History: I’ve been dealing with Eagle-like symptoms for four years. I’ve been to countless doctors, none of whom will diagnose me definitively with ES.
The other day I realized that my right arm, but not my left arm “falls asleep” consistently when I lie in bed. I’ve always chalked it up to my sleeping position but started wondering if this is another symptom of ES. My right side is my symptomatic side, so…
Has anyone else dealt with something like this?
I had a lot of arm symptoms. Some from a brachial plexus injury and resulting spastic nerves and out of control muscles, but after being DXed with ES I started to notice that certain aspects of my arm/shoulder symptoms were closely related to my ED symptom flares.
After surgery for ESPN it really changed a lot of issues with my arm. It’s still a possessed witch arm, but things like turning my head didn’t set off my arm, and some of the shooting pains, numbness etc cleared up.
Numbness in the arm can come from So many places, and even within an unusual condition it’s and unusual symptom.
What’s the sleeping position that sets you off?
Have you had any imaging done on your arm neck or shoulder? Anything to check for es, pinched nerves, cervical bulges, etc?
Any previous history of arm issues?
And how’s your posture? Does your scapula wing? Does your arm get cold? Does your hand go numb too, and which fingers?
I’ve had problems with numbness and tingling in one arm, especially if I was laying on my back, which I’ve always put down to general neck problems. But potentially could be a nerve thing caused by the styloid in a certain position. Sleeping more upright and with a V shaped pillow which I had to for ES has helped my other neck problems too at night, so it might be worth trying something different.
I’m jumping in late in the game here…
My surgery caused some nerve damage to my accessory nerve which runs to the trapezius muscle. For months I could barely use my arm. During the process of diagnosing the issue, I had a cat scan that revealed I also have Thoracic Outlet Syndrome involving both my brachial plexus nerves and the subclavian vein. Prior to the surgery I had issues with my hand going numb, pain above and below my elbow and Raynaud’s Syndrome (my hands do some drastic color changes depending on temperature). Bottom line, Eagle’s can be accompanied by other fun things as well. There are a lot of nerves in that general area. You might see if you can get an EMG which will measure the nerve activity. I’ve also heard of another technique where a neurologist uses ultrasound to see if there are nerve compressions. This is supposed to be even more accurate.