“I woke up this morning and I couldn’t use my right arm. It wasn’t tingling as if it fell asleep. I can barely move it now,” one MyLupusTeam member shared. “Has anyone else experienced this?”

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the most common form of lupus, is an inflammatory disease that can cause blood vessel and nerve damage throughout your body. Although it may lead to skin symptoms, joint damage, or kidney problems, lupus can also cause symptoms in the arms and other parts of the body. Several MyLupusTeam members have mentioned waking up unable to move their arm while living with lupus.

How is numbness in your arm related to lupus or other health conditions? Keep reading to learn about possible causes of a weak or numb arm. For example, this symptom may be caused by sleep paralysis, inflammatory arthritis and morning stiffness, a frozen shoulder, or even a stroke.

Potential Causes of Morning Arm Numbness

Waking up with a weak or numb arm is not an uncommon issue among the MyLupusTeam community. “I often get numbness in both arms. They dangle and feel dead and useless. Sometimes, I also get bolts of bad pain in them,” one member shared. Others have mentioned similar symptoms: “I often wake up, and I do not have the strength to lift my arm or close my right hand,” a member said.

Sleep Paralysis

Some members ask whether sleep paralysis could be a potential cause of waking up with one weak arm. Typically, sleep paralysis affects the whole body and lasts for a short time right when you wake up, so it is unlikely to affect just one arm or last for several hours.

Sleep paralysis symptoms include:

• Waking up but being unable to move, speak, or sometimes even open your eyes
• Feeling like someone or something is in your room and pushing you down
• Experiencing intense fear

An autoimmune disorder is a condition in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks and damages its own healthy cells, tissues, and organs. Although lupus is an autoimmune disorder that is associated with many sleep disorders, it’s not typically related to sleep paralysis. Conditions that are associated with sleep paralysis include insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), narcolepsy, and anxiety disorders.

Inflammatory Arthritis and Morning Stiffness

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 95 percent of people with SLE report having joint pain and stiffness, with swelling (arthritis) or without swelling (arthralgia) that is worse in the morning and gets better when you move around.

Joint swelling from lupus often affects the shoulders and upper arms and may be accompanied by pain. If this symptom occurs often or gets worse over time, it might be related to lupus joint inflammation.

See your rheumatologist for treatment and lifestyle suggestions if you think lupus is causing your joint problems.

Frozen Shoulder

One MyLupusTeam member said, “Sometimes, I sleep on my arm wrong, and it feels like I have pinched a nerve. It usually takes more time to wake up in the morning.”

Frozen shoulder is a condition that occurs when the shoulder has been stuck and limited in movement. This symptom is often caused by inflammation of the tissue surrounding the shoulder joint. In lupus, joint inflammation is common because the immune system mistakenly attacks the body’s own tissues, causing pain and swelling.

Treatment for frozen shoulder includes both anti-inflammatory medication and physical therapy. Reducing inflammation and moving around more can lower the chances of these episodes happening again in the future.

Stroke

One MyLupusTeam member wrote, “I woke up one day eight years ago with numbness in my left arm and leg and problems with speech. My husband called 911, and when I got to the hospital, the doctors said I’d had a stroke.”

According to Lupus Foundation of America, sudden numbness, muscle weakness, or paralysis of the arm on one side only is a reason to visit a health care provider right away. This could be a sign of a stroke. Other symptoms of a stroke include:

• Sudden confusion, difficulty speaking, or difficulty understanding what others are saying
• Vision changes
• Dizziness, trouble walking, or loss of balance and coordination
• Severe headache
• Drooping of one side of the face when smiling

Risk factors for stroke include, but are not limited to:

• High blood pressure
• Diabetes
• Chronic inflammation
• Smoking

If you are experiencing any of these symptoms along with arm weakness, especially if you are considered high risk for a stroke, call 911 right away or ask someone to call for you.

How To Manage Morning Arm Weakness

MyLupusTeam members have suggested tips for those waking up with a weak arm or numb shoulder.

“I would just have to work it out slowly by moving it a little at a time,” one said.

You can manage arm weakness or numbness at home by trying some mobility exercises or stretching. If the problem is related to a lack of blood flow to the arm, moving your arm around in a controlled way can help to get your blood pumping again.

Additionally, a massage of the affected area can help your blood flow. “My husband would rub my shoulder until my circulation came back,” one member said.

Sometimes, there is pain that makes moving your army right away too difficult. In these cases, one member said, “To get any kind of comfort from these episodes, I make a sling to hold it steady. If I’m wearing a zip-up top or coat, I actually zip it up halfway and tuck my arm in.”

If you are experiencing arm pain and are looking for relief, acetaminophen (Tylenol) is often a safe and effective option for people with lupus, as well as lupus nephritis (lupus-related kidney disease). Many medical professionals recommend that people with lupus nephritis avoid regular use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen for over-the-counter pain relief.

If this problem is ongoing, it may be helpful to talk to your doctor about a potential physical therapy referral. A physical therapist can help you strengthen and stretch your arms at home so that you can prevent or manage this frustrating symptom. Physical therapy is often recommended for people with lupus to improve holistic wellness and quality of life.

Talk to Your Doctor

Most of the time, arm and shoulder stiffness or numbness in the morning is not typically a cause for concern. However, if your symptoms continue or get worse throughout the day, or if you notice any other symptoms that are out of the ordinary for you, be sure to speak with your rheumatology provider, as it may be associated with a dangerous underlying condition.

In general, it is important to keep your doctor in the loop every time you experience an odd sensation for the first time: “My rheumy tells me to report any ‘new’ symptoms to him immediately,” one member noted.

If you’re concerned about your arm numbness, your rheumatologist can help figure out the cause of this new symptom by assessing your history, performing a physical exam, ordering imaging, and running blood tests. Using this information, they can help you come up with a treatment plan that can reduce this and other lupus symptoms.

Find Your Team

On MyLupusTeam — the social network for people with lupus and their loved ones — more than 223,000 members come together to ask questions, give advice, and share their stories with others who understand life with lupus.

Have you experienced morning arm numbness while living with lupus? How do you deal with stiffness, tingling, or pain in your arms? Share your experience in the comments below, or start a conversation by posting on your Activities page.