Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Pregnancy or Old Age?

Lately I've been experiencing all kinds of aches and pains and wondering if it is pregnancy related or if I am just getting old. For the past several weeks I have had a weird tightness and pain in the knuckles and joints of my hands. On my right (dominant) hand, when I give the "thumbs up" sign, my thumb is fine but when I bend it, I can only get about half way down before I feel stiffness and a pain. The pain feels like when you push on a black and blue mark. It is so stiff and painful, I can't even use my thumb to unbuckle my seat belt. I get the same pain in the pinky finger of my right hand. My left isn't so bad-but I have the pain in the pinky. Is this pregnancy induced carpal tunnel or am I experiencing arthritis already?

For the past two days I have had pain in my lower right side, just below my belly and I was worried-but then I remembered that while I was carrying the laundry basket the other day I bumped into my desk in the basement jamming it into my gut. Guess that's neither pregnancy or old age unless you classify it as pregnancy clumsiness. I've also had a massive headache for the past two days. That's a whole lot of fun when all you can take is Tylenol. I am an ibuprofen girl so this really stinks.

And I think I might be having anxiety attacks. I've experienced a tightening in my chest, sharp pain to the left side and the inability to take a deep breath. The first time it happened I wondered, is this pregnancy induced asthma? But when I read up on it, typically those who get asthma experience it later in pregnancy when the baby is taking up a lot of room. The next time it happened I wondered if I was coming down with bronchitis or something as the pain in my chest was so sharp. But then it went away. It happened twice today and thinking back on it, both times were when I was extremely stressed and upset. As I was driving home I actually felt a little light headed from not being able to catch my breath.

I guess I just need to try and relax more and not let myself get so stressed out. It's not good for any age or pregnancy. Ugh-and I didn't even mention my sciatic nerve...

1 comment:

Jessica said...

You're too young to be old. You must be pregnant. :) Sciatic nerve is the worst!!!