Guest wrote:DreamDiver wrote:Sometimes, sleeping on my back, my pinkies and ring-fingers get numb on both hands. I'll switch to sleeping on my side, or sometimes in the middle of the night find myself with both arms up above my head on the pillows in an unconscious effort to stop the numbness. Anyone else have this happen?
Do you still have this issue or was it diagnosed?
I have been using CPAP for about 7 months, heavy computer user same stptoms Pinky and index finger on both hands are numb when I wake, takes awhile to come back.
This has, amazingly, resolved for the most part. There may be an ulnar component, but first and foremost for me, it seems to have begun with the gut. The below may be too much information, but maybe it will help someone.
My doc put me on this protocol:
Vitacost's 'Multi Digestive Enzymes with Pancreatin 10x' *
---- 4 caps, 2 times daily, an hour before breakfast and two or more hours after dinner,
'Integrative Therapeutics Pro-flora Concentrate'
---- 2 pearls per day, one at a time an hour before or two hours after food for the first month
---- 1 per per day thereafter
'Integrative Therapeutics Pro-Flora Immune' (with lactoferrin)
---- 1 pill per day an hour before or two hours after food for the first two months, then stop.
I know this all seems counter-intuitive, but consider:
According to my doctor, many of the aches/pains that are associated with fibromyalgia-like symptoms** arise from an imbalance in neurotransmitters -
most of which are created in the gut. If the gut is compromised, neurotransmitter production gets out of whack. He said that I could try the expensive prescription drugs that are used to treat fibro pain and get labeled as a fibro patient, or I could try a less brutal, less expensive method by attempting to heal the gut with supportive enzymes and probiotics. If it didn't work, I would be out a few bucks for the supplements, but I wouldn't have 'fibro' stamped on my insurance anywhere***. I figured it couldn't hurt, so I tried it. I'm surprised to find it worked.
Consequently, my AHI has risen .6 points from .6 to 1.2 on average because I'm actually getting a few moments of deeper sleep. At least that's my theory. Fortunately, AHI duration has remained for the most part around 12 seconds on average using this doctor's suggestions.
On my own, I tried taking gaba for a while as well, and then passion flower instead (which helps the body produce gaba naturally). However these only succeeded in making my sleep deeper with
longer duration AHI's, going from an average of 12 seconds per AHI to 20 seconds per AHI. It also almost doubled my AHI (2.9). I figured I shouldn't take gaba or passion flower for
my own particular instance because of it's detrimental effect on my O2 saturation. It also makes me wonder about whether the gaba could be manifesting
actual centrals instead of clear air-way apneas. For those who have gaba deficiency but
no problem with clear-airway apneas or central apneas, gaba may be beneficial. Not for me.
So yes, the numbness and tingling in my extremities has all but disappeared. I also feel a bit more clear-headed during the day, but still have headaches upon waking many mornings. It's still not all poppies and roses, but this 'alternative' protocol has worked better for me than other 'standard' methodologies. The doc said his wife's patients (mostly women) who
were diagnosed with fibro have had very good results using the above protocol. (Sans gaba - that was my experiment.)
* Actually he suggested a more expensive brand, but these ingredients in this were identical.
** I don't have fibromyalgia. I'm not comfortable using a label for a loose association of symptoms that are not well understood, but generally lumped together merely as something not clearly understood, treatable or curable. I write this not to demean those who validly have the symptoms of fibromyalgia, but rather to prod at professionals who are blindly content to big-pharma band-aid rather than find a cure or heal patients in chronic pain.
*** In my instance, the above protocol was justified by a fecal flora count that showed I had absolutely no beneficial gut bacteria and an overgrowth of a gut fungus and a few detrimental flora. Before starting the enzymes & probiotics, I had to take a couple weeks of olive-leaf extract to clear out the fungus.