That Was Kinda Scary...

[tipper]

It's not scary until you actually wake up with blood trickling down your forehead.

Stupid bedside table.

I'd follow everyone's advice and just sleep in a different position.

 

[Widman2013]

this kind of crap happens to me all the time. i wake up with the feeling i dont have an arm, so i close my fist and like SKG said its like all pins and needles...so i just go wash my hand in cold water and it makes the blood rush there and get feeling again.

 

[hollywood]

MacAttack,
This happens to everyone at some pont, and most of the time you will wake yourself up before serious damage is done. However, it is possible to permanantly damage some of the nerves in the arm this way. It almost always happens after a drinking party, or any other instance where someone is put into a deep sleep that is harder to wake from, (strong sleeping pills, passing out, etc.). This is sometimes referred to as a "Saturday Night Palsy", because on Sunday mornings you will tend to see people coming into the ER with this condition after a Saturday night binge.

Take home message: Be careful about sleeping with your head on your arm, especially in any of the above scenarios.

 

[TexasAggie2011]

that always happens if i sleep on my side for some reason. it is a really odd feeling though when you wake up, goto pull the covers off, and realize one of your limbs appears to be missing/paralyzed.

doesn't really bother me though. and hollywood, i've actually never had that happen after a good night at the bars. i've had alot of other weird stuff happen that morning after, but never the arm that refuses to wake up when you do.

 

[hollywood]

that always happens if i sleep on my side for some reason. it is a really odd feeling though when you wake up, goto pull the covers off, and realize one of your limbs appears to be missing/paralyzed.

doesn't really bother me though. and hollywood, i've actually never had that happen after a good night at the bars. i've had alot of other weird stuff happen that morning after, but never the arm that refuses to wake up when you do.

It has never happened to me after a party either either, thankfully. When it DOES happen to someone, its usually in the scenario I mentioned. It's not a very common occurance, but it's common enough that we have a name for it. I had this one guy that came into my ER who had taken strong sleeping pills and his body couldn't wake him up when his arm went numb. He ended up losing his radial nerve from the elbow down, and couldn't extend his thumb, index, and middle fingers. Unfortunately nerves regenerate at the rate of 1mm a year, and there's alot of millimeters between the elbow and the fingertips.

Here's a good source of info:
http://www.ncemi.org/cse/cse0919.htm

I don't think anyone who has posted here really has much to worry about, but Macattack asked it was possible to do permenant damage. And the answer is yes, it is possible, but it's uncommon.

 

[odst26]

i hate how that feels cause i sleep the same way

 

[TexasAggie2011]

It has never happened to me after a party either either, thankfully. When it DOES happen to someone, its usually in the scenario I mentioned. It's not a very common occurance, but it's common enough that we have a name for it. I had this one guy that came into my ER who had taken strong sleeping pills and his body couldn't wake him up when his arm went numb. He ended up losing his radial nerve from the elbow down, and couldn't extend his thumb, index, and middle fingers. Unfortunately nerves regenerate at the rate of 1mm a year, and there's alot of millimeters between the elbow and the fingertips.

Here's a good source of info:
http://www.ncemi.org/cse/cse0919.htm

I don't think anyone who has posted here really has much to worry about, but Macattack asked it was possible to do permenant damage. And the answer is yes, it is possible, but it's uncommon.

makes perfect sense. it'd be like tying a tourniquet around a limb and then just leaving it sit there wouldn't it?

 

[TurkeyAssassin]

ok this is what happens. sometimes if you have a really stressful day you cant sleep and this causes illusionations. and when this happens you are pretty much in a short coma and you can think but you cant move because your muscles are still asleep. it happened to me when i was 6 and i cried. and also one way i learned to get rid of that is by squinting your eyes a hard as you can and it will stop

hope this helps

 

[xli0nheart]

Turkeyassassin, you're speaking of a different kind of sleep disorder, called sleep paralysis.

mac isnt talking about that, hes just talking about some sort of major loss of circulation in his arm.

sleep paralysis is something very very different.

 

[Sean Bradley]

My phantom limb fell asleep once... that was scary!

I couldn't feel it at all.

 

[808armor]

....Happpens to me all the time. I have to roll to one side so my whole arm will follow and flop over till the blood returns. Once I moved, and my arm flopped right in my wifes face as she was sleeping. She didnt like it but understood what happenned. I felt really bad...
It doesnt happen to me all the time, but it does happen.........

Eric

 

[Macattack64]

Thankfully I haven't had it happen but during that one week it happened almost 3 times... :\

Thats why it worried me...

 

[dung0beetle]

2 words... d u c t t a p e