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Sandra’s Evil Braids

38 Comments

When we went to bed last night Sandra left her braids in, and yesterday’s braids were kind of a knotted, braidy bun at the back of her head.

Sometime in the wee morning hours Sandra and I snuggled together, her head resting on my right arm.

When I woke up this morning my right arm felt oddly numb. When I extracted myself from the snuggle I found that it was REALLY numb, and wasn’t working right.

In fact, it wasn’t working at all. The flexor system (make a fist, drop your wrist) was engaged, and the extensor system (extend your fingers, raise your wrist) was… gone? I couldn’t extend my fingers or raise my wrist.

Also, there was a set of near-bruised indentations in the crook of my elbow that seemed to match the knotty braid pattern from the back of Sandra’s head.

After about a minute of not panicking I managed to restore circulation to the sleeping extensor muscles. I expected the pins and needles to feel a lot worse than they did. Slowly the feeling returned and I was able to extend my fingers and wrist again. Yes, this was my right hand, the one that draws all the comics. Yes, I was frightened, but only a little. Mostly my brain was occupied with “how do I fix this” and “wow, this is kind of cool.” As of now, five hours later, there’s no trace of the problem.

What I’ve arrived at by way of conclusion, however, is “Sandra is not allowed to wear the evil knotty braid-bun to bed. And if she does, I’m not cuddling.”

38 thoughts on “Sandra’s Evil Braids”

  1. A good friend of mine had a boyfriend who’d never let her keep her hair braided or in a ponytail or the like – inevitably he’d manage to work her hair loose within an hour of being with her. Then again, she looks much prettier with her hair down, even if it’s easier to manage when braided or the like. ^^;;

    You know, there is also an alternative solution: if she insists on sleeping like that, insist on sleeping on her other side. That way it’s your left hand and wrist that gets the braid pressure treatment. ^^

  2. A good friend of mine had a boyfriend who’d never let her keep her hair braided or in a ponytail or the like – inevitably he’d manage to work her hair loose within an hour of being with her. Then again, she looks much prettier with her hair down, even if it’s easier to manage when braided or the like. ^^;;

    You know, there is also an alternative solution: if she insists on sleeping like that, insist on sleeping on her other side. That way it’s your left hand and wrist that gets the braid pressure treatment. ^^

  3. I’ve done that… to myself. Either with the braid, or by putting my arm in some odd position that slowed blood flow out of the arm. So when I woke up- I felt like my fingers had been replaced by swollen sausages and my hand/wrist refuse to operate. I have to raise my hand toward the ceiling and let the excess blood flow back into the rest of the system…

  4. I’ve done that… to myself. Either with the braid, or by putting my arm in some odd position that slowed blood flow out of the arm. So when I woke up- I felt like my fingers had been replaced by swollen sausages and my hand/wrist refuse to operate. I have to raise my hand toward the ceiling and let the excess blood flow back into the rest of the system…

  7. I had a similar experience. I woke up and my arm had been under my head in a weird position, and my middle finger, ring finger, and pinky were all number. After a bunch of massaging, I regained feeling in the middle finger, and some slight feeling in the other two fingers, but the pinky and ring finger didn’t regain full feeling for about two weeks. Scared the stew out of me!

  8. I had a similar experience. I woke up and my arm had been under my head in a weird position, and my middle finger, ring finger, and pinky were all number. After a bunch of massaging, I regained feeling in the middle finger, and some slight feeling in the other two fingers, but the pinky and ring finger didn’t regain full feeling for about two weeks. Scared the stew out of me!

    1. Ooh, I like this idea! Plus, then you could get twice as much done, since you could be drawing with BOTH hands! 😉 I see a six-month buffer in your future!

      1. I’ll teach myself left-handed drawing when/if it becomes a necessity. My hope, though, is that in that eventuality I’ll be able to hire out the work instead. It’ll be good for the economy, right?

    1. Ooh, I like this idea! Plus, then you could get twice as much done, since you could be drawing with BOTH hands! 😉 I see a six-month buffer in your future!

      1. I’ll teach myself left-handed drawing when/if it becomes a necessity. My hope, though, is that in that eventuality I’ll be able to hire out the work instead. It’ll be good for the economy, right?

  11. I was just thinking about this yesterday, how one can wake up injured, which is quite a WTF? thing. Who knew sleeping could be so dangerous?

  12. I was just thinking about this yesterday, how one can wake up injured, which is quite a WTF? thing. Who knew sleeping could be so dangerous?

  13. Once I managed to lie on my front with my left arm crossing directly across my shoulders. I woke up, rolled off it, and tried to move it to find it totally numb. I start to panic and think about permenant damage so I pick it up with my right hand to see what’s wrong and hold it right above my face, pulling the arm to full extension. Seeing nothing wrong I let go of the arm.

