Limbs "falling asleep"?

I've noticed over the last month or so that when I sit cross-legged or lay with my arm under my head that my legs and arms and hands are "falling asleep," like I get pins and needles. I've always gotten "pins and needles" on occassion when I stayed in a position for a really long time, but they never hurt they were just annoying.

Now I get it within a few minutes and sometimes they're so painful that it makes me cry. I've been getting them a lot during the night and I'm having trouble sleeping.

Is this a circulation problem? Symptoms of nerve problems? I was diagnosed in 2009.

I’m not sure but the other night both my legs feel aasleep at the same time and it hurt soo badly I know what your talking about. I think it is a circulation problem.

Well, I used to get very bad Leg Cramps, drove me out of Bed and lasted for about 30 sec… Like a Knife in my leg…and yes, crossing and sitting on the leg cuts circulations as well…
Solutions?

  • excercised the legs more- either walking about 1 mile EVERYDAY &/or Get a Exercise Bike and spend 10-15 min on it in AM and PM…
    -And ofcourse, gots to get those 6% A1c’s or better…and avoid Going above 140’s as much as possible.
    -Adding taking Omega 3 ,6,9 Fish Oil caps as well

Hope this helps…

For a while I would wake up in the middle of the night with completely numb hands and cramps in my legs. I was very stressed out because of work and I was working about 65 hours a week or more. I would get the feeling of pins and needles in my hands more than my legs. I even started wearing hand braces to keep my hands at a certain possition. Once the project ended and I got better sleep the pains started to go away and I started to experience less numbing in the middle of the night. It has been about a year since I reduced my stress and started to ride my bike more often and the symptoms have pretty much gone away. So you may want to check your stress levels and see if that is impacting your sleep.

Very painful! I used to get excruciating leg cramps during the night. Taking magnesium capsules before bed helped me.

During the first months after diagnosis, and my blood sugar numbers were very high…I also had these numb, sometimes painful feelings on my feet and legs. It became more excruciatingly painful at night. My doctor said it may be signs of neuropathy or indeed blood circulation problems. Exercising and a bit of massage after and managing my bg numbers did the trick…

I was just diagnosed in September. I haven’t really had a problem with my legs although I have noticed the last couple of weeks my arms and hands have been falling asleep very quickly and hurting each night when I am attempting to sleep on them. Kinda sucks as I’m used to always sleeping on them and have trouble feeling ‘normal’ if I don’t have an arm under my pillow!

What you describe is an impingement. A nerve (possibly with an inflammed joint or inflammed nerve) is compressed, causing the feeling. If you have a joint inflammation in your shoulder (shoulder strain, rotator cuff, bursitis, …) then sleeping with your arm in certain positions can cause a compression and exactly what you describe. I have had a number of nerve problems. I believe that they are made worse by the diabetes. I have had trouble with my wrists, elbows and shoulders. Depending on the problem, you can develop ways to manage the condition. A good thing to try first is exercise and sleeping in different positions.

About a year ago both my arm and leg on my left side started falling asleep while sitting/lying in ‘normal’ positions. However it is not the tingling sensation that bothers me the most, but the fact that I loose sensation - I can pinch myself hard and I can’t feel it, and they seem to go cold too. So for me I guess it’s a circulatory problem (although my doctor can’t find anything…) This all started after an episode of not getting my bg down for 24hrs after bad (heat-damaged) insulin, getting burning sensations in various parts og my body (especially the left side…) that lasted for over a week.
Can’t seem to notice it as much now, or it comes in periods, so I guess it can get better over time…

Thanks for your replies everyone. Sounds like I’m not alone in this and that exercise and good blood sugar control will help. I’m working really hard lately to get into better shape. We’ll see what happens!

I see in your pic you have a baby??? i have the SAME PROBLEM!! my baby is nearly 5 months old and i get that bad! i used to always cross my legs but after having him its been so constant and it comes on so quickly that my legs fall asleep.

My dr said it was just some lack of vitamin.

Take care :smiley:

I really should update my picture – I have a 3 1/2 and 1 1/2, and the crossing legs thing started with my first. It’s gotten really bad in the last few months, though.

This is exactly my experience and what I’ve been told by doctors. It is not uncommon for me to not be able to use my hands for several minutes after I wake up. I just have to wait for them to wake up, too.

I was on Crestor when I started to get pain in my legs. went to the doc's he said well go off the crestor since this might be the cause of the pain. so I did, it has now been a month and I am in tears every day from this by evening I am crippled if I sit for to long it hurts, stand to long it hurts, I have tried massage, bathing, ointments etc... blood sugars are good. went to the hospital they did all kinds of blood work they said there was no inflamation in my blood? so they think it is nerve damage. gave me some huge pills to take 3 times a day. all these do is knock me out. does anyone else have painful legs like this? and what can be done? I can't take this anymore. the pain is like growing achy pains running all down my legs, toes very cold most of the time, back of calfs and buttocks hurt as well. once in a while feels like someone has taken a pin and selectivly picking spots to poke me, big toe, upper thigh, back of leg etc.. other wise it is constant achy feeling. day and night

Yeah I've had this problem too. Will try Gerri's suggestion of taking Mg tab before bed. I think I have the coldest feet in Western Europe.

i have had terrible and painful leg cramping as well as having my hands falling asleep frequently. my CDE and nutritionist told me i most likely had low potasssium levels and that i should eat a banana every day. well i tried this and got absolutely NO results. the cramping always comes on at the end of a day while i am resting on the sofa or the bed (basically anything perpendicular) and the hand thing always comes when i am either holding my husbands hand or when i am sleeping and i want to rest my hand beneath my head.of course sometimes my hand just falls asleep for no apparent reason at all, and the thing is, is that i do excersize and eat right. didnt cause it, cant cure it, cant control it...( from the 3 Cs of the 12 step program of AlAnon & Alcoholics Anonymous) it is the nature of the D beast.