Carpal tunnel syndrome in third trimester

[MrsScotland]

I believe 60% of women get it in their third trimester. I'm feeling like it's really ramping up, I mentioned it to the Midwife a week ago and now it's really getting to me. Mostly during the night. I am wakening up with pins and needles and pain most hours of the night.

Does anyone have any suggestions or can empathise? I can phone the hospital physio but I am 33 weeks already and wondering if I will be seen quickly enough.

I wore hand splint things and it went very soon after giving birth. You can buy them in pharmacies or online and they aren’t that much.

Are you sure it's carpal tunnel? And not de Quervain's which is common for new mothers/pregnant women? I had the latter (although it started just after the birth) and had a steroid injection for it.

I also had this from about 32 weeks and it was horrendous OP so you have my sympathy! I’m 5 months postpartum now and honestly from about 2 days postpartum it was completely gone and back to normal! I got some exercises to do but honestly never felt they made any difference, keeping my hands elevated did help a bit though so thats worth a try! X

Your baby will be a toddler before you see the NHS physio

You want to buy a hand splint for carpal tunnel. You can get them in any chemist or online at amazon.

Link below to a similar one that I used - cost is £9.99

The good news is that it goes away as soon as baby is born. But you are at risk of it coming back later in life.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Actesso-Breathable-Wrist-Support-Splint/dp/B00L4BI1ZK/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.d_EF2UbpJeU30-Sn-bZZxk76qOHprpzQWBPNKoRlkRhAe2dh14Dkamy8qgQ-Lta1Cby1RAXz4ULzs709fdKhfB0H0LpJqvEkZr0lzeJOSsEpWBI7irMfZ6JwSA8zadwIxVa4oP1NwOllCBrEejfRznmhccTrVu9raxC0rqQr62ONYHfTV4fDuB7GEgRZubI0WVQ0lmvAB3BycAlitLaAnMAHNECJhMFQMURHjDqDF9j2FZ6Mdd70k4s4nFJFqi9wJOb2IKh-JWeBkyqon5p5ayRNOHIP5ngDenZmAq64tQE.3jxXD7D-Fj8-xYP3SP4Sr2t6roik4pJWUIhFot9K884&dib_tag=se&keywords=hand%2Bsplints%2Bfor%2Bcarpal%2Btunnel&qid=1726221394&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1

Definitely a hand splint. I used one and symptoms resolved after giving birth.

To be fair this might depend on your area, they do get you in more quickly if pregnant & pregnancy related, I mentioned my carpal tunnel to my midwife and had an appointment with physio the following Monday, and when I was struggling with SPD again I had a physio appointment a week after mentioning it to my midwife x

Sea sickness bands worked for me.

Thanks everyone. I have submitted a self-referral form to the maternity physio team so with any luck they will contact me. I've got a regular midwife appt next Wednesday so I will mention it then and if she thinks it will be a while, I'll just buy the wrist splints. It is totally compounded by having to sleep on my side at this stage in pregnancy, virtually impossible to keep wrists flat in that position.

I've had something very similar about 7 years ago, GP said it was tendonitis. It came and went within about a month but gosh it was debilitating, I couldn't push open doors, open jars, lift anything heavy, even changing gear in the car was painful!

Really hoping it goes with the arrival of bubba.

The splint helps.
but annoyingly mine didn’t go away after birth,
it got much worse,
I couldn’t lift my baby,
my hands wearing screamingly painful
i I had steroid injections
and eventually surgery on both wrists. When baby was 18mo
all fine now.

not the story you wanted.

Splints solved the problem overnight for me. You can buy them online for £6/7

I got physio three days before my baby was born by planned section.

I remember this pain so well it went in my feet too and I couldn't wear shoes for a month you have my sympathy.

I've had carpal tunnel since 30 weeks so I feel your pain! Definitely echo the suggestions of splints - I bought some from Boots and they have made a massive difference to my ability to sleep, I almost never wake up with numb hands anymore (though it is a pain having to take them off when I inevitably need the loo 3 times a night!). I also find elevation is useful so when I'm sleeping on my side I prop my top arm up on a pillow.

Have you tried contrast bathing? That can help with some of the stiffness and soreness. And if you have someone there who can massage your hands that can be helpful too - whenever my fingers start to feel tingly I shove my hand in my husband's direction and get him to give me a massage!

If you do a job where you're working at a computer, make sure you take regular breaks as well, I find mine is aggravated by lots of time typing, using a mouse etc. so take breaks and move your hands around, wiggle your fingers, stuff like that.

@MrsScotland I've had this problem for about a month, since about 32 weeks pregnant. So unexpected! Tight/sore finger joints when bending my fingers, mainly at night but also a bit in the day too. Ended up buying wrist splints about a week ago, but some nights it feels better and other nights not, so I'm not really sure if they're helping. I'm going to pregnancy yoga and we sometimes do hand/wrist exercises there, so I don't think I'll bother with a physio as I'm nearing full term now anyway. It is very frustrating though.

I had this badly in pregnancy, got to the point where it was so painful and I lost feeling in quite a few fingers. Would recommend asking your GP for steroid injections, cleared it up for me (although still had to wear wrist splints at night).

I also had this but it wasn’t carpal tunnel it was dequervain’s tenosynovitis.

I do think splints for sleeping is a worthwhile activity though. I have carpal tunnel in this pregnancy and it’s come on early. Gah!

Did you do steroid injections while pregnant???

Wrist splints at night…get them on Amazon. Then you could get steroid injections …don’t know if u need to wait till after the birth, and possibly an op later if it doesn’t clear up.

If u can afford it get a private diagnosis and get guided injections….more effective.

Get referred to a hand OT. Night splints are a godsend no idea why they work but they do! (From someone who suffers from chronic carpel tunnel syndrome with rheumatoid arthritis)

I had it

It was awful

I had wrist supports which helped

The splints stabilise the hand/wrist to keep them in a neutral position and reduce the amount of pressure on the nerve in the hand - the numbness/tingling is what happens when the nerve gets compressed.

Yep, the GP said as it’s localised to the wrist area there was no risk at all and advised me to read this: https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/hydrocortisone-injections/pregnancy-breastfeeding-and-fertility-if-youre-having-hydrocortisone-injections/#:~:text=Hydrocortisone%20injections%20and%20pregnancy,will%20not%20harm%20your%20baby.

Thanks everyone. Really is pretty common!

Hoping to hear back from the physio soon. I also noticed numbness in my feet when I woke up during the night last night - the joys!