Spondylitis Association of America Forums General Discussion General Message Board for Ankylosing Spondylitis and Related Diseases numbness

woke up in the middle of the night with my right pinky and ring finger completely numb. i was laying on my back, hands stretched out and not pinned in anyway that would cause a cut off of circulation.

i shook them, massaged them, trying to get them 'awake' and nothing worked. i was so sleepy i fell back asleep. but woke up a little later still with the numbness. tried the same stuff, nothing.

woke a third time, same again. but finally with some massaging, was able to get them to come to.

so weird. my inflammation in my elbow and wrist has been bad the last few days, maybe it crowded some of my nerves?

Rheumy appt next week. will be sure to bring it up. its not the only time something like this has happened.

thoughts?

Hate to say it, but it may be a side effect of the Humira.

Could be compression of the ulnar nerve. The ulnar nerve runs all the way down your arm, around your elbow and controls feeling in your pinky and ring fingers. It's the "funny bone" nerve that tingles if you hit your elbow.

I have ulnar nerve problems. I sleep with a microbead pillow under my right elbow to prevent pressure. I don't usually get the finger numbness, I get pain in the elbow and wrist and sometimes my whole forearm will ache.

You can get compression at the elbow or at the wrist. I also have problems just leaning against a table, propping on my elbow, or leaning on a chair armrest. All of those things put pressure on the ulnar nerve where it travels from elbow to wrist.

When I get that buzzy numbness down my hands or arms, it is almost always from my neck. Adjust my pillows and stretch, and it goes away.

rheumy prescribed a Medrol pak. thinking its either ulnar nerve compression at my elbow (as Ginny suggested) or my wrist. he said if the prednisone doesn't help, he might do a shot in my elbow or wrist.

i had the same thing happen with my fingers and hand last night, just not as bad.

cemc, i am also wondering if it might be my neck. my traps are super inflamed lately, so it is very possible.

i really hate even taking prednisone. so far every time i have taken a Medrol pak, it has done nothing. i think i need higher doses to do anything, but so far my Rheumy hasn't been willing to prescribe anything higher. (not that i would love the possible side effects with a higher dose anyway, so i haven't pressed the issue.)

CTPE, i asked my Humira advocate about it too and she said she had only heard of that side effect from RA patients and whether i had been tested for RA. sigh, turns out, no, i haven't had my rheumatoid factor tested, so i will be adding that to the list to talk to my Rheumy about when i go to next weeks appt.

How is it Now? Just had that happen to me two nights ago, I found on one of the forums that if you lean on the elbow it can be part of the problem. I remembered that that day I was leaning on that elbow while watching football on my phone, so it could be something to watch out for.

i recently saw the Rheumy and my shoulder and traps were so bad, he did a steroid shot in my one shoulder--which has helped tremendously.

i also started wearing a wrist and elbow brace when i sleep to avoid bending those joints and causing compression in my sleep. that approach has been hit or miss though.

Google "arm dermatomes" - I think you will find that the pinky and ring finger relate to C8 (cervical nerve), so I'd say its highly likely its coming from your neck. I tend to get problems with the C7 nerve, and its very often at night, and always related to my neck not being in quite the right position. Solution is to adjust my pillows. If you are lying on your back, you really don't need much in the way of a pillow at all. I would just have one of those microbead squishy travel pillows under the curve of my neck and that is enough. Anything higher than that puts my neck into a position where it kinks a nerve and I get numb fingers.

I had a lot of numbness and first was told is nothing and a nerve study was normal a year ago. Now it was sever denervations in hands. I was told my ulnar nerve enpinched, carpal tunnel, and the de Quervain syndrome. I was told bc inflamatory tisshues choking nerves. Now same on my rigth hand