TENDONITIS LIKE WRIST PAIN Since I Had My Baby, Anyone Experience This?

Hi H., I had the same thing when my son was born. I went to the DR and she said I had probably strained it from holding my son so much. She gave me IB profen and after about a month it went away....good luck!

I developed this right after I had my twins, who are 9 weeks old. I only have it in the right wrist. I went to the doc and it is tendonitis and she told me 20% of new moms develop it. She prescribed 600mg of ibprofen 3x a day and a thumb spica slint until I can get into an ortho and have a cortisone shot which she said will provide me with immediate relief. I can't wait for the ortho to call! I only wear the splint at night because I need my hands to handle my babies, but it really does help. Good luck.

I had the samething after my daughter was born. I also went to see a hand specialist. He told me the pain would continue until I stopped breastfeeding, I think he said it was related to the hormones or something. Then he offered me the cortizone shot, but I declined. So instead they made me a brace to hold my hand in the correct position. This helped a ton. BTW the pain did stop before I stopped breastfeeding, which was good since that was at 2 yrs. Good Luck.

This is pretty common, someone else wrote about the same problem a while back. When I had this, ice, massage, and acupuncture were what helped.to this day it still bothers me when I'm typing a lot or holding the baby a lot, and I still get massage and have my chiropractor adjust my wrists too, and ice when I get home. Good luck!

P.s. Check on tylenol before taking it, I seem to remember that you only take tylenol while pregnant but advil while nursing. But remember that taking any medications will only cover up the symptoms and not alleviate underlying problem!

I had this problem starting at about 7 months of my pregnancy. Apparently this is very normal because you get swollen during pregnancy. I ended up seeing an occupational therapist who specializes in this, like carpal tunnel, and she fitted me with a customized hand brace for both wrists that I had to wear when I slept so that my wrists would stay in a certain position and not get worse. I also had to do exercises opening and closing my hands while holding them up (like an exaggerated wave). This helped but the pain didn't go away until my son was 5 months old. It was a nightmare, especially when carrying a newborn and nursing, but it should eventually go away with the support.

Before you try braces or cortizone shots, see a good massage therapist who is EXPERIENCED in injury treatment.

Pain in the wrists and hands can often come from nerve pinching in the chest and shoulders. New mothers have the new hunching and curving forward position with holding new babies. This shortens and tightens the muscles on the front of the chest.

You can try and relieve this yourself with doing pectoral stretches for pec. major and pec. minor.

Stand with your side to the wall, put your arm straight back so that it is parallel with the floor. You should feel a stretch across your chest. It is a more intense stretch the closer you stand to the wall.

To stretch pec. minor, just adjust your arm to a 45 degree angle. You should feel a stretch more in the armpit and not so deeply into the chest. These can be very intense stretches, so just take them easily until you open things up.

You should hold a stretch (static, not bouncing) for 15-30 seconds. Do a few for each position.

If you're feeling the stretch more in your biceps and armpits, it's because you're tighter there. Just keep stretching regularly.

If this doesn't relieve your pain, it will at least help otherwise. Great stress relief.

Good luck.

lightrelief.com

This saved me! I could barely walk after I fell. I was going to physical therapy and they were doing e-stim, ultrasound, H-wave, ice, heat, massage, etc... I went for many months before I tried the light relief, but not much improvement. I got the lightrelief in the mail on Monday and by Wednesday, I could already walk better. It worked better than everything they were doing at PT. I use it on my wrist, neck, back, hips knees, everywhere it hurts from my various injuries. I wore out the cord where it plugs into the unit, so they sent me another one, free! It has a terrific 2 year warranty. Just don't let the little ones shine it in their eyes. Blessings,
J.

I had that for about three months and then as quickly as it showed up it just left. One day I woke up and there wasn't any pain. I never associated the pain with nursing, or having a baby but that could have been it. I think if you ask your doctor to recommended you to some physical therapy that it might help.

It might be "dequervain's tendonitis" from holding your daughter. I experienced it with our adopted daughter who was 18 lbs when we got her. A wrist brace and Advil helped, but there are more serious treatments like corticosteroid injections or physical therapy. Mine eventually went away, once she started walking. Hope this helps.

I think I might be the one who wrote in a month or so ago about wrist/forearm pain. I'm managing it mostly by watching how I pick up my son and limiting the length of uninterrupted time I spend on the computer. The chiropractor also helped and gentle massage was also beneficial. I haven't tried alternating ice and heat yet. You might look up DeQuervain's tendinitis to see if that matches your symptoms.

