Carpal Tunnel

[Aggy35]

I'm 33 weeks pregnant and get horrible tingling /aching in my hands at night.Whatever I try doesnt work and I am getting barely any sleep.Just so fed up...Does anyone have advice ?Something you have tried that works?

Is it like a numb but burning feeling? Wrist splints should help ( most pharmacies sell them) as they will take the pressure off the nerve. Take care

Oh bad luck. I had terrible carpal tunnel throughout my third trimester and it sucked! Unfortunately I didn't find any one thing that made it go away, but the following all helped:

• You can get wrist braces which basically keep your wrist straight all the time. They're not hugely comfortable and a bit limiting in what you can do while wearing them, so I just used to wear mine whenever I could (e.g. while sitting in front of the TV, for some of the night).
• When the pain is really bad, an ice pack helped me. I got an elastic and velcro thing on Amazon that kept it held on, but you could probably achieve the same effect with a normal tubigrip bandage or even a sock.
• Tedious I know, but try to avoid or minimise any activity that aggravates it. For me, that was cooking (chopping particularly), using my phone, writing and using a laptop. If you have a desk job and are still working for a few weeks, definitely worth making sure you've got the right set up (wrist rest, screen at correct height, etc). Mine improved quite a bit in the week I had off work before the baby came because I wasn't typing all day (only to get much worse again after she arrived...but that's another story).
• Elevate your arms above your head whenever you can. You look weird but I believe it helps relieve some of the pressure on the nerve that causes it.

It's not one of the worst things that can happen in pregnancy but it's a real hassle. My advice is to do anything and everything you can now to relieve it, as mine got pretty bad in the end and dragged on even after baby arrived. All my good intentions of spending the pre-baby bit of my maternity leave batch cooking and sewing went out the window because my arms were too painful. So I ended up sitting on my bum for a week watching films for a week (which actually feels like it was quite a good use of time in retrospect...I guess every cloud has a silver lining)!

Is it definitely carpal tunnel? I thought that only happened in the wrist area not the hand?

I started having aches in my wrist a few days ago and it brought back memories of it from my first pregnancy.
I haven't done anything, just putting up with it.

The joys of pregnancy!

Maybe call midwife or GP for advice?

Wrist splints at night, unfortunately! You need to keep your wrists straight and avoid repetitive bending/clenching hands. Prevention tends to be better than cure as you won’t be able to take ibuprofen/diclofenac during pregnancy.

Thank you everyone! By the sounds of it definitely carpal tunnel.Tingly ,dead hands at night with aches in the wrists.Goes away in day time.Just can't get much sleep!Will definitely look into the advice and get the wrist splints!

@Aggy35 I just wanted to give you another possibility. When I was pregnant with my first I really struggled with wrist pain, I thought it was carpel tunnel. My GP and midwife weren't bothered and just kept saying that it would go away once the baby was born.

It didn't, and after a while I went to a private Osteopath who diagnosed me with deQuervain’s Tenosynovitis.

This is a type of tendonitis that usually starts after baby is born but can sometimes crop up during pregnancy. It's an inflammation of tendons at the base of your thumb.

The osteo mentioned that because I was breastfeeding it probably wouldn't go away until I stopped, as it's a hormonal. My DS was 5.5 months old at this point, and I was struggling to pick him up, so I decided to move him over to formula.

My wrists were back to normal with in 2 weeks.

You may want to look into this, as the wrist supports you need are different to the carpel tunnel ones.

Here is some NHS info: www.uhcw.nhs.uk/download/clientfiles/files/De%20Quervains%20Tenosynovitis.pdf

Thank you so much for this!Nobody tells you these things...Still waiting for my 'glow';)))

I think my glow was "hippo"

Dunno why I said "was" I am definitely into hippo glow again lol

@littlelionroars this is super helpful!
I thought I had been suffering from Carpal Tunnel for a few weeks but looking at the link you posted this seems more likely!
I only have pain at the base of my thumb which moves into my wrist. Nothing has been helping and I have been wearing a brace every night so far.
I may have a chat with my midwife GP about it as they basically said i had carpal tunnel and didnt really examine me.
Thank you

@Flutterby8 I'm happy to have helped.

You may want to try a different wrist support. I had similar to this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0748Z66JR/ref=cmswwrawdoonavTaa_4J1HF09950DRW3MXMWK1

They didn't stop the pain entirely but they definitely helped. I think having the wrong Carpal Tunnel wrist splints probably made things worse for me.