Very painful joints...

[lauraloola]

Hi, my dd is now nearly 5mo and I am 26. For a while now my joints have been very painful when I move position - If I am sat on the floor with dd and lean on my hand for support my wrist will be very painful for a while when I move it. My ankles are hurting at the moment as I have my feet on my tiptoes as I sit and it will be painful to walk when I stand up until I have 'warmed up'.

Is this because my joints changed when I was pregnant? Could it be something worse? Anyone else had this? Thanks.

sounds like your tendons may not have gone back to normal yet. different women take different times to revert to normal after birth, if you are worried or the pain gets too much, I would go see your GP just to be sure.
do you get any aches radiate into the muscles? how long does it take for the pain to ease? is it worse at certain times of the day?

Ooooh - me too! My ankles are so stiff & sore in the morning. My dd is also 5 months. I'd love to know the answer to this one. Thought I was getting arthritis!

the endocrine system is very complex and inter connected. all the hormones change whilst pregnant and sometimes the mix gets a bit mixed up in the aftermath of birth. the hormones during pregnancy that allow your ligaments/tendons to stretch and your joints to become soft (that will eventually allow the baby to come through that bottleneck of a pelvis and uterus) may not get the right feedback after the birth to return to normal and can take weeks or months sometimes ligaments themselves have a poor blood supply which is why sports people who damage ligaments take so long to recover and it is similar after pregnancy especially if you are breast feeding. sometimes the softened joints can wear a bit and be the beginning of arthritis but this is a different pain to that which lauraloola described.

Its not muscle pain it is in my joints - Knees, ankles, wrists. When I have been a certain position for a while they really hurt and are stiff.

I too thought it was arthritis! Maybe I will leave another month or so and then go and see my gp. Thanks x

I had this after having DS and was very relieved to find some old threads on here with people complaining of the the same. I had thought I might be getting arthritis as well but it did eventually clear up.

Phew - such a relief to find other people with this problem!

Thanks for your messages, misi and chocolateteapot. lauraloola - I hope we feel better soon! It's definitely not muscle pain, as you say - definitely joints.

Here is an old thread to have a quick look at.

Brilliant thanks!

Penthesileia - I hope we feel better soon too!!

lauraloola
to see if you can pinpoint what may be causing this here are a few symptoms.

softening of the joints and bone plates to allow freer movement;
if in the last trimester, you do not get enough rest, work too hard by carrying heavy loads or lots of bending etc (if you know what I mean) can lead to surface damage of the inner joint surfaces. this can cause the surface to ''pit''. when the joint re hardens, the surface can become 'grainy' so as the joints move it can cause arthritis type pain and usually is present most of the time you are moving. it can range from pin prick sharp type pains to a grating/rubbing/grinding pain. sometimes if you palve your hand on your hip joint and walk you can feel a grinding noise (again does that make sense?)

ligaments not returning to normal after being softened to allow for extra movement;
quite often this pain will also feel as if its inside the joint as partly it is. the ligaments not only hold the muscles in place on your bones but also allow for joint movement by tensioning the joint. this keeps the joint in place correctly so allowing for correct functioning of that joint. when the ligaments are loose, the joint can move around within the (socket) in the case of the hip or can slip/slide in other joints. this in itself can cause pain as the joints are not meant to move to freely within themselves. the most pain though coames from the loose ligaments that can actually be stiff. this is a muscular type pain but seems to come from within the joint. this sort of pain comes and goes in strength. when you sit/lay still for some time, the ligaments become stiff and when you try to move, you get a sharp pain possibly or a dull ache. this usually subsides after moving and usage of the ligaments and after this you can either get relief from pain or you get a dull muscular type ache but still feeling like its from inside the joint.

if the pain is like cramp or pins and needles, then that may be a sign that your ligaments have tightened too much!! your joints sometimes feel like they just cannot move and everything feels really stiff and you get that grinding feeling again (so both types of pain mentioned above at the same time) then this could be that your body has over compensated and tightened everything up too much.

does any of this sound like your problem?

Hi misi, I did over do it when I was in the last few weeks of pregnancy - I moved furniture and didnt really sit down.

My pains have actually gotten worse today. If I stand up from sitting down or get out of the car I struggle to walk for a while until I am warmed up.

I stoop when I stand as I am tall and have a small lump below my neck from doing this and that is hurting today aswell.

It sounds like how you described if my ligaments had not returned to normal after being softened.

You seem to know what you are talking about. Do you know if there is anymore I can do? I am still overweight from pregnancy and am struggling to loose the weight.

Thanks for your help.

yes, there is something you can do. there are supplements you can take and physical therapy often works too.
I have 2 horses (as clients ) who are on hylauronic acid for ligament probs, but I would use a combo of HA and MSM (methyl sulphonyl methane, don't worry it is a completely natural thing as is produced in small quantities by your body) along with a few other bits and pieces to encourage blood flow. I would be more happy though if you went to see someone like a qualified herbalist who can take your full med history before advising what to take. the PT side would have to be private or through your GP. the HA and msm are not available from a GP unfortunately even though there is much research on these and a GP is likely to prescribe painkillers and maybe a relaxant (??) but is certainly worth asking your doc to be sure and safe.

www.nimh.org.uk for your nearest qualified herbalist

Brilliant, thanks misi. I will have a look on the website and see what I can find. Thanks again x