Good sleep is very important for human health. However, at night, often there are various unpleasant conditions that disrupt a good rest. Often people complain that their hands are wrinkled at night. What to do in this case? After all, numbness and tingling of the limbs make patients constantly wake up. In the article we will consider the main causes of stricken hands and ways to deal with this condition.
General information
Why do people grind their hands in a dream? What does this mean? Under the word "grind" patients mean numbness and hardening of the hands, accompanied by tingling, "crawling creeps" and burning. This manifestation is associated either with circulatory disorders of the upper extremities, or with disorders of innervation.
Doctors call numbness paresthesia. Most often it is caused by natural causes. However, in some cases, this may be one of the signs of various pathologies. Indeed, in a dream, a person often exacerbates the symptoms of diseases. In the waking state, the patient does not always notice discomfort.
Non-pathological causes
Is it always necessary to consult a doctor if a person has numb hands during sleep? The causes of this unpleasant condition are not always associated with diseases. Paresthesia can be triggered by the following natural factors:
- Inconvenient pose. There are times when patients sleep with their arms thrown back. Many people often roll over in a dream, and their body assumes an unnatural position. At night, the cardiovascular system is much slower. If a person sleeps in an unnatural position, then the blood very weakly enters the vessels of the limbs. This leads to the occurrence of paresthesia. Inconvenient posture during sleep is the most common cause of numbness in the upper limbs. Paresthesia often occurs when a person is sleeping with his hand under his head.
- Wrong pillow choice. If a person sleeps on a very high and stiff pillow, then his spine bends excessively in the cervical region. This leads to circulatory disorders in the roots of the spinal cord. This part of the nervous system is responsible for the sensitivity and mobility of the hands. In this case, it is recommended to replace the pillow with a lower and softer one. It is also useful to purchase a special orthopedic pillow with a pit for the head. This will help to keep the neck in a proper position while sleeping.
- Malnutrition. Drinking spicy food, strong coffee and tea at night can also cause numbness. Improper nutrition at bedtime causes vasoconstriction. In addition, such food can cause a feeling of heaviness in the stomach and a headache. Sleep becomes restless, a person often turns over from side to side, and his body takes an uncomfortable position.
- Squeezing the vessels with clothes and various objects. If a person sleeps in tight and tight clothes, this can also lead to paresthesia. It is recommended to wear a nightgown or loose-fitting pajamas without buttons at night. You should also remove wrist watches, bracelets and rings before going to bed. Such items can pinch blood vessels.
- Bad habits. Nicotine causes vasoconstriction. Therefore, smoking before bedtime often causes numbness in the hands. The use of alcohol during dinner can also lead to nocturnal paresthesia. Ethanol initially dilates the vessels, but subsequently their sharp spasm occurs.
- Excessive exercise. If a person was engaged in weight lifting or other hard physical work during the day, then his blood supply and innervation of the upper limbs are disturbed. Excessive strain on the muscles leads to trembling hands during the day and paresthesia during sleep.
Such temporary circulatory disorders during sleep do not require special treatment. To get rid of paresthesia provoked by physiological causes, it is enough to change your lifestyle: give up smoking, alcohol and coffee, choose comfortable bedding, and also avoid overeating and exercise in the evening.
Possible diseases
Paresthesia is not always triggered by natural factors. There are many diseases in which the patient's hands go numb during sleep. The cause of this may be the following pathologies and conditions of the body:
- carpal tunnel syndrome;
- spinal diseases;
- stroke;
- myocardial infarction;
- vitamin deficiency B12;
- pregnancy;
- blockage of blood vessels by blood clots;
- polyneuropathy;
- Raynaud's syndrome.
You should pay attention to the localization of numbness. Often there are cases when one of the hands is constantly younger. Paresthesia of the left limb may indicate serious heart problems.
Often in patients, numbness affects only the fingers. This usually indicates damage to the local vessels and peripheral nerves.
Next, we will consider in detail the symptoms of the above pathologies and methods of their treatment.
Carpal tunnel syndrome
There are times when a person’s hands hurt and numb at night. What to do? The cause of this unpleasant condition can be carpal tunnel syndrome. This pathology often develops in those people whose work is associated with frequent monotonous brush movements. This is a professional disease of PC operators, seamstresses, hairdressers, painters.
In the carpal tunnel passes the nerve, which provides movement and sensitivity of the hand. With excessive load on the fingers, inflammation and swelling occurs. As a result, the nerve is pinched in the canal of the wrist. This causes pain and paresthesia. This pathology is also called tunnel syndrome.
Symptoms of the disease are as follows:
- Numbness. A person’s fingers are wrinkled at night. As the pathology develops, paresthesia spreads to the entire hand. In the future, numbness occurs during the day with any uncomfortable hand position.
- Pain syndrome. When the numbness passes, the person experiences a sharp shooting pain in his fingers. To get rid of discomfort, the patient often shakes with brushes. Numbness and pain disrupt normal sleep and make you wake up several times during the night.
