joint pain - rheumatoid arthritis or what?

Lara said:

To routinely withhold anti-D from women with Rh-
partners would _guarantee_ that some women will be sensitised and their
future babies will suffer. Letting babies suffer and die from a readily
preventable illness would be the irresponsible course of action.

We let mothers decide to have their babies in hospitals with all sorts of
interventions that could cause problems for babies. We let moms formula feed,
and we know that could make their babies sick. aI think giving people possibly
unnecessary shots because we don't trust them to tell the truth is
paternalistic.



If a woman is fully informed enough about the potential implications of
withholding anti-D, and knows for 100% (not 99%) who the father is and
what his blood group is (and that his blood group test wasn't mixed up
in the lab, etc), then she can just withhold consent for the anti-D
shot.

Hmm. I don't think most doctors present it as a matter needing consent. It's
more like, "You're RH-, here's what you have to do."

Leslie

On 02 Jan 2004 13:44:47 GMT, (Leslie) wrote:
but then again I might just have mucked up the snipping as usual!
Wow. I had no idea about this! I guess that explains why not all babies of
RH-/RH+ pairings died before the invention of Rhogam. Since 1st babies don't
suffer any effects since you haven't been sensitized yet, why don't they just
test your blood later and see if you need the Rhogam or not?

Some places they do. I had a kleihauer test that showed no
feto-maternal haemorhage so could have had no Anti-D. However given
the circumstances (dead baby) I chose to have a standard dose, just
in case.

My grandmother is Rh- and remained unsensitised after 2 pregnancies.
At the time (no Anti-D and no antibody tests either) the advice was to
only have a maximum of two children if you were Rh-. She always
wanted more kids unfortunately.

Megan
--
Seoras David Montgomery, 7 May 2003, 17 hours: sunrise to sunset (homebirth)

To e-mail use: megan at farr-montgomery dot com

On 02 Jan 2004 16:45:55 GMT, (Leslie) wrote:
but then again I might just have mucked up the snipping as usual!
Dagny,

Thanks for the great information! I really didn't understand all of this very
well before. I have had four babies. According to your info, I needn't have
had any injections yet at all! Number one is O-, number two is A-, number
three is B+, and number four is AB-. So I would probably still be safe for
another pregnancy with a + baby.


Were you not told the babies' blood types before having the anti-D?
You can have it up to 72 hours after giving birth so there really is
no excuse for the hospital not to do that. If the baby is Rh-
negative as well (which three of your four were) there is no need
whatsoever for Anti-D. Even after number 3 you would have been quite
within your rights to take the gamble and have none, with subsequent
testing before a subsequent pregancy (and then a choice of not getting
pregnant again or close monitoring).

In the case of both parents being Rh- there is no need for any Anti-D
at any point, in any circumstances, the baby cannot be Rh+. Whether
or not the hospital believe your partner is actually the father is
none of their business!

Megan
--
Seoras David Montgomery, 7 May 2003, 17 hours: sunrise to sunset (homebirth)

To e-mail use: megan at farr-montgomery dot com

On 02 Jan 2004 17:24:48 +0000, Sidheag McCormack
wrote:
but then again I might just have mucked up the snipping as usual!
Good GPs - and I think I have one
at the moment - are happy to admit that they don't know everything and tend
to welcome patients turning up with printouts from the web, assuming one
doesn't turn up having made an incompetent self diagnosis!)

I have a similar GP right now and it is good In fact I was
surprised to be asked for advice about something the other day (on a
"they don't teach us about this stuff" birth matter).

Pretty much what you descibe doing is what happened when I was
diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I turned up with a list of symptoms, a
medical history and a bunch of info from the web. I walked out with a
referal to a Rheumatologist who pronounced it to be a classic case of
fibromyalgia. Only took 10 years of symptoms before that, with
umpteen things being ruled out.

Incidentally, I have teh same symptoms, in addition to my
fibromyalgia, and I am Rh- and had a single standard dose of anti-D
postnatally.

Megan
--
Seoras David Montgomery, 7 May 2003, 17 hours: sunrise to sunset (homebirth)

To e-mail use: megan at farr-montgomery dot com

Sidheag McCormack wrote in message ...
Since DS was born, 9 weeks ago, I have been waking up with stiff and sore
finger and wrist joints in both hands. It's very slight, but it's
definitely there, and it seems to be getting worse rather than better. Most
of the stiffness wears off quite soon, but not all, and now in the late
afternoon, if I feel the finger joints they are slightly sore to touch and,
I think, a little swollen.

As I say, this is all very slight but I'm a bit worried about what it can
be - the thing it sounds most like to me is the beginning of rheumatoid
arthritis, which would be bad news. I don't have any other symptoms, which
would seem to rule out most of the RA differential diagnoses. I'm 37 FWIW
and in good health otherwise, bar anaemia after a PPH (don't see how that
could be relevant though). No family history of RA AFAIK.

What I'd most like to hear is that this is common postpartum or in
breastfeeding, and that it is of no significance and goes away!

Sorry for the late response!

With #1 I had terrible wrist and hand pain for about 6 months. I had
bad hip pain (at night when I slept because of some issues with
co-sleeping) for about 9 months. Both eased up but didn't go
completely away until about 17 months post-partum. With #2 I had lots
of ankle pain and stiffness and the *tops* of my feet hurt, which is
odd. That didn't go away until I weaned at 26 months! I did mention
it to my doctor who took thyroid tests etc. and didn't find anything
and she didn't seem to think it was to big of a deal but would have
referred me had I wanted. I decided to wait a while longer and it
ended when I weaned and I'm fine now. I'm 34. I figured it was just
hormonal and didn't give it a second thought after it ended but
Andrea's post has given me pause!! I'll certainly report any future
symptoms to my doctor if they should crop up.

--

Nikki

Megan asked:

Were you not told the babies' blood types before having the anti-D?
You can have it up to 72 hours after giving birth so there really is
no excuse for the hospital not to do that. If the baby is Rh-
negative as well (which three of your four were) there is no need
whatsoever for Anti-D. Even after number 3 you would have been quite
within your rights to take the gamble and have none, with subsequent
testing before a subsequent pregancy (and then a choice of not getting
pregnant again or close monitoring).

The way they do it here is you are given a precautionary dose during pregnancy,
then a dose after birth if the baby is positive. So I have had four shots
prenatally, but only the one postnatally.

In the case of both parents being Rh- there is no need for any Anti-D
at any point, in any circumstances, the baby cannot be Rh+. Whether
or not the hospital believe your partner is actually the father is
none of their business!

ITA!

Leslie

Sidheag McCormack wrote in message ...

(This could be considered off-topic, except that the beginning of the
problem coincided with giving birth and starting breastfeeding. I read that
prolactin encourages inflammation, so perhaps there is a link there, or
perhaps it's coincidence.)

Thanks for any help or stories,

My doctor told me that carpal tunnel syndrome is fairly common during
pregnancy and lactation. She advised me that if the tingling
continued, to wear a brace at night. Stiffness is a classic symptom of
CTS. The problems I had went away on their own (and were never really
a problem - I was in for something else and remembered to ask).

Cathy Weeks
Mommy to Kivi Alexis 12/01

Nikki writes:

With #1 I had terrible wrist and hand pain for about 6 months. [...]

Thanks; it's good to hear others' experiences.

It just occurred to me that the one-handed typing may have something to do
with it too! Maybe I should give up capitals... :-)

Sidheag nak oht
DS Colin Oct 27 2003