Numb hands

Hi I'm so worried I wake up with numb hands nearly everyday. My fingers go numb even when I'm on the phone. Docs say this is anxiety. How can this be anxiety?? Feeling stresses😯😝

[hfarfell]

probably median or less likely ulnar nerve compression related to hand and/or elbow position.If symptoms are transitory,do not worry at all.Try shaking the affected areas and changing positions frequently.Try to change sleeping positions as well.This is certainly not due to anxiety.Parenthetically,I am a retired orthopaedic surgeon.

[blackcat64013]

Hi Megan06,

I have an excellent explanation for how and why this occurs. There is a link at the end of the blog as a resource for more help.

The Anxiety Centre advises that anxiety causes the body to produce the stress response (also known as the fight or flight response).

The stress response changes how the body functions and adversely affects the nervous system, which is responsible for sending and receiving nerve impulse information from the nerve endings and sensory organs in the body to the brain, and back again.

When stress responses occur infrequently, the body can recover relatively quickly from the physiological, psychological, and emotional changes the stress response brings about. When stress responses occur too frequently and/or dramatically, however, the body has a more difficult time recovering, which can result in the body remaining in a semi hyperstimulated state, since stress hormones are stimulants. A nervous system that becomes stress-response hyperstimulated can act erratically and more involuntarily than normal. This erratic and more involuntary behavior can cause a wide variety of odd and unusual sensory and nerve related sensations and symptoms, such as numbness anywhere on the body.

anxietycentre.com/anxiety-s...

[Robby36 in reply to blackcat64013]

Your response was very informative and I really appreciate it. I have a question regarding stress and how it can basically mess with our regular functions. But can it take a good amount of time for your body to stop having anxiety systems after recovering from a stressful week or two? By that I mean, can symptoms linger for awhile only because your body has not fully let go of the stress?

[Robby36 in reply to blackcat64013]

I’ve been having the same issue. It’s mainly my pinky and ring finger being numb when waking up. Once it was both hands and another time both arms were asleep. But idk if I I was sleeping weird or not because I got up really quick from my alarm. I’ve been under stress for the past month and a half, which brought on anxiety symptoms. Is it possible to wake up with both arms asleep? That only happened once

[amanda19608]

Hi Megan this happens to me daily too when waking or on the phone this is down to me having carpal tunnel. Make an appointment with your GP about your concerns they might be ble to provide wrist braces if it does happen to be carpal tunnel and in the mean time like hfarfell suggests shaking the hands helps alot and also for me if i put my hand flat on a cool surface i feel the sensation quickly subside. Hope this helps.

[Sixty4]

I get this too, sometimes wakes me up during the night like I’ve laid on my hands even though I havnt, you’re not alone if it’s the anxiety it makes it worse worrying about it , it’s just a vicious circle xx