Dead, numb hands waking me up

[BrendaSouleyman]

Hello, I am eight months post-partum today. About two and a half months ago, I started having numb, "dead" hands which affect me espeically in the morning and wake me up in the night. I also feel a tingling sensation when gripping, clenching or zipping something - not all the time, but quite often in the morning and during the day. And especially at night, the hands go completely dead and heavy and wake me up. It's depressing, when sleep is so precious with am eight-month old baby, i wake up and he's sleeping, and there am I, in agony.
As I said,it started about mid-July and it coincided with the dosage of my anti-depressant, Mirtazapine, being upped rom 15mg to 30mg. I mentioned this to my doctor who as surprised because it is not a known side effect of Mirtazapine at all. He suggested I drop back down to 15mg, particularly as I wasn't feeling much anti-depressant benefit from the medication anyway, but dropping down to 15mg has had no effect on the hand pain. The only other tablets I take daily are magnesium glycine and a Vitabiotics Well woman breast-feeding supplement. I also take several painkillers (Ibuprofen or Paracetamol) daily because of this joint pain. I had a blood test for rheumatoid arthritis which came back as normal.
I'd be really grateful for any thoughtsor advice. Thank you.

Thanks @MujeresLibres I got iron levels checked end of August and it was fine....

Another vote for carpal tunnel (I had the surgery for it last year). Bit more tricky to wear splints at night if you are regularly breastfeeding, but I'd give them a go and see if it helps. Don't wear them too tight, just tight enough to stop your wrist bending while you sleep.

This also depends on where your baby is in the bed, but hanging your arm down off the side of the bed as if you are trying to reach something on the floor might help relieve symptoms if it wakes you.

I don't think it'll be the hand washing that's causing this unless you're washing your hands many many times a day.

Are you spending a lot of time pushing a pushchair? Because that will do it.

@Chockadoo Not an awful lot of time wheeling a pushchair because the baby doesn't love being in it, but I spend hours carrying him around as I said, he's quite a solid weight.

I should have mentioned, I do occasionally also feel the "tingling" sensation in my feet (although not as severely, which is why I didn't mention it).

Are you breastfeeding? I get this and I think it's because I'm in fixed position feeding. My youngest baby is 15 months and it's gone now

Yes, but I dont think it's because I am breastfeeding. I've breastfed him from birth but this pain only started around mid-July. Moreover, the feeds are now quite short so I'm not in a fixed position for long.

Have they checked your b12 levels? I’ve been on injections for years and get this (and sometimes the feet) when I’m due one.

I was going to say the same thing. B6 is a horrible substance if you overdo it and it is so hard to get supplements without it. I have an issue processing it and am not allowed it other than in my food. The symptoms of overload can be really scary.

Ha, he sounds like my son (now 5).

If it's carpal tunnel there isn't really much you can do about it in the short term aside from splints, potentially steroid injections if your GP recommends this, and avoiding whatever is triggering it (which i'm sure your son will be fully on board with... 🙂) i guess carrying him around loads could be putting strain on your wrists - the day before I had surgery I had to carry loads of tables around at work and the surgeon commented "oh yes it's certainly looking very inflamed in here"... I'm guessing he's not too keen on a sling?

Edited to say I just noticed you mentioned your feet as well... Maybe worth a trip to the GP for a check up

I thought CP was only the baby finger and the adjacent ?

Hello. No, CT is the thumb, index, ring and weirdly half of whatever the finger is called next to the ring.

Yea but not both hands completely dead ?

I would be another vote for carpal tunnel. mine started in pregnancy and I was told it would go by itself after giving birth. DD turned 29 on Wednesday and it didn't go.
I got palmed off over and over.with it. my worst time apart from on a night was driving.
See your GP and don't be fobbed off.

Can you ask your gp to check your B12 levels? Deficiencies can cause neuropathic symptoms.

So have you had it now for over 29 years? I reqlly hope not- please tell me it got better, and how! 😮

@Chockadoo I know that baby carriers are a game changer for some people but my baby doesn't really like them (I have tried three- Marzupi, Ergobaby and Babybjorn).

@Aworldofmyown I just checked- there are 10mg of vitamin B6 in the two breastfeeding tablets I take daily.

I had both mine done (not at the same time) There was a lady in the next bed to me who'd actually had both done together. I hope she had help when she got home! You don't realise how many activities you need both hands for, even when it's not your dominant hand you've had done.

The daily recommended for breastfeeding is 1.9mg. So it could be that, like a previous poster I clearly can't tolerate it in high doses. Maybe your the same, don't forget its also added to lots of cereals. I would stop the supplement and see if the symptoms go away.

Also some magnesium supplements contain vitamin b6 it can be listed as Pyridoxine Hydrochloride.

@Aworldofmyown I checked my magnesium glycinate (which I stopped taking a few days ago, because I started taking it around the time that the pain in the hands started). However, I checked the label and there's no B6 in it. And since stopping, the pain in the hands obviously hasn't stopped.

Check which fingers are going numb. If it is thumb, index and middle it is carpal tunnel. If it is pinky and ring it is cubital tunnel, which is ulnar nerve entrapment and caused by sleeping with elbows bent.
I have suffered from both, but the carpal tunnel was definitely pregnancy related. Cubital I have had longer term and still get now.

I would stop the breastfeeding vitamins then and see if it makes a difference.

Sorry for the late reply I was working yesterday then forgot to come back.
yes it started in pregnancy in 1997. Got told it would go when baby arrived. it didn't go. kept saying it would then was told too late for operation. Have had steroid injections over the years which did help. it is not as bad as it used to be but still wakes me up and a pain when driving. can't write very well or cross stitch which was my hobby.
moral of my post - push for a fix if it doesn't go.

Thank you all again to those who replied. @EdinaTheConfessor I was thinking about your post yesterday- it seems to effect all the fingers of my hands. Thank you @Aworldofmyown and @Luddite26 , that sounds awful! 😣