My Stupid Right Arm.

Last night I went to bed at 12:15. I was ready for bed and excited about the possibility of becoming lucid. After a few minutes of convicing my subconcious that we were gonna dream and awake after the dream and remember it, I began to just relax and let sleep take over.
But I have this little problem. My right arm, around the shoulder area, feels like it has a pinched nerve or something and it causes not only discomfort around/inside the shoulder, but it causes my pinky and thumb to tingle, like they're almost going numb. This arm has been giving me problems for a long time, only slight discomfort, and it is off and on.
At 1:30, I'm still laying there cursing my arm. So I get up, troll these forums, and at 2:30 I feel tired enough to sleep despite discomfort. I hop back into bed, again affirming that I will dream and awake upon dream-end. I fall asleep.
At 5:30, sure enough, I awake, and Yes!!, I remember my dream. I am almost too tired to write it down, and I nearly slip back into sweet slumber, but I throw off the covers and procede to write down my dream without turning the lights on. Then I have to pee. Shake off. Walk back to bed.
I get back into bed, ready for some more sweet sleep action, but then, guess what happens? You guessed it. My arm gave me hell.
So from 5:45 until 7:00 I just layed there tossing and turning, sitting up, laying face down, arm over the head, arm by my side, arm on the tummy.... nothing.
At this point, my mom is awake getting ready for work, so I walk downstairs and say, "Mom, you have any sleeping pills or pain killers?"
"For what?"
"My arm is fucked up", and I proceeded to explain my unfortunate situation.
So she gave me half of a pain-killer she had left over from probably some mouthwork God knows how long ago, and, now, here I am, hoping to God that the side effect of DROWSINESS kicks in. We'll see.

At least I awoke after the dream and remembered it.

Nerve issues are the worst. I fell off of a cliff in 1985, and still suffer the results.

Couple things I've learned over the years:

Avoid heat on the afflicted area. Cold reduces inflammation, heat feels great while it is being applied but actually increases inflamation and makes the nerve problems much worse later. This includes hot showers, hot tubs, etc.

When all else fails, take an NSAID - a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. These include plain old aspirin, Ibuprofen (like Motrin and Advil) and Naproxen (Aleve.) I try to avoid taking anything, but sometimes you just gotta. These are all over the counter in the US.

Stretch the afflicted area. Your problem is in your shoulder or neck. Don't extend your arm up and hang or anything like that... but find a way to grab something and pull gently on your arm in different directions. You will likely find a certain direction and tension that feels great. Hang with that pose for five minutes or so at a time.

Another great (but weird) exercise is to just relax on your stomach while laying on an exercise ball. As you relax, the natural curve of the ball and gravity gently stretches out your spine, neck and shoulders.

Finally, pay attention to your pressure points against your mattress when you lay down. For me, there are only certain ways I can lay without aggravating my pinched nerve problems. If I want to lay other ways, I have to use pillows to relieve pressure on certain areas, spreading my weight more evenly.

Good luck.

Although I don't have a problem with my arm, I do know how annoying it is when you lie awake from 5:45 to 7:00. I use WBTB, I set my alarm for 5:30, and try to go back to sleep, problem is I have to be up at 7:00, and on quite a few occasions I have lay awake until I need to get up.

I sleep easier if I don't move around though, I just try to relax, and stay still, I avoid turning over as much as I can.

If you use any kind of medication, like what Pj mentioned, be aware that some may have side affects that can affect dreaming. I used to use ritalin for ADD, and that seemed to supress recall.

I just noticed you joined earlier today, Welcome :D