Bad carpal tunnel syndrome...what to do?

[cappuccinosmom]

I didn't have this with ds1. But since last month, the tingling and numbness has been getting worse, especially at night. Since last week, it's been extending from my shoulder to fingertips, and last night my ring fingers were hurting pretty severely. I'm still tingly and a little painful now (What am I doing typing??? :o )

I know the tingling etc can result from pregnancy, but this seems a little overboard.

Has anyone had it to this extent? Is it going to go away after the baby is born (I'm 40+ weeks now)? My mom ( a M.D.) wants to give me a Cortisone shot, but I want to avoid that if I can.

[stafl]

for me, it went away a couple weeks after my baby was born. I didn't do anything for it, but I did see a neurologist. My chiropractor made some recommendations that helped, though. He said to make sure I don't sleep with my arms above my head, but I can't remember what else he told me. Make sure when you are typing that your wrists are straight and that your keyboard is as low as possible. Don't rest your elbows on the arms of your chair. :hug

[Bethla]

Late in my last pregnancy it bothered me in one of my arms, so I would wear a brace at night. That helped a little. It did go away after the birth. But a friend of mine was still bothered by hers. The doc wanted her to have surgery. That was a few years ago and she's just been suffering with it ever since.

Hope you feel better soon.

[momto l&a]

Carpal tunnel in pregnancy means you are deficint in B6 according to John Marion Ellis.

http://www.seanet.com/~alexs/ascorbate/199x/hattersley-jg-j_orthomol_med-1993-v8-n4-p229.htm Section 3.2

[mightymoo]

I had exactly this with my first pregnancy - didn't really start until 41 weeks. I have always had I dunno sensitive wrists in that they would fall asleep on me at night, but late in the pregnancy it became extremely painful - at the very end, I could not put any pressure on my arms or shoulders without causing them to go painful and numb. My wrists hurt so bad cutting eggs with the side of my fork was too painful.

It did go away right after birth to an extent - my wrists did not go compeltely back to the way they were before, but nowhere near what it was during pregnancy. Afterward I did have much more numbness at night and would wake up with my hand completely dead (no feeling), etc. I had more problems when doing repetitive activities, like painting a fence, etc. However, I never had problems typing and I work in the computer industry.

Based on my regular doctor's advice (who had a similar problem during her pregnancy) I have since started wearing wrist braces to sleep and have been wearing them throughout this preganncy and that has helped tremendously. I cannot sleep without them now because I really feel the difference in terms of my hands going numb. If my wrists start hurting during the day (near the end I assume they will) I will start wearing the braces more often during the day, but at the moment its only during sleep (because I sleep on my side though my top arm goes numb too) that that they bother me.

[matts_mamamama]

I had it the first time and am already getting again this time. :( It went away pretty quick after delivery of my son, but my wrist never felt the same after - I always feel like I want to crack and twist it. Guess it's back to the brace for me!

[cappuccinosmom]

Thanks!

I did sleep with my head up the last two nights and that helped tremendously (except it did cause my hands and feet to blow up like balloons. I can't win! :LOL )

I always did have very mild twinges/tingling with repetetive tasks and have dropped a few things because of twinges. And my mom started with this with her first baby (me) and I'm so like her it isn't funny. :irked:

So...I guess I need to invest in some wrist braces.

[CathToria]

I had it with my 2nd pregnancy. Starting at around 18 weeks, I had to sleep with the braces every night. If I woke up in the middle of the night to get something to eat, I would usuallly take them off. Sometimes, I would forget them downstairs as I crawled back into bed and I thought, "well it's only a few more hours, I will sleep without them".....WRONG, I was always awake within 45 minutes or so in terrible pain and had to retreive them.

Mine totally went away after pg, infact the last night that I wore them was the night before dd was born.

I have not needed them at all in my 3rd pregnancy (35 weeks now). IMO, my hormones in my 2nd pg were out of control high, as I had 9 month ms, extra hair growth, dark, early linea nigera, etc...... "hormonal" things that have not accompanied my 1st or 3rd pregnancy. I also have gained less weight this time which I think has helped. HTH

[GatorNNP]

I had it. I think it started around 30 something weeks and it seemed to be worse if my hands were more swollen. I worked a lot, so I don't think that helped. I would sleep with elevated head/shoulders and put my arms up on pillows and it seemed to help the swelling go down. It took about 8 weeks to completely resolve. I remember being peeved that I could not "feel" my baby with my fingertips due to the pins/needles feelings.

[KoalaMommy]

I had it too, mine took a month to go away completely (I was VERY swollen at the end) and a lovely ganglion cyst appeared on my wrist when it was over, but only on one hand. And it did go away completely on the other hand. Don't treat it, there's no reason to, you know it's just caused by the pregnancy.

Eat water mellon. It helps bring down the swelling.

[LinzluvsGJ]

I had it my first pregnancy from all the swelling... it was gone by about 2 weeks after delivery (though the hospital told me it could take up to 6 weeks). I tried to not sit typing for long periods of time at my computer at the time, and not to sleep on my arms. When it really hurt, I took the flexible ice packs you can get and would use them on my wrists which would help relieve some of the pain and swelling temporarily.

[melixxa]

I've started to get it - for a few nights, my one arm ached so bad that I could not get to sleep. For this reason and others (extreme pain in the lower back and sacrum/ilium from an ill-conceived, long session working at the computer - I have since quit working because of it ...), I went to see a cranial-sacral therapist my midwife recommended during my last pregnancy. She really helped me then. Anyway, she could feel the nerves flaring in my upper back and thought that that was probably causing the arm aches. I had an hour session with her and now the arm problems are nearly nonexistent (for a week and counting so far). The hip/back problems are much lessened, though I have to be really careful how I sit, how long, etc. (you'll find me mostly on the exercise ball now). I also do yoga every day and am convinced that this is helping a lot.

Good luck to you. Though my hip/back/public bone separation aches have made my days somewhat difficult, the carpal tunnel was what kept me from sleeping and made nights a pure misery.

[mightymoo]

So...I guess I need to invest in some wrist braces.
Mine were covered by insurance - certainly not all plans will cover them, but you can get a doctor to write a prescription and give it a try. I got them at a medical supply store the doctor recommended.