SPD - in your own words, what does it *feel* like?

[BoffinMum]

A top professor in anatomy asked me today to describe how SPD really felt like to him. Oddly enough, despite so much experience, I was only able to waffle on for 20 minutes about the NHS and its shortcomings with regard to treatment. So I thought it might be good to crowd source and ask everyone on here with experience of SPD to describe their own pain/sensations, so I can pass them on (he will use the information to inform his lectures and give a human dimension).

[Alibabaandthe80nappies]

It feels like you have been whacked hard in the fanjo by a sledgehammer.

and

It feels like you have ridden 40 miles on the most uncomfortable, narrow, hard bike seat ever - but you have to get back on and do it again, every day.

and

It feels like the two halves of your pelvis are being pulled apart.

[bigbuttons]

Hmm, pass. It hurts though, like buggery
I can't pass that's pathetic.
iI feels like you are being ripped apart and bring stabbed at the the same time.

[PacificDogwood]

It felt like my pelvis was uncomfortably lose and might fall apart any minute.
It was excruciatingly painful intermittently, mainly when lifting my leg.
It interfered with sleep terribly as every time I turned I woke up with pain.

HTH

[BoffinMum]

Thanks for this. Keep going!

[BooBooGlass]

I agree with the being ripped apart and stabbed at the same time. I am (foolishly) trying to ignore my symptoms which are still there 3 years after giving birth. During pregnancy it was very definately my hips that were the main source of pain. Now, it's just my right one, but with excruciating pain right at the front of my pelvic bone, exactly like it's being ripped apart. And the thing is, noone seems to make a big deal of SPD. I had my first dc 7 years ago. My midwife seemed disintrested in the pain tbh. It was only through my own reading that I found out about SPD at all. And I had no idea that it would worsen with each pregnancy, and last long after as well :(

[chocoholic]

This brings back memories. 5 years on and I still remember the agony. Excruciating pain when walking like everthing is bruised or damaged in someway.
Terrific pain when turning over in the night. Actually had to psyche myself up to move as I knew it was going to hurt so much - like something tearing or burning.
No wonder I only had 1 child!!!

[cardamomginger]

Pulled apart and stabbed at the same time. The severity and the quality of the pain was unlike anything else I had experienced in terms of joint/muscle/skeletal pain. And the feeling that when you move you will fall into pieces. The combination of pain and weakness cos everything was so loose meant that I could only shuffle. And I used to be a runner!

[Ebb]

I think I started a thread on "Feels like I've been kicked in the fanjo". That's how it started. I felt like I'd been on a horse for about 6hrs in a very uncomfortable saddle. Turning over at night was agony. Every bit of my pelvis hurt. Raising my legs hurts. Standing hurt. Sitting hurt. How anyone who has SPD in their first pregnancy is brave enough to have more, I'll never know. I only got it in my second pregnancy and I just couldn't go through that again. I am still totally in love with my Consultant ( for another pregnancy related matter ) who saw how much pain I was in when I saw her at 38+6 and gave me a sweep. Dd arrived that afternoon.

[clottedcream]

...felt like my bones were collapsingas if they were going all soft

[BoffinMum]

Thanks for your responses. He now wants to know whether anyone had any treatment that actually worked?

[HarrietJones]

Felt like everything was falling apart. Still does but not as drastic( can pick up feet without pain !)

Osteo works short term but I've only had it post dd3.

[mumblebum]

I feel like I've been forced to do the splits when I am definitely not able to.

[bigbuttons]

Yes I had bowen, it worked every time

[PacificDogwood]

I had a maternity physio do some manipulations on my pelvis/SI joints and floated out of her treatment room . Sadly, the effect only lasted a few hours and was never repeated.

Weirdly, my SPD was worst during 5th/6th month of my 3rd pregnancy, then got better and I didn't have any problems to speak of with DC4

[August5]

HI there, I had treatment that worked from a private physio and osteopath (she has both qualifications). Sadly the two nhs physios I had were next to useless and this is the sad thing about it. Unless you have money to pay for private treatment you are unlikely to get better.

The physio/osteopath I saw did cranial osteopathy, acupuncture, mobilisation techniques, relaxation of the tense muscles and gave me exercises to retrain my core muscles. Now 15 months post natal I am about 90 % recovered, able to lift both my DC and improving every day. I also started Pilates when I was about 70 % recovered a few months ago. I have now been discharged by my physio but carrying on Pilates and this is helping quite a lot.

[wompoopigeon]

It feels like having a hedgehog lodged high up in my fanjo. And the hedgehog was made of knives when I moved.
It means agonising pain when you sit, stand, turn, try to get in a shower, try to dress, prepare breakfast.... Not a single activity doesn't hurt, whether a horrible prickly pain or a burning knives pain.
Labour hurt less. Honestly. Labour was a fucking breeze in comparison. And I got more sympathy then.

[gourd]

Stabbing pain down right side from lower back to knee (down right leg) on movement or after standing up from sitting, so sharp it took my breath away and brought ears to my eyes, annoyingly aching genitals, grindingly aching miserable dull pain in pelvis all day and night, every day, difficulty sleeping as the pain was so bad at night due to pressure on the area when lying down - couldn't sleep on either side for more than 20 minutes due to the pressure that built up in my hips and pelvis, so had to wake and turn over every 20 minutes all night long. Had to crawl to loo in the night as I couldn't stand up after being laid in bed. Afterwards a sharp (though less intense) pain in the pelvis on exercise or after I'd been sitting knees crossed or with one leg higher than the other, and permanent dull ache in my twisted sacrum till after my physiotherapist realigned it! 9 months after the birth I still get the odd sharp twinge if I forget to do the physio exercises, forget to sit properly (back straight, pelvis on flat surface and with knees together) and when walking home from the pool after swimming breaststroke legs.

[gourd]

That was "tears to my eyes", not ears!

[hannahsaunt]

I could feel my pelvic bones grind together every time I took a step and going up/down stairs was particularly painful (and it was quite a nausea-inducing sensation). Lifting and pushing things - I could feel my pelvis separating which was quite disconcerting and like everything might just tumble out ... and then sore from trying to hold it all in . I got the impression my ginormous tubigrip might have worked, at least at giving the sensation things were being held together, but the tightness around my bump from the elastic made me feel sick.

[catpark]

dull aching pain in the pelvis and a stretching sensation. I remember with DD1 every time I sat on the toilet i could feel the bone crunching, it was horrible.