I've just found out I'm pregnant (think I'm about 9 weeks) and from what you guys have been describing it sounds like what I'm suffering from.

Last week I was getting shooting pains from my left thigh up to my hip and I'm not sure why but it seems that after I found out I was pregnant on Wednesday I'm stuggling to stand up straight when I walk due to pain low down at the front.

I've also been getting brown discharge for about two weeks which is why I did a test, this seems to occur more when I do walk around.

I know I need to keep moving so I'm thinking about doing yoga classes - has anyone else tried this and found it effective?

I'm quite scared as this is my first pregnancy and I really hoped that things would be better than this!!

I had it will all four pgs and it was especially dreadful with dts. My gp was less than sympathetic, he said I should be grateful the separation was taking place early as it was one less thing to happen during labour!

We bought a memory foam mattress topper and it made a huge difference to my quality of sleep and therefore life in general. I could lie down without pain. I would highly recommend one, ours cost around £75 for a double.

I had a body pillow for lying on my side so I didn't put any pressure on my hips.

I had a support belt. One for my hips and one for my waist, felt like a trussed up turkey, but it helped.

I was given crutches but couldn't use them because of pushing buggy.

I also saw a physio who taught me some strengthening exercises.

I really do empathise with anyone who goes through this. I struggled to find anyone who knew what it was like and didn't get much sympathy.

I sympathise, have got PGP (38 wks now - cannot wait for this baby to come out!!!).
I felt very scared when it started to get worse, but with acupuncture and being v v strict and cautious about what movements I can do, it has got better.

Acupuncture has helped me a lot, just to relieve the pain, so that I can get more mobile, which in turn has helped the pain. ( I find the less I move, the less I can move, if that makes sense?!). I've also met people who had acupuncture and it completely resolved!

Also my top tip (if you have trouble getting in / out / turning over in bed) would be satin pyjamas, so that you can slide, rather than shuffle or push yourself around (which makes nasty clunking noises in my pelvis)

Also, for labour, get the physio to put it in your notes, so the midwives see something official and tie a piece of string / dressing gown cord around your legs to measure the maximum gap, so that you can take it with you to hospital and they can use it if you need to get into stirrups or have an epidural.

Hope that it gets better!

I think you're not supposed to use the belts while sitting down, notcitrus and betsyboo. I have to say I have given up with mine because they just pushed my pelvis in the wrong direction and made it worse.

I am on codeine phosphate 60mg plus paracetemol 1000mg to be taken at the same time (they told me this helps the codeine work better) plus use of a TENS machine all day.

Really finding it hard even with crutches now so just migrated to a wheelchair, but I can only use that when DH is with me as I can't get it in and out of the car alone.

I have written a wikipedia entry on SPD that some people might find helpful. I thought I might as well considering I had read practically everything whilst laid up for so long. There is a link at the bottom to a Women's Hour feature on SPD I found on the BBC website.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphysis_pubis_dysfunction

Hiya I'm 17 weeks and have just started to get pain in my pubic bone. When i had Ds 22 months ago i couldn't walk with out shuffling and found climbing stairs etc very difficult,i was refered to physio and given exercises. It took 6 weeks to get over. SPD was never mentioned i am quite tiny and Ds was 8lb 6 so I'm guessing this is what caused it. I am now worried as that pain i had is slowly returning. I can remember laying on the bed after Ds was born and feeling something click in my pelvis, i thought i had a broken bone!!. I am annoyed SPD was not mentioned now, as i could have researched it i bit more. Big sympathy to all you ladies suffering x x

Hi, I to have started having pains from spd, im now 13 weeks pregnant, and I have pains for the past 3 weeks.
I knew what it was straight away cause I had it my last pregnancy, last time though it started when i was 6 months pregnant. Im so scared cause I know its gonner get worse.
I am also on my own with 2 kids already, and my son who is 10 gets very worried for me, as sometimes he has to help me walk up the stairs and sees me in pain.
I got my gorgous support belt last week, ( which my son calls my nappy). It does make you feel very down, and thats why I have joined this site, cause it does make you feel better knowing im not the only one who is going through this.

I'm on no.3 now, the SPD started around 30 weeks with the first but I did'nt know what it was.
2nd time started much earlier and was hell towards the end, that was 8 years ago and the SPD has always been lurking around since, getting worse at the time of the month and when I forget and do something like move the bin with my foot-ouch!
This time the SPD started right at the beginning, before I'd even had my booking in app. I took myself off to psysio and got a belt and now have crutches.
I have the same prob with the belt as Notcitrus, I can't sit down with the belt on as it digs in so much
I'm on co-codamol which seems to help for an hour or two then I am clockwatching until I can take some more for some relief.
I am virtually housebound now at 17 weeks and dreading the next 23.
My worst fear is that it does'nt go away afterwards.

I feel your pain as mine started at about 30 weeks with dd and about 17 with dc2. Bump band helps and if its any consolation Im now 30 weeks with dc2 and if anything it has got better than it was early on (much to my surprise),

This is my fourth pg and I have got it for the first time. The pain and disability can be so bad, frankly I wake up each morning very disappointed to still be alive. I got it at 19 weeks, I am now 31 weeks, and most of the time more or less housebound unless someone can take me out in a wheelchair. I can walk about 5-10m on crutches before really suffering. I take 60mg codeine phosphate 4x day with 1000mg paracetemol at the same time, sometimes oral morphine and also have a hospital grade TENS machine on permanently. I have to come off the codeine at week 38, apparently, to avoid the baby having breathing problems at birth.

I have had 20+ chiro appointments which help by resetting the joints where they are supposed to be, but there is an element of moving the deckchairs on the Titanic tbh.
I have been admitted into hospital with it recently as it got so bad, and saw the obstetrican, physio and pain team while I was in there, plus the rheumatologist, who did blood tests. I have had hydrotherapy which made things a lot worse, and go to see a different physio on a different team next week.

I have stopped making preparations for the baby and I am no longer interested in having one, although obviously it's inevitable it will arrive at some point. I am planning a home water birth because the likelihood of getting access to a pool in hospital on the day is virtually nil.

I've now been given a support belt which is helping reduce the pain a lot when I have to walk. Only problem is you can't sit with it on as it digs in, and it's NHS white (I did ask if they had a black one...). So I got from the physio back to the bus stop in comparative comfort, but was then trying to subtly undo 3 feet of velcro under my clothes while on the bus...

I'm lucky in that I can walk a few yards (ie round the house) OK as long as my knees are together. But managed to get to a concert at Twickenham today with the help of a hired wheelchair, my friends to push it, the support belt over my clothes briefly (for when I had to walk from a temp bus stop at Waterloo, to the train), and ice packs (took ziploc bags with me, got ice in the pub).

The physio recommended ice packs (aka frozen peas in a teatowel) 4x a day, and it seems to help more than anything. She's now done as much as she can though, so I just hope she's right that I really will be significantly better by 2 weeks post-birth...

Right, codiene has kicked in so now off to bed rather than subjecting all of MN to my drug-addled wittering!