A Day in Menopause · A Hormonal Comedy by Nurit Rozenblat
Chapter Eighteen: 22:24 — My Hand Fell Asleep. I Wish I Could.
At 22:24 Dana almost fell asleep.
Almost.
She was in bed, Eyal's head had long been resting on her chest — no, the other way around. Her head was resting on his chest, and she could hear his breathing begin to slow.
The room was dark.
The fan worked quietly.
Her body, finally, after a whole day, agreed to relax.
And then she felt it.
Little prickles in her right hand.
Like thousands of tiny needles.
And then — nothing.
Her fingers simply weren't there.
Dana raised her hand in front of her face in the dark.
She couldn't see it.
She could barely feel it either.
"Great," she whispered. "Now the hands too."
She shook her hand.
Nothing.
She shook harder.
The prickles came back, stronger.
"Ouch."
Eyal stirred.
"What?"
"Nothing. Go back to sleep."
"You're shaking the bed."
"I'm shaking my hand."
"Why?"
"Because it fell asleep."
Eyal opened one eye.
"Your hand fell asleep?"
"Yes."
"Good for her."
"Eyal."
"What? She succeeded at something you've been trying to do since eleven o'clock last night."
Dana looked at him.
"You're really witty when you're half asleep."
"I'm always witty. You're just too awake to notice."
She kept shaking her hand.
The feeling came back slowly.
A prickle.
A prickle.
And then her fingers were hers again.
"Does this happen to you a lot?" Eyal asked.
"Lately? Yes. Mostly at night. I wake up with a heavy hand, or with prickles."
Tingling and a feeling of the hands falling asleep can appear in some women during the menopause transition, the voice said. Some women report such sensations, although it isn't always clear how directly they are connected to the hormones.
"He's starting again with the 'not always clear,'" Dana said.
"What's not clear?"
"Whether it's the hormones. Because there are lots of other reasons."
Like what? she thought.
Pressure on a nerve from a sleeping position. Carpal tunnel syndrome, which is more common at this age. Neck problems. A vitamin B12 deficiency. And sometimes thyroid problems or blood sugar, too. So if the tingling keeps coming back, goes on, or there is also weakness in the hand — it's worth getting checked, and not assuming it's "just age."
"You hear that?" she said to Eyal. "If it comes back, we get it checked. We don't assume."
"You're getting everything checked lately."
"I have a renovation list. The hands are candidates to join."
Eyal took her hand in his.
"How is it now?"
"Better."
"I'll hold it. That way it won't fall asleep again."
"That's not how it works."
"I know. But it's a good excuse."
Dana smiled in the dark.
She tried to pick up the phone from the nightstand to add the hands to the list.
Her fingers were still a little numb.
She typed with her left hand:
Hansd — to check.
The phone corrected it:
Days — to check.
"What are you writing?" Eyal asked.
"'Days — to check.'"
"What does that mean?"
"It means my phone has decided everything is philosophical."
She deleted it and typed again, slowly:
Hands — tingling at night. If it comes back, get checked.
"Done. I wrote it down."
"Good. Now sleep."
"I've been trying since yesterday."
"I know."
He didn't let go of her hand.
It was 22:41.
Dana discovered that it is possible to be woken by something you can't feel.
Eyal discovered that it is possible to hold a hand without a physiological reason.
And the right hand?
It went back to work.
Slowly, but it came back.
Like all of us here.
End of Chapter Eighteen.
Continued in Chapter Nineteen: 23:41 — The Room Is Spinning. I Didn't Order That.
© 2026 Nurit Rozenblat. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or distributed without the author's prior written permission.
