waking up to numb hands

Hello im newly diagnosed obstructive sleep apnea. I have noticed sometimes when i wake up my outer palms are numb. Is this due to low O2 levels? My sleep study had me rated at an SpO2 of 84% during test.

can someone also explain Hypopneas verses apneas ?

Curently im not on cpap yet but hope to be by the end of this month.

Thanks Brad

hummer3d wrote:Hello im newly diagnosed obstructive sleep apnea. I have noticed sometimes when i wake up my outer palms are numb. Is this due to low O2 levels? My sleep study had me rated at an SpO2 of 84% during test.

can someone also explain Hypopneas verses apneas ?

Curently im not on cpap yet but hope to be by the end of this month.

Thanks Brad

By outer palms do you mean the area near your pinky finger? If so, it's possible that it's because of the way you are lying on your arms is causing it. There is a nerve that controls that part of the hand and it runs very close to the surface of the elbow, it's called the ulnar nerve. If you Google it you can find images of where it runs. Perhaps you have started to sleep in different positions than usual because of adjusting to CPAP use and you end up compressing that nerve during the night, this could cause that part of the hand and the pinky finger to feel numb the next day. If you can't help the way you sleep, one thing you can do is to put towels around your elbows for extra padding.

Apneas are full stops of breathing where hypopneas are very shallow breathing. HTH

hummer3d wrote:Hello im newly diagnosed obstructive sleep apnea. I have noticed sometimes when i wake up my outer palms are numb. Is this due to low O2 levels? My sleep study had me rated at an SpO2 of 84% during test.

can someone also explain Hypopneas verses apneas ?

Curently im not on cpap yet but hope to be by the end of this month.

Thanks Brad

Ooops sorry missed the part that you weren't on CPAP yet, so disregard that part of my message, sorry

hummer3d wrote:Hello im newly diagnosed obstructive sleep apnea. I have noticed sometimes when i wake up my outer palms are numb. Is this due to low O2 levels? My sleep study had me rated at an SpO2 of 84% during test.

can someone also explain Hypopneas verses apneas ?

Curently im not on cpap yet but hope to be by the end of this month.

Thanks Brad

Watching this will help -
http://www.resmed.com/en-au/clinicians/ ... 40x380.swf

Start at the Yellow Lite bulb - Our Collective Wisdom found at the top of the page at
http://www.cpaptalk.com
our-collective-cpap-wisdom.php

If you've been reading - do you have your PSG?

I can't seem to paste the rest of what I have right now but check out "Where A CPAP Newbie Should Start" at the top of the home page.

Prob a pinched nerve. An o2 desat would only be a guess without actual testing at the time of occurence.
-----
more from before
Learn to search
use Google & the syntax "search words" site:http://www.cpaptalk.com
or the Advanced Search at the top of each page.
or here - viewtopic/t35702/search.php

For Acronyms & Definitions
http://www.sleepnet.com/definition.html

yes gumby ct i watched that video today after i posted . the resmed vedeo was great sure explans things well

Hi, have you had your blood sugar checked recently - I'd do it just to be sure. Numbness can be a sign of various things, not at all necessarily serious, but it's important to look into them. Carpal tunnel also could cause numbness, but also a tingly burning, and not particularly on the outer palms.

Julie wrote:Hi, have you had your blood sugar checked recently - I'd do it just to be sure. Numbness can be a sign of various things, not at all necessarily serious, but it's important to look into them. Carpal tunnel also could cause numbness, but also a tingly burning, and not particularly on the outer palms.

no I havent had blood sugar checked for two months

Sometimes this can mean you have carpel tunnel syndrome. Is your pinky numb too? If not it could be carpel. I was talking to my sister about mine (she's a nurse) and she told me the pinky is a different nerve. Or something to the effect. After my surgery I was off my job two months and it went away. So you may consider what you do for work.

nate fry wrote:Sometimes this can mean you have carpel tunnel syndrome. Is your pinky numb too? If not it could be carpel. I was talking to my sister about mine (she's a nurse) and she told me the pinky is a different nerve. Or something to the effect. After my surgery I was off my job two months and it went away. So you may consider what you do for work.

The numbness is on my outer palms extending into my pinky fingers

I honestly don't think you do have carpal tunnel - the affected areas would not react like your hands do and I think you either have a cervical spine problem, some other neurological thing, and/or possibly a blood sugar one. I'm not 'just' guessing - come from years of hospital work.

You did not say in your post what your sleeping position is, I do on occassion experience the same numbness of my hands and yes I have cervical spine problems, with one cervical spine surgery under my belt (neck) and I unfortunately sleep on my stomach, not good for patients with spine conditions. I agree, you should see a neurologist, or perhaps have an MRI of the cervical spine.
Good Luck
Ellen

whatrdreamsmadeof wrote:You did not say in your post what your sleeping position is, I do on occassion experience the same numbness of my hands and yes I have cervical spine problems, with one cervical spine surgery under my belt (neck) and I unfortunately sleep on my stomach, not good for patients with spine conditions. I agree, you should see a neurologist, or perhaps have an MRI of the cervical spine.
Good Luck
Ellen

I sleep on my side mostly but sleep on stomach also
I was in a car acident 3 years ago where i was stoped for an acident up ahead of me , only to get rearended myself

i only suffered minnor whiplash injuries but never had an mRi done.

There is something called "cubital tunnel syndrome" caused by putting pressure on a bent elbow, it's common in people who sleep on their stomachs with their arms folded under them (which is, in turn, common in people with untreated sleep apnea, as it helps to hold the airway open). (It can also be caused by spending a lot of time resting your head on your hand with your elbow on the desk, or holding a cell phone to your ear--in fact, sometimes it's called "cell phone elbow." ) It causes pain and numbness in the pinky, ring finger, and outside of the hand. It's the same phenomenon as carpal tunnel syndrome but it is the cubital nerve (which runs through the elbow to the outside of the hand) rather than the carpal nerve (which runs through the wrist to the inside of the hand) that is being pinched.

I had to wear a brace for it for a couple years until my body learned not to sleep in that position ... unfortunately the treatment made the apnea worse (or rather, sleeping face-down with my arms under me made the apnea better). I didn't put 2+2 together until I finally saw a sleep doctor, I'd spent years blaming the exhaustion I felt and the weight gain on a new (unrelated) medication I started about the same time I started treatment for cubital tunnel syndrome. My husband feels so guilty, he really pushed me to wear my brace and not sleep on my stomach, and now he knows that's why I was so exhausted all the time! But it had to be treated or it could have caused permanent nerve damage.

ETA: as Linus says below, I got the name of the nerves wrong. The *ulnar* nerve goes through the cubital tunnel in the elbow; the *median* nerve goes through the carpal tunnel in the wrist.

Ulna Nerve. You are probably putting pressure on it. I had similar problems one way I solved it was to avoid resting my arms on a desk and also to keep my arms slightly bent at night and avoid letting the elbows rest on the mattress. Placing the arms outside of the sheets helps when you are on your back. Placing a small pillow next to you helps when you are on your side. I put a small pillow between my arms as I lay on my side for this reason.