First of congradulations on being a new mom!

I hope you hear from your doctor soon regarding a dx.

What you are describing sounds so very familiar to me....I have problems with my lower back due to an injury, and because I use a cane developed A/C Joint Arthritis in my right shoulder. Because of the nature of my back problems I have to sleep on my side.

Well because my right shoulder was so very painful (I could not lay on it) before some surgery I had and immediately afterwards I could not sleep on my right side (still cannot).

What I noticed in the timeframe building up to my surgery was the tingling and puffiness in my hands...what I did notice as well was my last three digits numb (like after being frozen) when I woke up in the morning. Well after running my symptoms by some friends and a visit to my Doctor, my diagnosis was a pinched nerve in my upper back......I was able to address the pinched nerve with stretching, heat, ice packs and chiropractic work when really bad.

If it does turn out to be RA, there are therapies out there. RA runs rampant in my family - there are medications, lotions, homopathic gels and even a diet you could look into. I was diagnosed a couple of months back with RA - and so far it only affects my left hand.

If you are in unbearable pain right now, I would suggest using plenty of ice packs. I would drink plenty of fluids - to keep your body flushing out any toxins, if you like tea, some chamomile tea will work wonders. I am into natural remedies so I make a tea (that I mix with jojoba oil or lotions depending how I feel) from willow bark, birch leaves, purple sage, spruce and ceder - an old recipe for pain relief and use liberally. Aspercreme is good too and has the same medicines in it. I also follow the anti-inflammatory diet to a t. That charley horse tells me you need to be getting more fluids in you - dried apricots are good for cramps like that too.

There has been some great advice given and I join everyone in wishing you all the best....

Kim