    I then add a black eye to the list of problems for the morning.

    1. Oops.

      I’ve done similar, going to sleep in odd positions. I once had a dream where my arm was hurting. In the dream, I had this cut on my arm, which was bleeding all over. I then woke up and found I’d been sleeping on that arm, and it was hurting (trapped nerve, maybe).

      Funny thing the subconscious.

  14. Once I managed to lie on my front with my left arm crossing directly across my shoulders. I woke up, rolled off it, and tried to move it to find it totally numb. I start to panic and think about permenant damage so I pick it up with my right hand to see what’s wrong and hold it right above my face, pulling the arm to full extension. Seeing nothing wrong I let go of the arm.

    I then add a black eye to the list of problems for the morning.

    1. Oops.

      I’ve done similar, going to sleep in odd positions. I once had a dream where my arm was hurting. In the dream, I had this cut on my arm, which was bleeding all over. I then woke up and found I’d been sleeping on that arm, and it was hurting (trapped nerve, maybe).

      Funny thing the subconscious.

  17. I would like to report that it is No Fun at All to wake oneself up by accidentally smacking oneself in the face with a similarly dead arm. This is happened to me on more than one occasion, and I can’t seem to stop my unconscious self from rolling over on top of said arm.

  18. I would like to report that it is No Fun at All to wake oneself up by accidentally smacking oneself in the face with a similarly dead arm. This is happened to me on more than one occasion, and I can’t seem to stop my unconscious self from rolling over on top of said arm.

  19. Happens to me about once every month or two. Most recent time was when I came home after an all-nighter to get my 1 hour of sleep before going back in, slept on the chair in the living room and pinched the heck out of the arteries in my arm. Never had any permanent damage to it as far as I know.

    1. I think this kind of thing is nerve-related, not blood vessels (it’s pretty hard to stop blood from flowing), so there would be little risk of permanent damage?

      1. Likely, but I do know that blood flow is restricted at least a little. My arm is always ice cold when it happens compared to my other one. Likely still getting blood flow but not enough to keep it warm.

  20. Happens to me about once every month or two. Most recent time was when I came home after an all-nighter to get my 1 hour of sleep before going back in, slept on the chair in the living room and pinched the heck out of the arteries in my arm. Never had any permanent damage to it as far as I know.

    1. I think this kind of thing is nerve-related, not blood vessels (it’s pretty hard to stop blood from flowing), so there would be little risk of permanent damage?

      1. Likely, but I do know that blood flow is restricted at least a little. My arm is always ice cold when it happens compared to my other one. Likely still getting blood flow but not enough to keep it warm.

  21. I know it’s wrong to say, but I’m just amazed you’ve managed to live this long without having had that happen before!

    I wake up with a dead arm all the time. It’s just the way the blood gets trapped, if you lay on your arm wrong. …or if someone else lays on it.

    Either you’ve got REALLY good circulation, or your veins are buried deeper than most folks commenting here, I guess 🙂

    If my gal wants to sleep on my arm, I try to make sure that she’s either resting on the outside of my upper arm, or that there’s a pillow in between. Trying to lever sleeping beauty off of you without waking her, when you only have one working arm, is an exercise in frustration 😉

  22. I know it’s wrong to say, but I’m just amazed you’ve managed to live this long without having had that happen before!

    I wake up with a dead arm all the time. It’s just the way the blood gets trapped, if you lay on your arm wrong. …or if someone else lays on it.

    Either you’ve got REALLY good circulation, or your veins are buried deeper than most folks commenting here, I guess 🙂

    If my gal wants to sleep on my arm, I try to make sure that she’s either resting on the outside of my upper arm, or that there’s a pillow in between. Trying to lever sleeping beauty off of you without waking her, when you only have one working arm, is an exercise in frustration 😉

  23. My brain is not fully awake yet

    I read your post title as “Sandra’s Evil Brains” and kept having brains substituted for braids until I got to your arm being numb. I had to re-read from the beginning for things to make sense. I did think it odd that you would write “…last night Sandra left her brains in…” but not totally out of place. It made me smile when I realized my mistake. You and Chalain (mostly Chalain) have warped my gray matter.

  24. My brain is not fully awake yet

    I read your post title as “Sandra’s Evil Brains” and kept having brains substituted for braids until I got to your arm being numb. I had to re-read from the beginning for things to make sense. I did think it odd that you would write “…last night Sandra left her brains in…” but not totally out of place. It made me smile when I realized my mistake. You and Chalain (mostly Chalain) have warped my gray matter.

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