"New Mom's Syndrome" AKA DeQuervain's Tendonitis

As mentioned in a previous post, my wrists/hands/forearms have been KILLING me. I totally thought I was being a huge weenie then went to see Doc Ruyle and he told me I had something but I couldn't remember the name...until tonight. I was trying to google things to help because for some reason tonight, I am miserable. Don't get me wrong, I felt like a total dip going to the Dr. because my "wrist hurt" but it had been hurting for almost 3 weeks and only was getting worse...turns out it's VERY common, even dubbed "New Mom's Syndrome." I knew I wasn't crazy!! NO ONE ever told me about this, but like I said, it's pretty common SO let me educate you...via the NY Times and copy and paste b/c it hursts to type....Enjoy!

FITNESS; When Mothering Is a Pain in the Wrist

By LIA MILLER
Published: June 06, 2004

FOR Cynthia Frey, the mysterious pain in her wrist started about a week after she gave birth to her son, Jack, in March of last year. At first, she thought she had banged her hand. But as days went by, it started to hurt more and more until the pain was so severe, she had trouble holding her baby.

''It was a shooting pain from my thumb up my wrist and it was constant,'' recalled Mrs. Frey, 34, from Manhattan. After several visits to her doctor and weeks of taking Motrin to no avail, Mrs. Frey consulted a hand specialist. She walked into his office holding her son and, in tears, said she thought she had broken her wrist. The doctor took one look and said, ''I know what it is, I see women like this all the time.''

She had DeQuervain's Tendonitis, a painful condition caused by inflammation of the tendons in the thumb. So common is the condition among women who have recently given birth that it is sometimes called ''new mom's syndrome.'
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''It arises from repetitive lifting activities using improper technique,'' said Dr. Louis Catalano III, attending physician at the C.V. Starr Hand Surgery Center at St. Luke's/Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan, who treated Mrs. Frey.

In Mrs. Frey's case, as with so many new mothers, and a few new dads, the ''repetitive lifting'' was the everyday act of picking up her baby.

''When you're scooping your child up, after you get fatigued you tend to let your wrists drop to the ground,'' Dr. Catalano said, ''and when your fingers are angled down, that's what's causing those tendons to stretch over the bone.''

There are no statistics on the number of women afflicted, but Dr. Catalano estimates that he sees two to three new patients a week with DeQuervain's Tendonitis.

New mothers are particularly susceptible, specialists say, because the fluid gain they experience during pregnancy causes the tendons to swell and chafe against the surrounding encasement. The tendons and joints also become lax toward the end of pregnancy to give a woman extra flexibility during birth. In this compromised state, the tendons and muscles are suddenly required to pick up and put down a heavy baby many times a day.

Mrs. Frey received a cortisone shot to reduce inflammation and was prescribed a brace to immobilize the wrist. She began meeting with a physical therapist, who showed her exercises to strengthen the area and new ways to pick up the baby.

Still, she said she was distressed and embarrassed to have a condition that nobody had ever heard of and that interfered with the first year of motherhood, which is supposed to be a blissful time. This was a feeling shared by Marcia Comas, 34, of Brooklyn, who developed DeQuervain's Tendonitis two months after her second child was born.

''I couldn't even hold my baby any more,'' Mrs. Comas said, ''but I didn't tell anybody because I didn't want everybody thinking, 'Ugh, she's always complaining.' '' Her shame led her to delay seeking treatment, which only made matters worse.

Even when women are aware of the problem, it can be a tall order to think about positioning your hands correctly every time you have to attend to your child.

''When you have a little kid that's all over the place, you don't think, 'Oh, I should put my thumb this way or that.' It's like, 'Let me get him out of danger,' '' Mrs. Comas said.

As with any severe sprain or strain, there is no magic-bullet cure. Some people find that the pain is permanently eased by a visit or two to the doctor and a cortisone injection. But for many, the pain lingers, returns or even gets worse.

There is a menu of treatments, said Winnie Tsui, an occupational therapist and hand therapist at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine at New York University Medical Center in Manhattan.

''We can immobilize the area'' with splints, Ms. Tsui said. Another option is ultrasound therapy, during which cortisone cream is applied to the skin, heightening the effectiveness of the treatment, she said. There are also exercises to strengthen the wrist.

But even splints can create a challenge for someone who is holding or breast-feeding a baby. ''One woman was worried about the hardness of the splint,'' Ms. Tsui said. ''We created a special splint out of soft material.''

Despite the treatment options, experts say it is better to prevent the problem whenever possible. Dr. Catalano said that when picking up or holding a baby, it is important to keep the wrist straight, not angled down or in an awkward position. Those who do develop symptoms should seek help immediately, before they get worse.

Just ask Mrs. Frey, whose inflammation progressed, causing her to develop a cyst at the base of her thumb. She chose surgery, which left her pain-free for the first time in a year. ''I felt like the needle was taken out of the foot of the elephant,'' she said