Hands Going Numb While Sleeping: Could This Also be Sjogren's?

[CMNK12]

HMMM. My whole arm goes to sleep at night and it does not matter the position it is in when it wants to do that. It is totally asleep and feels like it does not belong to me. Also my legs will bother me.... they have spasms so bad that my muscles are actually sore the next day.
My legs can feel like a bp cuff is up on them cutting the blood supply off at times too? Strange. My legs will then feel weak during the day and my arm.
  This is not all the time, just a flare up I guess. No rhyme or reason to it. Just something I have learned to hate at night when it comes. Does this sound familiar??

[Luna]

When I sleep on my bad side (Left) I have problems with this. I have my shoulder stretched out several time per year.

 Dear Joe, my left side is my bad side too. Why is this?  What is it about the left side?

Luna

[Belsey1]

This happens to me a lot and it seems to be happening more and more.  My son told me to sleep hugging a pillow.  I don't know why, but it does seem to help at least until I drop the pillow in my sleep.

[irish]

The bottom line is that carpal tunnal is very common in people with sjogrens because of the inflammation of the tendons. I had the pinky finger pain also with my carpal tunnal. The carpal tunnal doesn't just affect the thumb.

There is a sheath in the wrist that contains all the nerves and the doc cuts it to relieve the pressure. When I had that done the pain in all my fingers left as did the pain in my shoulder into my back. It is very weird the way this spreads so but remember that nerves are very interesting tissue. They are big gossips and can spread a lot of pain---just like bad news. Irish

[mambo]

Irish, CTS usually affects your thumb, index and ring fingers, not your pinky.  That's confirmed in my diagnosis and my acquaintances who used to do heavy data entry or word processing back in the 90s.  That's also the opinion of two neurologists that I saw:  I have no pain in my pinky, only the first 3 fingers. 

It's very possible that the inflamed tendons caused by Sjogren's and other connective tissue autoimmune conditions can instigate the numbness at night.  In fact, that is the most sensible answer to the numbness problem at night, as I've heard from those who don't have Sjogren's but RA who report numbness at night.  The symptoms are identical: numbness of both hands, not just one hand, and down the elbow in some.  Mine is half way down the elbow.  These are caused by autoimmune conditions. 

Why am I so certain?  Because for the last 2 weeks, I've been on LDN therapy and my numbness is gone.  I even tried to instigate it by sleeping on my stomach and intentionally bending my elbows and wrist.  Nothing.  I no longer have numbness ever since I started my LDN therapy at a very low dose of 0.5mg.  I still have other symptoms and some symptoms have gotten worse.  So LDN may not be a solution for everything Sjogren's.  But one thing LDN did address was the numbness.  For 2 years prior to this, my hands went numb.  Now, at a very tiny LDN dose, I'm numbness-free.  What do I make of it?  Hand numbness has nothing to do with CTS; it has to do with autoimmunity and Sjogren's.

The bottom line is that carpal tunnal is very common in people with sjogrens because of the inflammation of the tendons. I had the pinky finger pain also with my carpal tunnal. The carpal tunnal doesn't just affect the thumb.

There is a sheath in the wrist that contains all the nerves and the doc cuts it to relieve the pressure. When I had that done the pain in all my fingers left as did the pain in my shoulder into my back. It is very weird the way this spreads so but remember that nerves are very interesting tissue. They are big gossips and can spread a lot of pain---just like bad news. Irish

[Friedbrain]

Fwiw, cortisol, which has anti-inflammatory properties, is lowest in the evening and at night.  This may have something to do with increased inflammation.  I know for me, my symptoms are always worse in the evening/at night (and the few times I risked increasing my cortef-supplemental steroids I am on for adrenal insufficiency (AI)-because I was so achy, it helped).  Now that I have an endo who's pushing for me to try to wean off the cortef to see if I still need it for AI, my other docs want me to start up a specific med to prevent/address inflammation.  (which is why I'm now here....finally starting to address the autoimmune component of my problems head on)

[irish]

mambo, I am not going to start world war 3 over this, but after living to soon ag 70 years and working about 40 years as a Registered nurse I can offer the very real experience that anything can and does happen. I had CTS and nerve pain that was relieved by the surgery. That happened to me and it was real. Haven't had it again since the surgery.

The medical world doesn't go by the book. I had one doc tell me that if it did he wouldn't have any patients. Thanks. Irish

[shellthebell]

My arms fall asleep sometimes at night. I wake up and cannot even use them, they just flop around.  But weirdly they "wake up" after awhile without getting pins and needles (unlike when I sit on my foot and it falls asleep). I have other weird nerve issues caused by the Sjogren's, so who knows... All the symptoms that can be caused by autoimmune issues boggle my brain. 

[Joe S.]

@Luna, for me it relates back to an auto accident in 1983 with severe neck injury. The muscles still respond with a splinting action that limits blood flow to the right hemisphere of my brain. It can trigger TIA's. The accident terminated energy flow through the outer meridian of my left side. Energy flow was restarted when my old chiro electrically retriggered the meridian. I have had trouble with my left side  since the accident in 1983.

[Violet4]

I had this problem too!  Then a rheum discovered that I have a B-12 deficiency.  My GI dr switched me to B-12 injections instead of the pills.  Once I started getting the B-12 injections, no more pain and numbness in my hands, wrists, arms.  All the carpal tunnel type symptoms are gone.  Now that my levels are up a bit, I get one injection a month.  I have a friend who is a nurse and she does it for me.  The little vial of B-12 is under $3.  I can always tell if I'm a little late for that month's injection because I start to have those same kinds of symptoms.

[meow]

One of my earliest symptoms was hands tingling in the morning... the plaquenil helped with that. Then when they began hurting instead, the MTX took care of it.
So, yeah. definitely a possibility.

[mambo]

With supplementation, my B12 went from 550 to 1,600.  My symptoms did not alleviate after increasing my B12.  What I can tell you though is that when I do lapse and do not control my blood sugar, the neuropathy seems to pack an extra punch.  If my BG goes over 200, I can immediately feel it.  Usually, stinging sensations in my feet but then the neuropathy of my fingers.

I had this problem too!  Then a rheum discovered that I have a B-12 deficiency.  My GI dr switched me to B-12 injections instead of the pills. 

[Tash]

My hands also go numb when I sleep at night, I often wake with pins and needles in them and have to shake them out.  The other morning my one wrist was so limp I couldn't make it move and that gave me a big fright.  My hands and feet tingle quite a bit, all through the day.

[grammad97]

My doc just started me on a month of prednisone.  40mg a day for a week with a titrate down each week of 10mg. Mg neuropathy has gone away since the first dose on Thursday of this week.

[Rachel F.]

My hands and up to elbow become prickly while I am sleeping duirng a flare.
Either side.