Swelling

 My newest and most foremost complaint is hand pain.

Sweet balls of fire, my hands and wrists are not doing well.  I suppose it’s a retention issue, compounded with the holiday season and me doing a lot of work with my hands.  But whatever the case, I am sitting here in a wrist brace and the real causal factor: I’m pregnant.

I wake up in the night not because I have to pee (although once I am up I might as well) but because my hands are burning and tingling.  The right is worse than the left, but they both suck.  Tingling fingers torture me constantly.  It feels like I am wearing tight leather gloves, so I can barely move my fingers.  My grip strength has gone to shit.  I drop stuff now and have to switch hands constantly as I am doing things.

Even eating hurts.  Holding the fork is really quite painful.  Chopsticks are a workout.  It’s really quite insane.  And as time passes, it just keeps getting worse.  Rumor has it, it will continue to worsen until I deliver this baby, then it will go away.  Not right away, but within the first few weeks.  I can’t wait.  Presently my right thumb feels like I smashed it with a hammer.  Why?  Because I am typing.  Oh no, really it’s cuz I am pregnant.

My feet/ankles look pretty much fine and feel about the same as pre-pregnancy, but my hands are suffering.  Swollen, tingly, burning and sore.  The tank brings down the swelling a little bit, enough to make a difference.

*****

I wrote this when I was about 6 months pregnant.  I dealt with this pain for months.  Massage helped a bit, acupuncture could provide temporary relief, the wrist braces at night helped a tad… but really the best help was floating.  The Epsom salts are anti-inflammatory, they would help to reduce the swelling and retention issues due to pregnancy.  Also the soak helped my circulation and lowered my cortisol levels.  In other words, when I felt less stressed out, I felt a bit better.