Loss of circulation/tingling in arms and hands when sleeping

[Tortoiseonthehalfshell]

I have never come across this before, but I keep losing feeling in my hands when I'm asleep and waking up to tingling/pins and needles. I'm not sleeping on them or anything obvious, it can be the uppermost arm if I'm sleeping on my side.

Any ideas?

Could be carpel tunnel - apparently it's very common in pregnancy. Do you have any pain with it? Might be worth speaking to your gp/midwife.

How many weeks are you Tortoise?

I had this a lot during my first pregnancy and I ended up developing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome at around 34 weeks which lasted until after the birth. Not the worst pregnancy symptom to get, but not very nice either. If it does develop into that you'll know because your hands and fingers will swell up and become numb. You can buy wrist splints from Boots which help, but I wouldn't bother if it's just pins and needles. It occurs in the hand and lower arm though rather than upper arm.

Are you sleeping with your hands and forearms pointing upwards? I sometimes get pins and needles from doing that if I'm sleeping on my back, once I put my arms down it disappears again.

How pregnant are you, and what side do you sleep on? It's advised to sleep on your left side to reduce the constriction you uterus puts on your aterries/vessles. This obviously gets worse as pg develops. Could be one answer...

I had nerve damage in one of my arms, and waking up wiht pins and needles, along with the arm feeling heavy/tired were the only obvious signs I had. I did used to prefer to sleep on that side however, and this wasn't making it worse, wasn't the cause, but was just irritating the injury. Resting the arm has bascially stopped it.

Make an appointment with your GP....if it is something like missree suggests it can hider things like nappy changing - and you don't want that, do you!

Sounds like it could be carpal tunnel, but also make sure that you ate well hydrated before you go to bed, I got badly dehydrated with a stomach bug earlier in my pregnancy, and my arms and legs went tingly and numb for a while, and now I have to drink loads or it happens again

Hey, thanks all, I'll try the hydration and try and remember to ask my midwife next time I see her. I sleep on either side - as in, I change during the night, but mostly on my left. It's always the upper arm/hand that gets the tingling, so sometimes I switch sides just to alleviate it.

I did used to get carpal tunnel when I had a job as a typist, so that's interesting. I'm 28 weeks now. Will keep an eye on it, anyway.

I developed carpel tunnel at roundabout the same time. I would recommend you get referred for physio rather than just buying splints over the counter. It can be mild or get really unpleasant as mine was. I landed up being booked off work for the last 2 weeks before maternity leave started because of how horrible it was.

Then again as scarlettfingernail says it may not develop much more than what you have at the moment. Mine disappeard within hours of giving birth.

Hope you get it sorted - I would recommend you get it looked at sooner rather than later to prevent it getting much worse.

Also I know this sounds weird but when I went to my osteo and mentioned numbness in my hand at night, she worked on my shoulder joint and found stiffness there affecting the nerve. So one other thing you could try which wouldn't hurt and is easy enough, is some shoulder stretches/ loosening exercises/ massage at night. And generally waggling the arm around to get things flowing.

Won't solve full blown carpal tunnel obviously but has helped me so far.

hi there,

not read all the posts - but as some of the ladies say - it's carpel tunnel. I am 30wks now and have had it for the last three. I was told apart from splints there's nothing you can do about it and that it's a temporary thing but will probably have it for the rest of the pregnancy.

I now sleep (on my left side)with extra pillows beside my arms and try to sleep with them raised -this has helped me. Slowly but surely my DH is getting pushed out of the bed with all the extra pillows!!