- Difficulty in small movements. The patient is sharply impaired motor skills. It becomes difficult for him to hold a pen, sewing needle, toothbrush or cutlery with his fingers. The affected hand becomes weak. At an early stage, such violations are temporary, but as the pathology develops, they become permanent.
To get rid of this unpleasant disease, it is necessary to significantly reduce the load on the hands. Doctors often recommend that patients change their type of activity. Patients are prescribed a course of vitamin therapy, therapeutic baths and a set of exercise therapy exercises for brushes.
Osteochondrosis
There are times when a patient has a headache at night and numb hands. What to do? The cause of this condition is most often osteochondrosis or a hernia between the vertebrae. Most often, paresthesia of the hands is noted with a lesion of the cervical spine.
Osteochondrosis refers to degenerative diseases of the musculoskeletal system. This pathology often develops in sedentary people engaged in sedentary work. This lifestyle leads to deformation of the vertebrae and compression of the roots of the spinal cord, which provide sensitivity to the hands. Metabolism is disturbed in the vertebral cartilage, which causes dystrophic changes.
With pathologies of the cervical spine in patients, the following symptoms occur:
- headaches and dizziness;
- stiff neck muscles after waking up;
- pain in the neck, shoulders and shoulder blades;
- feeling tired.
With osteochondrosis, numbness is noted both in the daytime and at night. During sleep, attacks of paresthesia are usually more frequent. In the early stages, pain in the cervical spine may still be absent, however, the patient is very often wrinkled at night. What to do and how to get rid of osteochondrosis?
This pathology requires an integrated approach to treatment. Anti-inflammatory drugs and analgesics help to stop neck pain. To slow down the development of vertebral lesions, chondroprotectors are prescribed. However, it is impossible to achieve a significant improvement in the condition without changing the lifestyle.
Such patients need physical activity. They need to regularly and constantly do special therapeutic exercises, as well as attend massage sessions. This will help improve the blood supply to the spinal roots and get rid of numbness and stiffness.
Stroke
The most dangerous cause of paresthesia is ischemic stroke. This pathology occurs due to prolonged atherosclerosis. Cholesterol deposits lead to a decrease in vascular patency. In advanced stages, blood stops flowing to certain parts of the brain. Doctors call acute cerebrovascular accident a ischemic stroke.
Numbness of one of the hands with a stroke is an early sign of pathology. Paresthesia also extends to the leg and one side of the face. In the future, the patient's left or right side of the body is completely taken away and paralysis occurs.
Ischemic stroke is accompanied by the following symptoms:
- a sharp headache;
- high blood pressure;
- dizziness
- darkening in the eyes;
- loss of consciousness.
With these symptoms, the patient needs emergency medical care and hospitalization. Procrastination in this case is extremely dangerous, since a stroke often leads to death.
Disorders of cerebral blood supply sometimes develop gradually. Shortly before a stroke, precursors of a dangerous condition appear. A person feels that his headaches are intensifying and his arm is dying at night. What to do in such a situation? It is necessary to measure the patient's blood pressure. If the pressure is increased, then an ambulance crew should be called immediately. This will help prevent the development of paralysis.
Avitaminosis
Why do my hands go numb at night while sleeping? Sometimes doctors find it difficult to answer this question. After all, the examination does not reveal any vascular or neurological pathologies in the patient. In such cases, the cause of paresthesia may be a deficiency of B vitamins.
This condition is most often caused by a lack of cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12). An excessively strict diet, gastric diseases, metabolic disorders, as well as the presence of parasites in the intestine can provoke vitamin deficiency.
Why do they grind hands during sleep with a deficiency of cyanocobalamin? This trace element is necessary for the normal functioning of the hematopoietic system. With a lack of vitamin B12, the patient develops anemia. Low levels of hemoglobin and red blood cells lead to insufficient supply of oxygen to the brain, which causes paresthesia.
Vitamin B12 is also accompanied by the following symptoms:
- headaches;
- fatigue;
- tinnitus;
- irritability;
- Depression
- memory impairment;
- decreased visual acuity.
Treatment consists of taking preparations containing cyanocobalamin. It is also necessary to regularly include meat and dairy dishes in the diet.
Left hand
Sometimes a person has numbness only in his left hand during sleep. The cause of this may be a pre-infarction condition. In this case, numbness occurs suddenly. Most often, paresthesia begins with the tips of the fingers, and then spreads to the entire limb. This is accompanied by pains in the heart and in the left hand, shortness of breath and arrhythmia. The attack does not stop taking vasodilator drugs.
These rather dangerous signs indicate the approach of myocardial infarction. Doctors call this condition unstable angina. It begins to develop about 3-4 weeks before a heart attack. Pain in the heart and shortness of breath are constantly increasing. In such cases, it is urgent to visit a cardiologist. The doctor will prescribe special drugs that prevent the development of myocardial necrosis.
