Question: I am 35 years old and 14 months post-partum (2nd kid) and have been dismissing a variety of seemingly unrelated symptoms for a while now because my OBGYN is quick to dismiss all pp problems as normal. Now that my cycles have been back to normal for several months I'm starting to wonder if these symptoms are in fact related and pointing to something bigger. First I have been having acute pain in various locations: elbow (like tennis elbow), at my breastbone (kinda feels like a bruise or an over-used muscle), knees, and ankles. I walk a lot and jog a bit, but there is no direct correlation between exercise and when these symptoms flare up. I also have significant loss of strength and stamina in my hands. If I grab a grocery bag and walk from the car to the house my hand will be nearly stuck in the grip-shape for several seconds while I massage the pain away. I used to be able to give a shoulder massage for several minutes, now it's a couple at best on a good day before my hands cramp up and I just can't. For what it's worth I have had blood work recently to rule out RA. There is a chronic pain in my hip/low back (more hip than low back but it migrates a bit). Sciatica has been ruled out. I have tension headaches 3-4 times a week and migraines 1-2 times a month and between all the other issues I rarely go more than 2 consecutive days without copious amounts of Advil. To add to the musculo-skeletal anomalies, I've been having issues with constipation and nausea for about 8 weeks. Neither is consistent, but it seems to come out of the blue and clear up in a day or two--I'm not pregnant. I'm not sure if there is any correlation, but I'm also prone to overheating. Like the other day it was 58 degrees and I was on a walk in a short-sleeved shirt and light jacket for two miles and came home dripping with sweat feeling like I might pass out (that didn't happen, but I have passed out from over heating several times in my life). I've also been experiencing brain-fog and forgetfulness that is more distinct than after my first child, but I don't know if it's related. From a medical history stand point mine has been uncomplicated, but my folks are both hot messes. On my mother's side there are autoimmune diseases, diabetes, and cancer. On my father's side diabetes and strokes. My GP is not particularly aggressive in diagnostics and until recently I have been cool with that because with so much familial crap I really haven't wanted to go digging. Now though, I think maybe there is something more and I find her dismissive.

Thank you for giving me a way to start a more specific conversation with my GP. I sincerely appreciate it. As far as meds go, I don't take anything daily. I have a script for Clonapin prn (I take it 4-5x a month, maybe). I have a muscle rub of flexeril and arnica that is compounded which I use a couple times a week, generally to cope with the tension headaches but sometimes for the tendonitis-y pains. Otherwise it's just 6-8 ibuprofen a day probably 3-4 times a week. Regarding the breastfeeding, we do, but he is mostly weaned. He nurses maybe 4x/24hrs for 3-5 min. It seems mostly to do with comfort at this point, but I am still lactating some.