs to the arm from the armpit.

I used to think this was a circulatory problem but every patient I ever sent for a workup for this exact complaint came back with a diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome. This is a problem where the nerve to the hand is compressed at the wrist causing numbness and tingling. A simple surgical procedure can fix this if necessary.

How do you dope all this stuff out? Go see your doctor/PA/NP or whatever and talk to them about it. A few tests (all of them costly, except for the initial physical exam) will usually give the result.

Let me know what they find!

your pal,



steve

[Dude!]

now doctor,
what can you recommend
for his brain numbness?

[WampusCrandle]

Every teen boy knows it's great to wake up with a numb hand and morning wood.

[Chigworthy]

Correct me if I'm wrong "Doctor", but couldn't it be caused by some injury to the discs in the neck being aggravated by the unique neck position he has while texting and whatnot? If I'm right, Dr. Steve, you just got a healthy dose of Face!