Clinical Practice and Cases in Emergency Medicine

Despite extensive review in the literature, compartment syndrome and crush syndrome remaindifficult to diagnose. Trauma, toxins and reperfusion have been associated with these syndromes.Cases involving alcohol and drug abuse have described patients “found down” compressing anextremity. We present a case of a registered nurse who developed compartment syndrome inmultiple limbs due to prolonged sleep after sleep deprivation and zolpidem use. To our knowledge,this is the first case of compartment syndrome or crush syndrome to have occurred in the settingof zolpidem use. Sleep disruption in healthcare workers represents a public health issue withdangerous sequelae, both acute and chronic.