pain in wrists / swollen fingers

[jen44]

i'm 19w tomorrow. so far, my bp has remained normal however of course i'm hyper aware of any symptoms developing. for the last few days i have noticed my wrists aching and my fingers are swollen (not really swollen but noticeable). last night i woke up in the night in so much pain with my left wrist on fire, it hurt so bad. i'm thinking this is carpal tunnel -- is this causing the swollen fingers or is it the swelling causing the pain in my wrists? or could it be something more? i see my OB on tuesday and i'm going to bring it up but i just wanted to see what you all thought?

PS - a bit offtopic: my skin is just AWFUL and getting worse each day - my back, shoulders, neck, chest and my face have broken out in this bumpy acne mess - anyone have any tips for controlling this or even helping it?

[fiona]

Jennifer - it sounds like carpal tunnel. When I had it so bad, I had splits to wear at night. Let us know what your OB says.

No idea what to suggest for your skin - must be miserable. I hope there are some good ideas on their way.

[hvsmith]

Same with me, Jennifer... I had it with my second pregnancy and again this time. The only thing that seems to help is wearing wrist splints at night. I got mine at a local drug store. Caryn mentioned on another thread that she needed to pull them really tight, and that's what I have to do, too. For some people, sleeping in the splints at night makes a huge difference. Mention it to your OB, too, and good luck!

[jacobkaden]

I would see a dermatologist about your skin, esp. since you are pregnant. You have to be careful what you take. Retin "A" is in a lot of acne products and I don't think they like you taking that if pregnant.

[heather j]

Jennifer, I'm no help with the wrist/hand issues, but I can commiserate with the skin issues. During my last pregnancy, my skin was AWFUL and my hair, strangely, looked like straw that had been lit on fire. It wasn't pretty or glowing. It began to clear up around 30 weeks or so, but the hair took a bit longer to straighten out. I'd just lay off trying to do anything to "fix" it, the more you do the more it will be irritated. Stupid hormones!

[willow&sam]

"Wrist on fire" - that sums up my experiences with carpal tunnel to a T. It was so bad during my first pregnancy, I had two sets of splints - on for the day where I could move my fingers and the other for sleeping when nothing could move at all. I had them made by an OT and my insurance covered 80% of the cost. Worth every penny - they help a lot and I've used them in every pregnancy since. I also saw an osteopath in Canada to get treated for them. I've specified Canadian because a US osteopath is completely different. What the difference is, I'm not certain, but I love seeing the osteopath in Canada

[donnabw]

Same experiences, carpal tunnel. I was told that it's due to 'inner swelling', so swollen fingers is just the other side of the same thing. Wrist splints help, I have only a regular one, though. But thanks for the tip, Lisa, I'll call my insurance company tomorrow and ask about my coverage osteopath/splints.

[jen44]

yeah so OB said it was carpal tunnel... i feel better. i am going to look into some splints. thanks everyone for your insight! ps - and the acne problem? just part of the process and i gotta just accept :(