If you can find the old thread, I received a number of very helpful suggestions.

Hi! Older mom's tend to have painful hands after pregnancy. I have no idea why, but I did too and I'm 36. So here is the scoop. It could be a number of things, the relaxin is still in your body which makes all the ligaments and joints loose and it effects not just your pelvic area but your hands, feet,etc. Or it could be carpel tunnel - for the same relaxin reason(doesn't sound like it) or plain tendonitis. I had both. to deal with the first, the doc shot cortisone into my thumb joints. The shots were very painful but the relief was almost instantiously. I at first didn't want to do the steroids but I was scared that I would drop my baby because my hands, wrists and thumbs hurt so bad. I'm glad I did. Good luck!

It's NOT tendinitis,, it sounds to me like corprul-tunnel,, but yes,, I think that's what you have as I had it too,, cannot understand why it hurts,, but yes,, go see a Dr and they will tell you,, what you do to help you is,, put a tie up high on your arm and tie ot off,, kinda tight,, wa-la no pain,, but it takes surgery to fix it,, go see your Dr and get back to me,,k, that's what it is,, I bet you,, lol,, good luck,, D.

I had it too, and with our second baby, my shoulder also started to hurt. It's just the weight of the baby and the new things and motions you are doing. I went to my Chiropractor, and he adjusted my wrists, thumbs and neck. I also iced them and wore a wrist brace, BUT ONLY AT NIGHT. You wear it too much and your muscles and tendons become too reliant on it. But I would curl my wrists/hands under my chin at night, which was not helping, so the brace kept it straight. These natural methods worked great for me, and I felt better that I was not taking any prescriptions that could get into my breast milk, and therefore into my son. Hope you are feling better soon!
~A.

My friend suffered similar post partum. She said Acupuncture worked for her.

You could have carpal tunnel syndrome. If this keeps up I would speak to your doctor about it.

I just asked about this myself a couple weeks ago. I went to my doctor and got a brace for my wrist but I also worked on how I was holding baby as I breastfed. My doc said that it can last for months and is generally caused by water displacement after birth. Mine is just about gone after only three weekks... which is a blessing!

Good luck to you!

I got very bad wrist pain in both wrists late in my pregnancy and was told it was carpal tunnel, aggravated more by keyboarding, and that by 6 months post-partum it should resolve. Instead it worsened all the way up my arms. I would wake up in the morning with both arms/hands very numb. The pain and numbness made it very difficult to hold, nurse and change my daughter. I went to Seattle Hand Surgery for physical therapy which helped some but did not resolve the problems. For example, I learned to modify the way I hold certain things (keep my thumb by my hands instead of spreading it separate for leverage). I was still really struggling when I saw a family practice doctor for a sinus infection. Other doctors had offered me surgery but admitted it might not fix things and could make them worse. This dr. suggested cortisone shots which I had gotten in my back after a car accident and they hurt horribly and did nothing. I was desperate though, so we did one wrist. It hurt a lot for 12-24 hours but then let up and got better!!!! So I did the other one and the same thing happened! It was not a pleasant experience getting the injections, and you can only do ONE hand at a time because your arm becomes useless immediately until the next day, but it has not come back and my daughter is 13! Good luck!!!!!

I experienced something similar when my baby was born. He doubled his birthweight (7lbs to 15lbs!) in two weeks. My body couldn't keep up with the weight gain of the baby and my wrists were toast. Then I went to a yoga class and found it was very normal to experience this pain. I'm not sure what to do about it. I dealt with it as best I could and eventually it went away. Not very helpful, but there you have it. Good luck.

You may want to mention it to your OB/GYN. Carpol Tunnel is very common during pregnancy and I would suspect it can occur during breasfeeding as well. The type of pain you are describing sounds like Carpol Tunnel. You can buy a inexpensive wrist brace at your local drugstore and that should give the tendons a chance to relax and the swelling inside your wrist to subside. I had it during my last pregnancy and my OB said it was just something that happens to some women during pregnancy.

I am the mother of 2 month old and have had right wrist pain like you as well. I had my 6 week appt with my ob and he put me on Naprosyn for arthritis. I had the pain throughout my pregnancy and it has never gone away. He wants to try the Naprosyn and if it does not get better then I will see a specialist. Not really sure what is going on. My doc says only time will tell. Hope that helps. G.

