Two Thumbs DOWN for Mommy Thumb: A PSA for New Moms!

About a week or so after I brought the babe home, I would wake up and my right hand would be in so much pain!  It would click and stick and take a while to "warm up".  I dismissed it figuring I slept on it funny.  Well, after several more days of it just not going away, I started to Google... I discovered that I may have DeQuervain's Tenosynovitis. What the ...??! So, I did what any new mom would do-- I took it to Facebook.  Within the hour, one of my friends commented on my post.  She (and her sister) had gone through the same thing post-partum.  As it turns out, De Quervain's tenosynovitis is lovingly referred to as:

Mommy Thumb

Honestly, I don't know which name I like LEAST! She included a link to an article from Parents magazine which described my pain up and down.  Basically, DeQuervain's can occur with overuse of the thumb—and using it in ways unlike any other you have before (like from repeatedly picking up a baby... and your new nursing hold.).  The tendon in your thumb gets inflamed and can't move smoothly through its sheath.  You end up with tremendous, sharp, burning pain in your wrist and your thumb gets stuck in position.  The pain eventually radiates up your arm.  It affects mainly women, most of which are post-partum-- hence the name: Mommy Thumb. 

Test for Mommy Thumb: Finkelstein's (or Eichoff) Test

Make an up-and-down fist, clenching your thumb.  Flex downward.  If it hurts like h-e-double-hockey-sticks there is a good chance you are suffering from DeQuervain's.

Great.  Just what I need on maternity leave.  Another condition.  I'm still trying to heal from a little (a BIG-little, mind you) human being tearing through my nether region and now this?  Yeesh... OK.

So, I made an appointment to see my GP who prescribed me 800 mg of Motrin 2X a day, verified that it was good ole De Q, and suggested I get a crappy thumb splint from Walgreen's. (The kind of brace that is "flesh colored" yet looks like no flesh hue you've ever seen. Yuck. And so not fashionable). "If it doesn't feel better in a couple weeks, I'll refer you to a specialist", said she.  The steps of treatment are: 1.) brace/splint, pain relief, ice/heat/ice/heat (ain't nobody got time for that!), 2.) cortisone shot,... 3.) surgery. :(

Which brings us to this past week, 3+ months later.  (I know, I know).  It wasn't getting better; in fact it was getting worse.  The pain was constant, would hurt whenever I applied pressure, and was beginning to affect me at work (I do CAD, so I use a mouse as if it's glued to my hand), and I have lost almost all range of motion.  I called the GP for the referral to an orthopedic surgeon.  She gave me two names and of course I picked the doc whose first name was "Garth".  Way! (<--If you get that, kudos to you!)  Last Wednesday, I saw the surgeon's nurse practitioner who gave me a cortisone shot.  It is juuuust starting to work a week later.  Hopefully, the cortisone and super brace (a sexy black brace that WORKS! Woot!) will allow my poor thumb to heal.  Not using it isn’t an option-- I can’t NOT use it with my now 4.5 month old.  I can go back for another shot in 6 weeks if I'm still in pain.  It might not start fully healing until I am done nursing my son.  If it's still painful after that, I'm looking at surgery.  I hope it doesn't come to that!

I'll update from time to time on progress.  I had never heard of this condition, and when I posted about it in another forum (the What to Expect forum, HOLLA!!), I felt like a super hero for oodles of new moms that chimed in saying they were suffering with this, but didn't know it was a "thing".  I hope I can help someone else here, too.