Mother's thumb

After I had baby (and a little toward the end of pregnancy), my hands were swollen in the morning and it hurt to use my thumb to do simple things like pull up my pants. I thought the thumb pain was just due to the swelling and would go away when the swelling went away. I tried icing both wrists with an ice cube wrapped in an Ace Bandage at the base of the thumb several times a day which helped alleviate, but not take away the pain. Fifteen weeks after baby was born, I was back to pre baby weight, with no swelling, but my thumbs still hurt. At my post partum appointment, my OB/GYN recommended an orthopedic surgeon that I could see if the pain persisted. I finally made an appointment and went yesterday. He told me that I had de Quervain’s tendinitis, a common ailment for new moms which causes the tunnels holding the thumb tendons to swell and cause pain. My tunnels were so swollen that I had bumps at the base of both thumbs. He also said that eighty percent of mom's who suffer from this had girls.

The treatment was just a couple of cortisone shots to the tunnel through which the thumb tendons run. The shots were super painful even after a topical anesthetic and a little freezing of the area. The surgeon stuck the needle into the tunnel and squirted. Instantly, the swollen bumps at the base of both my thumbs went away. The pain did not go away instantly, but today is the first day that I have had no pain in my thumbs! They are a little sore, but I can definitely tell that they are on the way to recovery! I don't know why I didn't do this earlier. Dr said that chances of pain coming back were slim and is very unlikely in subsequent pregnancies. I'll write again in six months to see if the cortisone shots stuck.