What Causes Numbness In The Hand Upon Waking Up?

Posted on Mon, 24 Oct 2016

Question: I am a dentist and Type 1 Diabetic (controlled) who woke up with numbness in my non dominant hand this morning and it has not resolved. I thought I slept on it wrong but it persists and now 6 hours later it clearly follows the radial nerve pathway and includes the thumb, pointer finger, middle finger and neighboring half of the ring finger. Non-painful but unaltered numbness since early this morning??? No back pain, neck pain or history of injury; just driving and flying alot lately. No respiratory symptoms and only minor history of neuropathy in the feet. Planning to ride it out this weekend and see if it improves. Any suggestions? XXXXXXX YYYY@YYYY

Answered by Dr. Ronald Schubert (15 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Carpal tunnel syndrome

Detailed Answer:
Thank you for contacting HCM with your health care concerns

I am sorry you are experiencing numbness in your hand after waking this morning. This really sounds like you may have carpal tunnel syndrome. It can sometimes occur all of sudden but mostly slow and insidious numbness. Your symptoms do not sound like stroke. There would be more motor weakness with a stroke and it doesn't sound like a cervical radiculopathy either. For this weekend I would recommend that you purchase a wrist cock-up splint and start taking an anti-inflammatory like naprosyn. This next week contact your doctor and see him. You will probably need nerve conduction testing which will diagnose a CTS. Treatment is hand therapy, NSAIDS, cock-up wrist splint, steroid injections and lastly surgery.

I hope I answered your question. Please contact us again if you have any additional questions

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar