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Forearm Pain linked to sleep disorders! Does anyone else get this?
#1
Smile 
Forearm Pain linked to sleep disorders! Does anyone else get this?
Hi, Smile
I have this Forearm Pain that I've heard is linked to sleep disorders! Does anyone else get this?

I've had sleep apnea since I was a kid.
Also since I was a kid I would sometimes get very bad forearm pain, randomly.

No pain in the wrists, upper arm, hands, etc.... just the FOREARMS!

It like a pain along the forearm bone.
It could be the bone or the nerve that runs along the bone?

It makes me want to put pressure on it to relieve some of the pain.

It is bad enough that I need to take pain medication.

Sometimes I don't feel it at all, then it will randomly show up.

Sometimes I am woken in the middle of the night by this forearm pain.


Does anyone else get this?

Does it go away after a while of treating sleep apnea?

Thanks in advanced
Kind regards

Thanks
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#2
RE: Forearm Pain linked to sleep disorders! Does anyone else get this?
It sounds like my fibromyalgia, which is associated with sleep apnea. Random pain that strikes suddenly in odd places, usually in areas around joints, such as hips, shoulders, elbows, knees, hands and feet. I also get these pains in my teeth and cheekbones, legs and arms, and under my fingernails. Sometimes it feels like it's in the muscles, sometimes presents as a deep bone pain, and sometimes like a sudden needle stick. I've always called it 'traveling pains'. Finally got diagnosed at the Mayo Clinic a few years back, and that's what it was all along. It's a disorder in the way the body interprets pain, so it just sends pain 'traveling' around or showing up in various places that are not injured.

You can easily get diagnosed if the doctor touches around 20 points at various places on the body. If the majority of the points hurt badly when pressed, that cinches it. The best remedy for it is low-dose naltrexone, made by a compounding pharmacy via prescription, taken at bedtime, and running about $1 per day without insurance. It takes about a month or so to notice the pains are lessening, then they pretty much disappear unless you stop the medicine.

I had those pains for decades, now all gone! Treating sleep apnea is also suppose to help with fibromyalgia, but I'm not giving up my meds yet, since that pain is quite debilitating.
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#3
RE: Forearm Pain linked to sleep disorders! Does anyone else get this?
(10-13-2014, 11:54 AM)dubli Wrote: Hi, Smile
I have this Forearm Pain that I've heard is linked to sleep disorders! Does anyone else get this?

I've had a pain in my left forearm for well over 2 straight months now and no matter what I do it won't go away. I have trouble lifting items straight up with my left hand as a result. The slight pain is right in my forearm muscle - it's always there, but I never notice it much until I try to lift something with my left arm. Even lifting a coffee cup causes a small amount of pain there. Never thought it had to do with sleep apnea, but who knows.... Thinking-about

I've tried resting my arm for extended periods, heat, cold, pain meds, and everything, but it's still ongoing.

Anyone else have these types of issues with your forearm?

SuperSleeper
Apnea Board Administrator
www.ApneaBoard.com


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#4
RE: Forearm Pain linked to sleep disorders! Does anyone else get this?
There are two bones in the forearm -- the radius and the ulna.

Fibromyalgia is found most commonly in women -- reason is unknown.

Pain in the left arm can be a sign of cardiac ischemia.

Pain can be referred pain. Our CNS pain message system is like a telephone cable. There are not enough circuits for all the receptors in the body. So, some use the same neural pathway. Sort of like the old party line phone system. Pain location is a learned response. Poke yourself in the left arm and the brain learns -- ah, that pain is in the left arm. The brain seldom hears from a receptor that shares the same pathway; so, it confuses the signal as originating in the well known location.

Some of the folks on the forum also have diabetes. Diabetes, when long term, and not well controlled damages fine vascular and nerves.
It's a factor in heart disease. The damage to the nervous system can become systemic neuropathy.

I guess the message is: pay attention to your body; and when new symtoms arise, do not dismiss them... seek medical treatment.

(And try a smaller cup of coffee)
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#5
RE: Forearm Pain linked to sleep disorders! Does anyone else get this?
Have you discussed this with your doctor? Heart problems often cause phantom pain in the arms. Your brain sort of isn't wired up correctly to pain sensors in your heart, and sometimes the brain thinks it's elsewhere.

