Hand and Arm Asleep

[Boe]

Hello,
I am 40 years old (5' 9" 190) slightly overweight (30 pounds)and in pretty good health.  Last year I was in a car accident (rear ended) and had some neck pain.  Weeks of Phy. Theraphy and MRI revealed I was okay.

Over the last several months, my right hand is constantly alseep (slight tingling effect). Once in a great while, my leg and part of right arm falls.   Also the top of my shoulder is pain as well.  My shoulder pain I believe is arthrits ( folks have the same pain and they both have arthritis)

My concern is my hand is asleep a good majority of the time.  My doctor recently ran a test to see if it is carpal tunnel and the test were negitive.

I do not think it is link to car accident. Yesterday, one of my friends said he had the same thing and he stated is was lack of good ciculation, closing blood vessels in his legs and arm.  

Could this be it? I must admit, I do eat alot fast foods and I know I that I should lose 25 pounds and I do not excersise as much as I used to.

Any health information is appreciated.

[CCF-Neuro-M.D.-JT]

Hand numbness could be due to a number of things affecting different places in the nervous system from the brain to the cervical spinal cord to a nerve further down in the arm. Not sure exactly what was done to determine if there was carpal tunnel, but if you haven't already had one, a full EMG of the arm would be helpful to see if there is something else is going on to cause your symptoms like a pinched nerve in your neck (missed by the MRI) or nerve problem further down in your arm.  

Another consideration as your friend suggests is a blood supply problem to the arm.  This can be evaluated by a careful vascular exam with ultrasound. A full neurological exam would be helpful to guide your docs as to what the next diagnostic step should be. Good luck.

[cyndi57]

You might speak with your doctor and get an MRI of your neck and your shoulder as it could be problems with C5-C6. As for arthritis, you can have arthritis in your shoulder reguardless of your family history. Arthritis also comes as a result of injuries to the body, scar tissue is a leading cause and this could be impinging on areas in your shoulder. As for your leg; it is probably in your lower back and you could have received an injury to that area from the seat belt in your car during the accident. Many people do not realize that the lower strap of your seat belt is not to be worn around the pelvic area, only the top of your thighs/groin area. Your leg pain may stem from your lower back/sciatica. I have become knowledgeable about back/neck, and arm problems as I have had 5 low back surgeries, 1 neck, and surgeries on both shoulders and I am only 46 with no family history of arthritis nor ostioperosis either!
I wish you luck and I would surely seek more more medical advice and please pursue it!

[Chalu_py]

A related discussion, Numb Arm? was started.