Case Summary  |  Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Pregnancy, and Me

During both of my pregnancies, I developed terrible carpal tunnel syndrome. Every night after I had been sleeping for a few hours, I would wake up with excrutiating pain in my hands and fingers, which would last for the rest of the night. My doctor told me that it was from the extra water weight and swelling I was experiencing during the pregnancy. Anyway, some nights it was so bad that I would get up in the morning and not be able to pick up a glass to get a drink because I had so much numbness and tingling that my thumb would not cooperate with the rest of my hand. My doctor prescribed a splint to wear on my wrists and hands overnight, which helped some, but did not take the pain completely away. Most nights I would wake up in pain, but if I wore the splint, it did not get so bad that my thumb would not work. lf I was not pregnant, there would have been medications I could take, but since I was, my doctor was hesitant to prescribe anything and I was opposed to using anything that could harm the babies. While it did not solve my carpal tunnel syndrome, wearing the splint certainly did help. Once my pregnancies were over and I was no longer swollen, the carpal tunnel syndrome disappeared and I have not had a problem with it since.