H., I too had wrist pain, doctor said it was tendonitis which started when I was working before I had our first child. After birth I still would feel the pain lefting the baby and doing certain things. Shortly after my son turned 1 yrs. old I was introduced to a natural supplement that after taking it I noticed I don't have any problems anymore and that's been 12 years ago and three children later! I have discovered that the influmation is taken care of! I have online info. is you are interested just let me know...my e-mail is ____@____.com

OK, I had this as well. It is called dequervains tendonitis (you can look it up on the www). The diagnostic test is if you fold your thumb and curl your fingers over your thumb and then bend your wrist sideways away from your thumb and you have sharp pain in the wrist then it is likely dequervains tendonitis. It is caused by the way you contort your wrists to hold the baby.
I had it in both wrists but my left was worse. If you are not opposed to the "medical model" you should go to a hand surgeon. They knew exactly what was going on with me as soon as I walked into the office carrying a 2 month old. I never took any tylenol or ibuprofen as my severe pain was intermittent with wrist movements and also a low grade constant pain which I could stand. I didn't want to take any long term meds which my baby would get as well. The first thing they did was put me in special wrist braces which didn't allow me to move my thumb. I wore the left one all of the time and the right one only at night. It was very difficult to maneuver a baby, etc this way. I had to wait 6 weeks. At 6 weeks they gave me cortisone injections into the tendon. It really didn't hurt and I didn't breast feed for 6 hours after the injection-(I had stored breast milk-and it was always exciting to my husband to give our son a bottle). It worked like a charm. Instant no more pain. Unfortunately the cortisone shots to wear off. My friend was cured after one cortisone injection but mine was right back after about 3 months. I was able to get 2 more injections in my left wrist and then they would not give me anymore and I just had to wear the brace. I decided to have surgery on that wrist before I got pregnant with my second. It turns out that I had/have a congenital defect where I have 2 tendons in one sheath instead of 2 tendons in 2 sheaths. He was able to fix it and I haven't had any pain in that wrist since the surgery. The hand surgeon had thought that I probably had the defect because I had developed the tendonitis in both wrists. I had my second baby and had a small flare up in my right wrist and they did give me last injection into it (which worked great until it wore off). Now (my second is almost 2 1/2) I still have shots of pain in that wrist when I turn it the wrong way but I am able to live with it. If it evers becomes awful I would elect to have the surgery on it as well. I think life is too short to live with pain.
After my whole experience, I advise my friends/acquaintances with these symptoms to tell the doc that you have had your thumb immobilized for a long time and hope they will give you the cortisone ASAP. I do know others who chose not to do the cortisone and who still live with the pain- some liked acupuncture or reflexology and for some it just eventually went away. You will have to decide what is best for you.
If you would like to see a picture of the wrist braces (mine were red- you get to pick your color) you are welcome to e-mail me. I am open to more questions. S.

I have been having wrist problems 3 days after giving birth. Doctor ran all kinds of test and couldnt find anything. Finally i was told that it was tendonitis . I did understand how i could wake up one day and have it in both wrist. I have all the pains that you are, its been over a year and its only getting worse.

I have had tendonitas for quite a few years off and on. When I had my son I had a real bad flare up and at one point my wrist simply gave out on me and I almost dropped my son. It was super scary. I dont know if your breast feed or not, but my DR. put me on IB Profin. Its an anti-inflamitory and it helps alot. It takes about a week or so to actually start feeling better, but it does.

I had the same thing. It resolved in about 10 months; the same time my child grew big enough to nurse w/o using a breastfeeding pillow. Seemed to be related to pressure on the forearm and wrists while bfing.

De Quarvains is a painful situation common to new mothers. We put a lot of demands on our thumbs picking up these little bundles of joy, and we never had any intensive training to do the work. You are in real trouble is you feel the tendon move over the wrist. A physical therapist has done wonders for getting my arms in shape and taking care of the pain through massage and exercises that strengthen the hurt tendon. In the mean time, one Tylenol will do wonders for you and not harm your child since you breast feed.

The tylonol, physical therapy, and a hand/wrist brace helped for temporary measures. My doctor said 6 weeks without moving the arms at all would clear it up, but since I am a full-time mom, it was the physical therapy that really helped me out. Hope you feel better.

It could be carpal tunnel. I had it bad with both pregnancies and afterwards. What cured it was homeopathy.
I now practice it myself now and if you tell me more about it may be able to help.
Best wishes,
E Brandegee

I have had something very similar to this! I have a seven week old baby girl and I am also breastfeeding. The only thing that my husband and I can think of is that most of the time, in order for my daughter to get a good latch, I hold my hand under her head while breastfeeding. Now that she's getting bigger it's putting quite a bit of strain on my hands, wrists and forearms. I'm not sure if this applies to you or not, but it's a thought. For the time-being my doctor said to try tyelenol and ibuprofen. Since my baby is so young my wrists might just need time to get used to the day-to-day with her, but I've heard of anti-inflammatories being prescribed as well and you've had the issue for much longer than I have. Good luck!

