Saturday Night Palsy

[RhinoinMN]

A friend of mine got hammered and passed out in one of those plastic patio chairs. His head laid on his left arm just below the shoulder.

When he woke up his arm from the elbow down was numb. After 3 days he went to the Dr. and they said that he suffered from "Saturday night palsy."

5 weeks later his arm slowly woke up and everything is normal.

My question is, Is that the real term or is he pulling my dick? He claims that's what the Doc said, but it sounds silly to me.

[Dr Steve]

A friend of mine got hammered and passed out in one of those plastic patio chairs. His head laid on his left arm just below the shoulder.

When he woke up his arm from the elbow down was numb. After 3 days he went to the Dr. and they said that he suffered from "Saturday night palsy."

5 weeks later his arm slowly woke up and everything is normal.

My question is, Is that the real term or is he pulling my dick? He claims that's what the Doc said, but it sounds silly to me.

Hey may be pulling your dick (how would I know what you two are up to?) but it really is a real medical term.

People have been admitted to the hospital thinking they're having a stroke before, only to find out (thankfully) that it was nothing more than "saturday night palsy".

This is caused by damage to the "radial nerve" in the arm, when people get drunk and lay on the arm the wrong way. You usually have to be drunk because a sober person would just move at some point during the night.

The radial nerve does several things, but one of them is to extend the hand at the wrist. When it's palsied, the patient is truly "limp wristed".

http://www.ncemi.org/cse/cse0918.gif

Here's a link to an article about this thing just so you don't think I'm pulling your genitals too:

http://www.ncemi.org/cse/cse0919.htm

I've only seen it once in my career, but it's so goofy that every doctor knows about it. :-)

[RhinoinMN]

Thank you.

Side note. You answered a question I had about my broken wrist (http://www.ronfez.net/forums/showthread.php?t=71523) and I have a follow up to that which may be related to this.

During surgery they gave me a block that I assume was on the radial nerve. That was on 6-30-08. My thumb has been numb ever since. They say it will wake up sometime, but it really sucks.

I want my thumb back.

[Chigworthy]

Thank you.

Side note. You answered a question I had about my broken wrist (http://www.ronfez.net/forums/showthread.php?t=71523) and I have a follow up to that which may be related to this.

During surgery they gave me a block that I assume was on the radial nerve. That was on 6-30-08. My thumb has been numb ever since. They say it will wake up sometime, but it really sucks.

I want my thumb back.

I've had nervelessness in my face and my leg. The face was from an orbital fracture repair, which caused numbness in my upper gum and lip. It took 2 years to come back to the point where I don't notice it. The leg was from a laminectomy to relieve sciatica. It is still numb down the outside of my leg and into my little toe, 2 years after surgery. I've always heard that nerves can take a while to recover, as illustrated by my face.