Right hand
Sometimes a person notices that his right hand is dying at night. The left limb remains sensitive. Such paresthesia may occur due to constriction of the vessels of the hand in a dream, as well as due to carpal tunnel syndrome or osteochondrosis.
However, there are more dangerous causes of numbness. This may be the first sign of a pre-stroke condition. After all, with a stroke, it is most often the right side of the body that paralyzes.
The following manifestations should alert:
- frequent headaches;
- high blood pressure;
- dizziness;
- uncomfortable sensations in the right hand and in the facial area;
- movement coordination disorders;
- blurred speech;
- nausea;
- visual impairment;
- dyspnea.
What to do if the right hand is wrinkling? First of all, you need to visit a neurologist. The specialist will prescribe brain MRI and Dopplerography of cerebral vessels. These examinations will help confirm or deny the presence of cerebral ischemia.
If the patient is diagnosed with a pre-stroke condition, then further treatment is carried out in a hospital. Prescribe medications to normalize cerebral circulation and antihypertensive drugs.
Fingers
Often, numbness affects only the fingers. The rest of the brush remains sensitive. Such symptoms may occur in the following diseases and conditions:
- polyneuropathy;
- thrombosis;
- Raynaud's disease;
- pregnancy.
Next, we will consider the above causes of paresthesia of the fingers in more detail.
Polyneuropathy
With this disease, the patient affects the peripheral nerves in the area of the hands and the blood flow slows down. The first sign of pathology is numbness of the fingers, which is accompanied by pulling pains and severe tingling. Often patients feel "creeping" in the area of the hand.
The most common cause of polyneuropathy is viral infection. In more rare cases, nerve damage occurs due to diabetes mellitus, pancreatitis, as well as against a background of iron deficiency in the body.
At first attacks of paresthesia appear several times a month. In the future, numbness occurs daily. Patients complain that they often wrinkle their hands at night. The treatment of this pathology is to eliminate the cause of paresthesia. It is necessary to undergo a course of therapy for the underlying disease, which provoked damage to the peripheral nerves.
Thrombosis
Blockage of venous vessels by blood clots is a rather dangerous cause of numbness in the fingers. Paresthesia is an early sign of this pathology.
Hand vein thrombosis is a fairly rare disease. In approximately 80% of cases, it develops after an unsuccessful puncture of the vessel during diagnostic and therapeutic procedures (intravenous injection, blood sampling, etc.). The cause of the pathology can also be hand injuries, allergic reactions and prolonged use of certain medications.
Symptoms of thrombosis are as follows:
- finger paresthesia at night;
- bulge of veins in the area of the brush;
- sore fingers;
- swelling of the skin in the affected area.
This disease is very dangerous to run. Without treatment, it leads to tissue necrosis, which often becomes an indication for finger amputation. It is very important to visit a phlebologist at the first sign of venous pathology. The doctor will prescribe special blood thinners.
Raynaud's syndrome and disease
This disease is accompanied by a sharp spasm of the vessels of the limbs, which usually occurs while in the cold or stress. Raynaud's syndrome is secondary. It develops against the background of autoimmune diseases, endocrine disorders, osteochondrosis. If there are no such reasons, then doctors talk about Raynaud's disease.
Pathology is always accompanied by numbness of fingers on both hands. In this case, marked blanching or cyanosis of the skin in the affected areas is noted. Very often paresthesia affects the fingers of the lower extremities. Patients complain of increased coldness of the hands and feet. Pathology is accompanied by pain.
Most often, paresthesia attacks occur during the day. However, numbness of the fingers may occur at night. This condition can provoke a dream in a cold room or emotional experiences.
Patients need to take vasodilator drugs. In severe cases, a surgical operation is indicated, during which part of the nerve fibers responsible for vascular spasm are removed.
Pregnancy
Quite often, women during pregnancy complain that their hands are wrinkled at night. What to do and how to eliminate discomfort? First of all, you need to find out their cause. Paresthesia in pregnant women can be triggered by the following factors:
- hormonal changes;
- metabolic disorders of water and salts;
- weight gain;
- anemia
- low mobility.
In addition, during the period of gestation, diseases such as carpal tunnel syndrome and osteochondrosis may worsen.
Most often during pregnancy, numbness of the fingers is noted. It may be accompanied by swelling. However, during this period, doctors prescribe medications with great care.Indeed, many drugs adversely affect the development of the fetus. Therefore, therapy is usually limited to the use of local funds: baths for the hands, massage brushes, as well as ointments on a plant basis.
Conclusion
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In no case should a doctor be postponed if numbness is accompanied by pain in the heart or head, arrhythmia, shortness of breath and high blood pressure. Such manifestations indicate an approaching cardiac or vascular catastrophe. Timely treatment will help prevent a heart attack or stroke.