Scaitic pain, in agony, 14 weeks

[BumblingBee89]

Hi all

I'm in agony and wanted to ask if anyone else had been through this and if there's anything I can do that will help.

For the last 2 weeks I've had a pain in my right buttock. At first I thought I'd pulled a muscle somehow. This last week however it has got ten times worse. It's spread down my leg and it's agony to stand up or sit down, getting in and out of the car, getting in or out of bed, anything that involved moving. It's like an really really strong aching pain and almost shoots down my leg like an electric shock.

I asked the nurse who was doing my blood test yesterday (for something unrelated) about it and she advised me to go to my doctor but said it sounds like scaitic pain.

I was going to wait until seeing my midwife next Friday but it's getting worse every day and I don't know what to do. I don't know if I can go to the walk in with it (Easter weekend so doctors are closed)

I've woken up this morning and feel like I've been punched in my lower back and side on the right. It's a sickening achey pain and it's just agony.

I'm just in so much pain and I don't know what to do. I took some paracetamol the other day but it didn't touch it.

[BumblingBee89]

I should say, it's a constant pain now, not just when I move. But it is much worse when I move. I couldn't turn over in bed last night because of the pain of moving l.

[Creatureofthenight]

Ask doctor/midwife for referral to physio. If you can't wait til Tues try and find a local physio that's open tomorrow. Give them a ring ask to speak to practitioner, explain problem and make sure you tell them you're pregnant and how far along you are - you need to be treated (if you can be) by someone trained to treat pregnant women.
Have you tried hot water bottle or heat pack to see if that brings any relief?

[Foggymist]

Get a deep tissue massage or see an osteopath, then manage it with yoga/swimming etc.

[Mungobungo]

Osteopath and do some yoga stretches. There are some that you can do which will help to release the pinhed nerve. Try you tube and you'll find some. Hope you're feeling better soon. Sciatica is agony

[daisygirlmac]

I had this and it was hideous so you have my sympathy. You need a referral to the women's health physio asap but I appreciate that is unlikely to happen for a few weeks. Things to try in the mean time which might give you some relief:

You can take paracetamol, regularly at the correct dosage. It might take a few doses to have an impact but it's worth carrying on with it and not just taking it when you remember/feel you need it.

YouTube how to do a deep piriformis stretch. I found one demonstrated by a pregnant lady and it's worth trying. Also you might be able to release the nerve by going on all fours and squeezing your bum - again YouTube some videos to show you how.

Heat - get a hot water bottle and put it either under your bum or bottom of your back. I found it worked best if I put a giant pair of knickers on and tucked the hot water bottle in the back.

Another pain relieving position to try is to lie on your back on the floor and put your legs on the sofa bent at the knees.

Sleep on the side which doesn't hurt with a thin pillow between your knees.

You could also lie on your back, put your sore leg in the air and gently move it back towards your chest and then slightly across your body towards the other shoulder. Don't overstretch like this though it shouldn't hurt.

See if you can get some acupuncture, you'll need to find one who can treat pregnant women but it really helped me.

Best of luck! Hope you find something to give a bit of relief.

[VanillaSugar]

A hot shower snd kettle bell squats (minus the kettle bell) helps my back.

Are you able to take ibuprofen - very good for backpain but read the leaflet carefully.

[daisygirlmac]

Sorry thought of one more, if you can get your hands on some giant tubigrip you can wear it round your middle for support. You can also get support belts - just thinking of something you might be able to get over the weekend off amazon or something!

[daisygirlmac]

vanilla unfortunately you can't take ibruprofen while pregnant

[BumblingBee89]

Wow, thank you all so much!! I was laying here thinking I was the only one because I couldn't find much about it so far.

I've got a heat pack that I put in the microwave that provides some temporary relief. I didn't want to use it too much in case the baby got too hot 🙈🙈

I am going to try all of these stretches, thank you!!

And I'll ask my doctor about physio on Tuesday and I'll look into the acupuncture too. I hate needles but I'd stick them in myself if it helped the pain!

Is it probably not worth going to the walk in today? I wasn't sure.

Thank you so much for your replies, it's help to know I'm not alone!!

[daisygirlmac]

I don't think the walk in will be able to do much for you unfortunately, it's the physio you need. Acupuncture is tiny fine needles you can't even feel them going in but it's lovely

[VanillaSugar]

Ah, I had a feeling that was the case - it's been a while since I was last pg...sorry!

Definitely go on all fours. Put your head on the carpet and stretch your arms out in front of you. Then go back on all fours. Gently get into a crouch position and stand up slowly. When fully standing, raise your arms over your head and stretch them high up. Then do leg raises, if poss - knees up, to waist height. Slowly and gently.

[Hopeful25]

I have this too at the moment and I have paid to see physio to try and help. One of the exercises which helps me is to sit on either a tennis ball or spikey ball ( think dogs ball with nodules on it) sit on hardish hair and with the ball under the bum cheek with the pain . Wiggle around so you are making small circles .

This gives some temporary relief but if do it often through day should help ease up the piroformis muscle in your bum - it's kinda of similar to someone kneading the muscle tissue but you can do it.

Also you can put tennis ball in tuba grip so you can hold either end and then lean back on wall and apply the pressure on to your bum that way.

I've suffered from sciatica for three months now. These small exercises are helping xxx