Sudden Weakness in arms

[Vasi]

In the last few months I have been getting a sudden weakness in both arms.  It comes on suddenly and lasts a maximum of 5 minutes.  When it happens I cannot lift anything.  I feel so weak that I have to sit or lie down until it passes.  This week it hit me twice.  Before these 2 incidents, the last time this happened was a month ago and before that was probably another month (2 times in a week).  The sensation is from the shoulders down to my hands.  Any ideas?

Thanks

[Schm2854]

Has anyone seen a chiropractor? My first thought was possible polyneuropathy however everones lab work is fine and no one has history of lymes disease or diabetes mellitus. So i may be TOS which is thoracic outlet syndrome. It can be caused by tight muscles in neck, chest, or ever a cervical rib. It can casue neurological problems like you are describing and vascular ones as well. This can result from poor posture and it seems like alot of you are sitting at your desks for long periods of the day. Symptoms are insidious and can happen more often with over the head activities. Just a though

[DizzyMiami]

This has happened to me three times now in the last few months, and i have noticed that it happens when I'm real tense and then all of a sudden i relax...today i was sitting at my desk at work and in a position where my shoulders were tense, the phone rang and i had to tell my boss to answer because i could not use my arms, they were so weak and i felt like i was going to faint.  Lasted about 5 min...the rest of the afternoon, I've felt cold and not right but it might be from trying to 'recover' that feeling.  I did notice my pulse was slow as i recovered from it.

[JRCC]

Same symtoms here.  Doctor has no clue. Everything I read seems to be a guess.  

[Binney0802]

Holy cow! This happened to me for the first time today sitting at my vanity putting on my make up. Out of the blue, my upper arms and across my shoulders just went weak. I had to stop and rest. Lasted for maybe 2 minutes. Then about an hour later it happened at my desk at work. Obviously I started searching the internet because my daughter is a physician but I don't want to alarm her because she is leaving from JFK at 4:00 PM today for her first vacation in a LONG time. No other symptoms but the tops of my arms across my shoulders and lower neck area just go weak... I'm 57, about 25 pounds, overweight but fairly active.

[lettiemae]

I began having the sensation of my arms being so heavy I could not lift them about a month ago.  I though I was going crazy that it was in my head.  After about 5 such instances, I decided to search today to see what is going on.  I have not told anyone.  Then I see all these comments.  I see several entries about 'spinal.'  
I never had attributed mine to spinal; however, last week I wend to an orthopedic doctor because of pain in my right hip.  Turns out because of heredity and possible spinal injury when I was young, my spring curves 25% to the left at the waist.  I am thinking this is somehow connected to the weightiness of my arms.
In addition, it is mentioned about reflux.  I take reflux meds daily.
I plan to discontinue my reflux meds immediately to see if that helps.  But I also plan to mention this to my Orthopedic Dr at my next visit (who, by the way, says I will eventually have to have surgery on my spine because several disks are bone on bone.

[Phizzy]

Hi everyone.
I have had two of these attacks, just as many of you have described; beginning in the shoulders and a strange sensation down each arm simultaneously which leaves the arms heavy and floppy and my head feeling light.
Both times I have been sitting down working....not on a computer but the same sort of posture.
I went to a cranial osteopath I know (who also has a full doctor's training)
and he thought my overall health was fine but he DIAGNOSED that the top half of my body, especially my shoulders and neck, were very rigid and unrelaxed. He thought it was related to that and relaxed me a bit and gave me two things to do.
To lie on the floor, or across a bed, with my arms above my head slightly apart like a Y to stretch my upper body for a few minutes a couple of times a day. He also said to check where my shoulders were when I was sitting, standing or walking. They must be down....not hunched up around my ears!
This is to do with restricted blood flow perhaps?
Anyway I thought this might be helpful if the Docs can't find anything else wrong.

[please_inform_me_asap]

To me its always when I was writing. the times that it happens to me is completely random. I just always noticed that I suddenly dropped my ballpen like my hand loss its strength, although I can lift it afterwards unlike the rest of you... but its just so weird. It feels dry and heavy. My sister said that Im always overthinking things and I always spaced out maybe that's the reason why. But it can also be a problem on my spinal... like a doctor who has a tumour in his spine (5th).

[rikah306]

This may help. I also have had these symptoms for about a year. I have been admitted 2 times and have had every test for heart, tia  etc. I must also say I do have mid c4 problem. But I noticed I had tested positive for rheumatoid factor 2 times and a Positive Rnp test So I went to a Rheum Dr  and he ran a million blood tests and I have since been diagnosed recently with MCTD which is autoimmune and I noticed other people on here have mentioned Autoimmune issues, so I am thinking this is connected, maybe polymyositis? or something yet to be named? as we all seem to have it but Dr's don't know what it is. The transverse myelitis that someone mentioned seemed interesting. So try to list all symptoms you have had in the last 5 -10 yrs together. fatigue? any warm feelings feet, legs , muscle twitches, can affect heart, lungs, skin problems. Anyway I just started taking  methotrexate and prednisone. I hear it can take 3 mths to help if at all then on to the next med. Hope this helps a little. Good luck to everyone and post back if you find anything else.

[klewis0906]

Update:  I had a "slight" episode yesterday.  I wasn't as paralyzed as in the past.  As RachelG puts it "I experience the warning ripple sensation before the sudden paralysis sets into my arms and hands," (perfect wording because its so hard to explain to people).  When I got the warning, I knew what was coming.  Luckily it wasn't a full on attack and I was just climbing back into bed.  So I just layed there.....    This time  I had the numbness, but I could move.  Normally my arms and legs are just dead weight.  This time it was maybe at 50% numbness.  like 1/2 my arm was numb, right down the middle.  I had the tingling and slight numbness in the leg, but I could move it.  The one thing I was able to identify is that it is my sneeze that triggers these occurrences.  I was always so focused on not being able to move, I could never remember if I had sneezed prior to an attack.   My attacks have always been in the morning. And that is when I have my morning ritual of sneezes.  My sneeze must trigger some type of glitch in my nerves.  I sent word to my Dr.  Still waiting to hear back.  I hope to identify this issue once and for all!