We've all done it. We wake up and we feel this very cold hand on our nice warm body. The problem is, we were sleeping alone! Who does this cold hand belong to? We stifle a scream while thoughts of a Zombie Apocalypse race through our brains. Wait a minute! That's my hand, and my arm, and I can't move it.

I wake up with my arms numb a lot. In fact the picture you see just to the left of this narrative is my arm from this morning. Did you notice the pillow lines that are traced deep into my soft and supple skin?

This got me to thinking, is this dangerous? I don't believe cutting the blood flow to a limb is ever going to be counted among the good things we can do but is there a possibility of greater damage? Or is the fact that this happens so often the sign of a bigger issue in the way that I am sleeping?

The people who populate the website MDHealth.com had some answers and in my case a lot of them made sense. I have already been diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome and I have the ulnar nerve issues too. The problem is so bad with me that I can barely grip a pencil to write my name. My doctor said that it's a factor of years of writing with that bend in your wrist all the way around left handed style that you see so many southpaws use in this right handed world.

The website listed several other even more ominous causes for this particular malady including strokes. I did not know that most strokes occur at night. It is certainly something to consider if you notice this condition in your own arms and the other causes don't seem to apply. The body has this really cool early warning system built in, it's up to us to recognize the signs.

Just for transparency and to be clear with you, I am a disc jockey not a doctor. Don't base your  health care decisions on me, please. If you have this condition or are concerned about this kind of condition please see your doctor. You know the person that invested all of those years in medical training, they will have a much better answer for you than I will. I just wanted to get the conversation started.

 

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