Hi,
I had something that sounds similar to your pain. I had this 5 years ago with my first child. I went to my family doctor and they gave me a Rx for an antinflamatory. They said often new moms are carrying those big baby car seat carriers around (which I was for sure) Also I iced it and rested it as much as possible and it went away.. I know it hurts bad. Try going to your family Dr. and see what they say.
Best of luck,
Lenc
mother of 2 girls.

I've had a lot of tendonitis. It's better when I take Glucosamine MSM, and also, I started working out more - with light weights to start, and now heavier ones. The change in my tendons has been dramatic - especially my wrists.

Also make sure you take a GOOD calcium supplemtn like Bone-up or Bone-Strength by NOW.

With my first child I had 7 cavities - with my last 2, NONE even though I breast fed 1.5 years and 3 years. Calcium deficiency is very common among us women.

After giving birth to my son I had the same problem and it was extremely painful....could hardly pick him up. I went to the orthopedic doctor who gave me a couple of options...splints for my wrists or steroid shots which I could not take because I was breastfeeding. I ended up seeing an acupuncturist and was treated about 8 times for this problem and have been pain free ever since. Hope this helps.

It sounds like De Quarvains. It's fairly common in new mothers (it's that picking up the baby motion that does it). I had it after my first daughter was born in both wrists and was in a lot of pain. I went and saw a hand specialist. We tried cortisone shots (he said they work on 60% of patients) unfortunately I was one of the 40% that they didn't work on. I ended up having surgery to release the sheath around the nerve. It was an easy surgery and I was picking up my daughter in couple of days pain free. Good luck.

that's so interesting....i had the same problem after my baby was born, i thought that it was the way i was holding her, my wrist was bent in a position it wasn't used to.
i even went to the doctor for it, my xrays came back normal.
i wore one of those carpal tunnel braces (got it at walgreens) all the time for a few weeks along with arnica (herbal remedy) cream slathered on underneath the brace.
this combination worked for me, it was pretty annoying to have the brace on all the time, but after a few weeks i had no more pain.
good luck, i know how difficult it is to take care of a baby when you're in pain all the time!

Yes I had this - of course it took way longer to figure out because I also have Rheumatoid Arthritis. So finally I got the RA under control and still had this horrid pain. My doctor had me wear splints for 2 months be really careful how I lift my daughter (she had just turned 2) and increased anti - inflammatory medications. I also increased my vitamins - and iced my wrists every evening - (I used a frozen bag of popcorn - alternating five minutes on five minutes off).

Anyway - it's really common - and well worth taking care of right away - you might want to see your doctor to figure out how to work it out - especially since you are breast feeding.

Yes I had this with both my kids. I finally asked my doctor about it when it started affecting me being able to pick up my daughter. he prescribed an anti-inflammatory for me to take that was safe while I was nursing.

I've noticed that it comes and goes....Good Luck

I have had the same thing in my right wrist for about 5 months now! I merely turned over in bed in the night & pulled my comforter up, & my wrist 'popped'. My doctor said there is a sheath around the tendon, & sometimes it is possible to 'pop' it if it is twisted or something. He said to avoid anything that seems to cause pain with it or irritate it (right!), to take an anit-inflamatory/IBuprofen & to apply heat for 20 minutes 2 x's a day. The heat really does seem to take the inflamation down for me. It can take like up to a year for it to heal! It is very painful! It must be most difficult to have it in BOTH wrists as well as having a baby to care for! I wish you well! S.

I am a physical therapist. Some women develop wrist or thumb tendonitis or carpal tunnel like symptoms when their babies are young, especially if breastfeeding. When you breastfeed, your body is still producting hormones that thend to make your ligaments more lax or loose. It can also be the position of your wrists when you pick up your baby. You want to keep them as neutral as possible. If your baby is in the crib and you have to reach way over to pick her up you can put your wrists in a position that put strain on them, for example. You could wear some inexpensive neoprene wrist supports, just to give you a little stability and to help you remember to focus on keeping them neutral. If your doctor writes a prescription for the supports insurance may even cover them. PT or OT (hand therapist) may help for massage, help with neutral position, troubleshooting the problem etc. Let me know if you have any further questions. I'd be happy to help.