Severe Wrist Pain from Picking up Baby. Ouch...help Please.

Oh my gosh I had this same thing!!! I too almost dropped my daughter who was 4 months at the time. It has something to do with pregnancy and ligaments. It has to do with the thumb. There are braces at the pharmacy that stabilizes the thumb. I went to the dr and had a brace for a while and it was too big but got a smaller one at the pharmacy! It really worked!! Good luck!!

I went through this too. I had posted about it on my mother's group website and found that it is very common. It will eventually go away. But not much you can do until then.

I had the same thing with my son, and that is all you can do for it...rest & wear a brace. The brace is annoying, but you CAN do it. I did. My dr told me it's actually pretty common for new moms. Here's a link, it's called de quervains tenosynovitis. HTH
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/de-quervains-tenosynovit...

Carpel tunnel issues are common after a pregnancy, you might have a ganglion cyst in there somewhere too. If you just think it is over use, it could be tendonitis, I got this in my elbow when I was schleping around one of my big babies! Go to the doctor, you will be surprised what your options are when they are the only way to feel better. Hurting so much should not be an option for you either! You will make it.

M.

I'm guessing that this is a carpel tunnel flare up? I had this when my daughter was younger and was constantly picking her up - and picking her up under her arms with my thumb in the front of her and the rest of my fingers around her back. I was very uncomfortable as well, however, besides icing, heating and trying to pick her up differently and hold her differently, there wasn't much that gave me relief. Good luck to you!

I had the same kind of pain in my wrist because of the same reasons you have described. I wore a brace. It was uncomfortable and difficult, but it kept it from hurting and kept me from dropping or almost dropping my son. Just find one that is the best for comfortability.

Good Luck.

THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME!! It still hurts but I can do everyday things, unless it bends in the wrong way. I'm curious to see what other people say.

I had the same thing...it turned out to be tendonitis. You really should go see a dr about it....it won't get any better if you keep repeating the same movements with it. When I first started having the pain, I bought several drug store braces, but I was bracing the wrong area. At the dr's they ended up fitting me for a removable cast type brace, and using that was the only thing that healed me. Apparantly this is common with new moms. I know I got it from lugging my daughter in her carseat. I have been much more careful with my second child. Honestly, the longer you wait to treat it properly, the more chance it will only get worse, and as my dr told me, the bigger chance you will do the same thing to your other wrist as you will be using your other arm more often. You don't want to have two bad wrists! The brace was really no big deal..I was still able to do whatever my daughter needed, including holding her for nursing and picking her up. Good luck!

Wow, so many of us with the same condition! I remember it well, with my first. Went to the dr. and sure enough, tendonitis. He showed me the proper way to pick up my baby so once I was "cured" it wouldn't happen again. When you go, ask about the best way to pick up your baby once you are feeling better. Until then, you will have to improvise or have help. Rest is the way to healing.

When I was nursing my daughter - my hands and feet were killing me! Every morning when I would step out of bed I could barely put my feet on the floor. I don't remember what I read online about it - but I do remember that it happens to other people. I don't remember what I did for that pain, but years after finishing nursing, I was having lower back and hip pain - so badly that it would wake me in the middle of the night and I could hardly transition from a chair to standing or in and out of a car. None of the pain or anti-inflammatory meds helped me at all - but after taking glucosamine for about two weeks I felt (and still feel) much much better. Maybe that would help you with your problem? Make sure that you can take it while nursing though - if you are nursing that is. Good luck!

I used to get the same kind of pain when I was in dance and always have to put weight on my hands in certain dance moves. Also, whenever playing video games or typing on the computer for long periods of time it will act up. A brace really is the only thing I found to help. Since you can't wear it while handling your daughter, try only wearing it while she's napping or in bed for the night. Another thing that helped me was continuing to wear the brace while I slept... It's not recommended because if it's on too tight it will cut off blood circulation which is bad if kept uncirculated for a long period of time, but I would wear it looser at night... Just tight enough to keep my wrist in a somewhat still position.

Another thing, if it feels better after a hot shower then try placing hot wet towels around it if the pain just gets too bad. That might help a little.

L.,

I had the same thing happen when my little boy was born. I have always had weak wrists but it seemed to become so severe with constant pain. I ended up getting just a wrist brace from my doctor (or similar ones at target, etc). It inhibited my wrist movement which is what I needed to heal it. I wore it whenever I could and took it off to sleep. In about 3 - 4 weeks it was not as bad. I would strongly recommend finding a brace or a wrap of sorts to stabilize it so you do not make it worse.

I also realized when I slept I bent my wrists which I think made it worst. So I tried to stop doing that as well.

Good luck!

See a chiropractor, and get it adjusted.
best, k

My husbands had that and it's called Thumb Tendonitis. You are bending your wrist incorrectly when picking things up, especially your child. Wearing a brace will stiffen the joint and keep your wrist/thumb in the correct position. If you don't see a doctor about this who can show you the corrent position you need to use you will permanantly damage your wrist/thumb tendon. It never goes away and when you put your thumb your fingers, like making a girly fist, then bend your hand down italmost makes you scream!!!! That will always be there so figure out how to position your hands when picking up stuff.

http://www.artipot.com/articles/101095/thumb-tendonitis-3...