Not to panic you, but rule that out first.
Get the free OSCAR CPAP software here.
Useful links.
Click here for information on the main alternative to CPAP.
If it's midnight and a DME tells you it's dark outside, go and check it yourself.
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#6
RE: Forearm Pain linked to sleep disorders! Does anyone else get this?
That seems really odd but about 15 years ago, I developed an excruciating pain in my right inner forearm, right above the inside of the radius.

I thought of this as a nerve pain and it felt as if it could be related all the way back over my tricep to behind my shoulder.

Pretty much the ONLY time it would hurt would be if my arm were straight and taken directly out to my side, for instance if I was facing forward and pointing directly to my right. Bend my arm (while moving my arm out to the side) OR keep it from going straight out to the side (while keeping the elbow straight) and there was seldom any pain.

It was sudden and electric, sharp, intense, and undeniable -- move my arm out of that position and no pain.

This was actually a problem as I was teaching at the time and would 'forget' (as there was otherwise no issue) and point towards the projector screen to explain some point, causing me to yell quite suddenly and loudly. (Only good thing was it would wake up the class.)

This was enough of a problem with my teaching (I taught an intensive, accelerated network and security class at the time) that even though it was easy for me to bring in all the computers and gear to set up the classroom (in a hotel), I would then wear a SLING while teaching.

The sling wasn't to protect the arm under normal conditions, merely to keep me from forgetting and using my hand to point straight out and back over my right shoulder.

This stayed around a few months (doc did nothing except tell me to take NSAIDs), then disappeared, never to return again, but leaving a small patch of numb skin in that spot on my forearm (almost as if the nerves got tire of being wrong and just switch off the circuit or unplugged the sensors.)

I would have totally dismissed this being in any way related to OSA, but it is another data point.
Sweet Dreams,

HerbM
Sleep study AHI: 49 RDI: 60 -- APAP 10-11 w/AHI: 1.5 avg for 7-days (up due likely to hip replacement recovery)

"We can all breathe together or we will all suffocate alone."
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#7
RE: Forearm Pain linked to sleep disorders! Does anyone else get this?
I have heard of this occurring with PLMD involving the upper limbs. Just like with the lower limbs the pain tends to be concentrated in the calves. Before I knew what PLMD was, and that I had it, I would have pain so debilitating in my calves on some days that getting out of bed wasn't even an option.

If you tried something like Gabapentin before bed and it gets better, good chance it's PLMD.
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#8
RE: Forearm Pain linked to sleep disorders! Does anyone else get this?
(10-13-2014, 12:45 PM)SuperSleeper Wrote: I've had a pain in my left forearm for well over 2 straight months now and no matter what I do it won't go away. I have trouble lifting items straight up with my left hand as a result. The slight pain is right in my forearm muscle - it's always there, but I never notice it much until I try to lift something with my left arm. Even lifting a coffee cup causes a small amount of pain there. Never thought it had to do with sleep apnea, but who knows.... Thinking-about

I've tried resting my arm for extended periods, heat, cold, pain meds, and everything, but it's still ongoing.

Anyone else have these types of issues with your forearm?

That is the weirdest thing. Sounds like what I had in my forearm. Sometimes in both but mostly in my left forearm. Couldn't pick up anything or even grip anything with my hand. Seemed like it was right in the middle of my forearm. Meds didn't help. Spoke to my doctor and we discussed it and she looked at my elbow and found the nerve runs through my elbow was getting pinched somehow. Been working on it and haven't had the problem since. Used to happen frequently. Make sure you don't lean on your elbows and take some anti-inflammatories is what ended up helping. Took a couple of weeks. Now I always have a pillow close by to lean on.

Not saying that's what you have, and it may not be what you have at all, but that's what it was for me anyway. I've always had random pain, like everyone, but nothing that has prevented me from doing anything, so I don't think I fibromyalgia. I hope there is relief for you soon.

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#9
RE: Forearm Pain linked to sleep disorders! Does anyone else get this?
Check up Lyme Disease, it may be behind both fibromyalgia and sleep disorders.
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#10
RE: Forearm Pain linked to sleep disorders! Does anyone else get this?
Thank you for all the replies. Smile
Very helpful info, is appreciated
I will look more into a few things mentioned.
Kind regards
Thanks Smile
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