Unfortunately, I seem to have developed Arthritis during pregnancy. Symptoms developed when I was around 30 weeks pregnant and were dismissed as Carpal Tunnel caused by pregnancy related swelling. I had some numbness and tingling, and some stiffness/pain in my fingers which went away when I held them in warm water.
By the end of my pregnancy I couldn't fully straighten or bend one of my index fingers. No numbness/tingling anymore, and the stiffness improves during the day if I keep the joints moving but never goes away completely. And the other fingers had symptoms that came and went. I was expecting to go back to normal once I lost all the extra fluid (and in the first couple of weeks I lost nearly 2 stone) but I still have symptoms.
An x-ray suggests Arthritis. And although blood tests have "ruled out" Rheumatoid Arthritis, I feel like my symptoms are more likely to be RA than Osteoarthritis. Both conditions are fairly common in my family. I just don't know anybody who developed the conditions during pregnancy, or when relatively young (I'm not yet 30).
Has anybody else experienced this? How long did it take to get diagnosed/treated? Did it affect breastfeeding?
Thank you in advance!