What the heck happened to me last night?

[TheKiwi]

Last night in the middle of the night, I woke up and rolled over on my side, and discovered that I couldn't move my left arm! I tried to lift it, and it felt really heavy but I couldn't make it move at all! I freaked out and woke my boyfriend up and he massaged it for me. After about a minute I could move it again, but for the rest of the night it felt funny.

This has never happened to me before! Does anyone know what could have caused this? I was sleeping on my back and then rolled to my side, so it's not like the arm was trapped under my body. Help!

 

[Meg]

It probably was stuck under your body at some point and you just didn't realize it. Honestly this happens to me all the time since i sleep with one arm under the pillow. Once it happened and the phone was ringing and i woke up and ran to get it but my arm literally wasn't moving so instead of using my other arm to pick up the phone i just started moving my body to swing my arm to knock the phone off the hook I'm not really 'with it' when i first wake up

 

[TheKiwi]

Thanks, I'm glad it happens to someone else! That makes me feel a little better. I freaked out so bad when it was happening that I thought I was having a seizure or blood clot or something.

 

[jakeee]

oo man thats soo funny!
the first time that happened to me a long time ago..i started SCREAMING for my mother to come upstairs because i thought i was dieing or something! lol

 

[jssy4eva]

^ I fall asleep on my arm alot also and similar things happen. I can raise it, but it feels heavy, but that usualy goes away after a few minutes. I wouldnt worry about it.

 

[Whitelinen]

What about sleep paralysis? I don't know if it can be only partial though.

 

[misssakura]

That happened to my grandpa and then he died from a stroke. But seriously, it's happened to me before, it just loses all the blood from the arm and usually during the night your energy levels get really low from lack of food so..it's a pretty horrible situation.

 

[Hanne]

If I sit for prolonged periods of time without being able to move (in a car or at the movies) one of my legs sometimes 'fall asleep' eg becomes unresponsive.. I think its fairly common..

 

[SweetFantasy]

i had that happen once, freaky

 

[ewening]

once my right hand went numb and i couldn't move it for a couple of minutes because i had kind of slept on it. yes i freaked out, but i'm still alive and able to move both of my hands. it hasn't happened again after that, fortunately. so i guess it wasn't very dangerous in my case..

 

[rainglow]

I once woke up and was in the middle of a bout of sleep paralysis - I couldn't move at all for about two minutes. Very scary.

 

[Neil]

It is very common in people who sllep with one arm under the pillow.
its to do with circulation

 

[TheKiwi]

If I sit for prolonged periods of time without being able to move (in a car or at the movies) one of my legs sometimes 'fall asleep' eg becomes unresponsive.. I think its fairly common..

This was different from that - my limbs "fall asleep" fairly often. But when that happens, I can still move the limb. It just feels funny. But with the thing that happened to me the other night, I literally couldn't even move it, and it didn't have that tingly feeling that happens when my limbs "fall asleep".

Thanks for the responses everyone - some of them are quite scary. I hope this doesn't happen to me again!

 

[Yanka]

oh that happend to me too! ALso, in the legs sometimes. I know it's pretty scary but don't worry unless it happens often.

 

[strawberry daiquiri]

this happens to me often enough, too. also because of the pillow. i quite like the feeling... (or lack of) it's not often you get to feel disconnected from your own body...

 

[thorkat]

This has happened to me before. I woke up and tried to lift my arm and it just fell on my chest like it was dead. It freaked me out but in a couple of minutes I got the movement back after lots of painful prickles as it came back to life. My mom said it happend to one of her legs. She went to get of bed and fell on the floor because her leg didn't work. I think it's pretty common.

 

[Annabel]

I've experienced the same thing. I once gave myself a bloody nose with a "dead" arm .

 

[AliCat]

This happens to me fairly often. I sleep on my back with my arms up by my head, towards the headboard. I'll frequently wake up, unable to move both arms for several minutes... I hate that feeling!

Also, one time when I was young (about 10) I was in the airport, waiting for a much delayed plane. I had been sitting with my legs crossed for about 2 hours, reading a book. When I went to stand, I immediately fell straight to the floor, unable to put weight on one of my legs! There was a loud pop, and my ankle would eventually swell to about 10x its normal size, the result of a bad sprain. It was such a scary sensation, as there was no normal tingling sensation that accompanies a "sleeping" limb.. I was simply unable to use the leg!

 

[kissmesweet]

This happens when part of your body didn't get easy blood flow and then--suddenly, it's this numbness when the blood starts rushing!

 

[light_sparkles]

That has happened to me before. It felt like I had 50 pounds on my arm because I could not move it for the life of me! But I just rubbed it with my other hand and the feeling came back after a few minutes. I'm always scared that one of these times it will stay numb..