Here are some ideas for treating it: I use ice to reduce inflamation, or go swimming, the cool water reduces the inflamation too.

http://www.webmd.com/osteoarthritis/guide/arthritis-tendi...

I had the same problem when my daughter was 16 mo and got sick for a week and wanted to be held constantly. You need to make sure that when you pick your daughter up with your hands under her arm pits that you do not extend your thumbs, keep your thumbs against your hands instead. My doctor gave me a special brace that immobilized my thumb and told me to take ibuprofen also, but to stop from injuring it more, at least watch how you pick her up. Hope this helps!

B.

Hi. This is very common. I saw an ortho. and he said it is called postpartum de quervains. My pain was exactly how you described yours. He gave me a cortizone shot and I wore a brace (it could come on and off)for about 2 weeks. And then it never hurt again. It was so worth it. He is in Palm Beach County, but if you want his name and number I will give it to you. He actually specializes in hand and wrist. Good Luck.

Oh L.! I feel your pain. Literally!

I had the same thing. It started right after my daughter was born. It took me a year to finally go to the doctor because I thought the exact same thing you did.

The doctor told me that it was tendonitis. It happens to a lot of new moms. He gave me a cortisone shot . . . Oh I HAD to be talked into this one . . . a brace that I had to wear day and night for one month . . . and I started picking my daughter up with my other arm. My husband had to help me lift things like laundry baskets, dishes and pans. My follow up appointment with the doctor was a month later but I didn't go. I was on the mend. It took another month of wearing the brace and then it was all better.

So, make an appointment with a doctor and your worries will be over. I was told that if I hadn't done that it would not have healed on it's own.

Feel Better!

I call it "mommyitis" It is very common with new moms. It is caused by the repetitive motions from diapering, buttoning, feeding, etc. Best thing you can do it to keep icing it and invest in a brace and not the wrist kind. You mentioned it is at the base of your thumb, get the one that is made to stabilize your thumb. Don't wear it during the day, wear it at night. When sleeping, we tend to curl up our wrists/fingers which puts continued strain on all the tendons that go through them so it never gets a chance to rest. It will take several weeks for it to start to feel better, but if with icing and wearing the braces at night does not start to feel somewhat better in about 1 month's time, go see an orthopedic doctor. They can give you cortisone shots to take away the inflammation, but the only problem is if you continue to do the same things, it WILL come back. Now that baby is at least 10 months old, she should be holding the bottle herself, so it relieves that stress. Keep her in skirts all the time instead of onesies or pants so that you are not having to unbutton and button all the time during diaper changes. Little changes like that should help.

You could have some acupuncture therapy (which can be done with needles or non-needle stimuli like laser light)

I had this too, but it was attributed to my use of a computer. Initially, they thought I had Carpal Tunnel, but after much testing, it was determined that I had De Quervain's Tendonitis. I went to OT for months, did paraffin bathes up to my elbow, braces, medication, you name it. I ended up needing surgery. Since then, I've had no problems.

I would definitely go see a doctor for it because left unchecked it can turn bad (like my surgery).

Try glucosamine tablets. I had the same problem, and after a few weeks it REALLY helped. Just make sure it's ok to take while nursing.

Sounds like something I had: tendonitis in my wrist. It shot down through my wrist into my thumb. You will probably need to wear a brace, it will have to be an option. You need to open up your options a little bit more. Anyway, I took naproxen (Aleve) and it helped. I would do like someone else suggested and take a glucosamine, condrotin, and MSM combo.

I had the same thing with my first daughter starting when she was about 5 months. There is an actual name for it. It's called Mother's wrist. And yeah it's just lots of stress on your wrist from taking care of that baby. The best thing is a wrist brace which I know you said you have a hard time using but that is what my doc told me to use and it really helped. But I will say that I bought the first one and didn't like it. It was hard to wear while still caring for my daughter. So I looked around and tried a few on and then bought a different one. This one worked better and gave me the support I needed. Ice helps too so I did that at night once my daughter was in bed. Yes the brace makes it hard to hold your baby etc. but that is because it's keeping your wrist in the position it needs to be in so it can heal. You will get used to it after a while. And after a few months my wrist was healed.

When did it start? I had awful pain in my wrist after having my first child and realized part of the pain started when I was pregnant and was getting in and out of bed by putting all of my weight (there was a lot more of it, so I wasn't used to it) on my wrist. Our mattress was on the floor. There were times I could not even grip a piece of paper and I did almost drop my son a few times, too. I had to lift him with my forearm or the crook of my elbow under his armpit once he was old enough, and use the other wrist normally since it was fine. It did end up recovering, but my son was almost a year by then.

Use a wrap if you can (like you would use to wrap a strained ankle or something) since it will be softer and more flexible since you're using it all the time. If you can think of anything that might have put force on your wrist like a fall where you caught yourself or anything you might want to visit the doctor anyway. My SIL recently had wrist surgery from a hairline fracture from two years ago. Her doctor thought it was capal tunnel originally and had her in a brace, but it was getting worse and the bone was dying. (Not to be a doom and gloom person, but get it checked out if it is not feeling better and you are trying to use it less.) Hope it feels better quickly!

If you find that you can't wear a brace, why don't you try using an ace bandage. An ace bandage will give you some support, reduce any swelling you may have and allow you to have more flexibility than a brace would. Hope you feel better.