Severe pain in joints since child borth

[Wizzbit6]

I have a 4.5mth old baby an since giving birth have severe pain in my joints. The pain has got worse over the past few weeks with the worst pain in my hands and knees. Anybody know if this is linked to birth? Doctor doesn't seem to know what the problem is...

Go back and ask for blood tests. From what I've read from several MNers, you will need to be very assertive. There are lots of things that can cause joint pain. I guess they will do stuff like iron, thyroid function, ESR (measures inflammation I think) etc.

IIRC your ligaments etc get looser when you are pregnant (due to a hormone called relaxin, I think?) so maybe they just are taking longer than normal.

I've recently become quite unwell and can't actually work because the joint pain (and fatigue) has got really extreme. After talking to the doctor (I have a very good doctor who really listens) he reckons I may have chronic fatigue syndrome (or M.E.) because of the symptoms I've had for over a year. Just having tests now to rule out other stuff like arthritis. CFS is often triggered by a virus but I've been told it can be triggered by trauma like childbirth too - it may have been in my case as I have never felt 'right' since having dc2. Just kept putting it down to having 2 DCs but actually it was way beyond normal mum tiredness.

Not writing that last paragraph to scare you, as I say there are loads of possible causes and obviously I am biased because of my own situation, I just think it would be a good idea to get it checked out - 4.5mth is a long time!

BTW with regards to talking to doctors - it is useful to actually give examples of how the pain affects you, since pain itself is subjective. Can you describe how the pain is affecting your life - say, picking up baby, kneeling at the bath, pushing the buggy, changing a nappy? (or some non-childcare related things!)It's not normal to be in pain doing those things. I could do them fine with my eldest despite being unfit, but with my youngest, I found it all incredibly hard, and in hindsight I really wish I'd sought help earlier. But I didn't because I was embarrassed.

If you give examples the doctor might listen more as it'll show it's affecting your life.

That is so helpful thank u. I'll go back to my doctors tomorrow and push for some tests. The pain is definitely getting worse and u r right 4.5 mths is a long time. Thanks again xxx

Are you bf? Are you taking multi vit? Just a stab but lack of vit D can cause joint pain, and it's a vitamin that bf mothers sometimes run short of.

Get your dr to rule out inflammatory arthritis I.e rheumatoid arthritis as pregnancy/childbirth etc can be a trigger.
Try to keep a note of the pain, do you have stiffness if so when, all day or at certain times like beginning or end of day. Do some things make it worse. Which joints are affected? Is it both sides the same or different. Do your joints swell or get warm or cold to touch?
All of these things help diagnose or rule out certain things - a lot of diagnosis is observation so it helps if you can give as much info - writing it down just means you don't remember something as you walk out the door