Should I go to A&E?

SPD was the first thing that occurred to me as well, and an osteopath is definitely a good option to help.

I got mine very late in pregnancy and after I'd had my son I could hardly get up the stairs, and wondered how the heck I was supposed to look after a baby if I couldn't even get up the stairs. She worked miracles - I only needed to go twice.

But if you were told to go to A&E, go to A&E. And your partner should have come home early to take you, unless he's a surgeon himself!

Please go to A&E asap.

Have you tried those stick on heat packs? I find heat more effective than pain killers for back pains.

Go to your maternity assessment unit. You will be seen very quickly.
GPs are not trained fully to understand your needs as a preg lady and A&E is going to be a real painful experience waiting in there. Both useless.

Can you share your source for that advice? Think we’re all still taking the MHRA 2023 advice as being most up to date but it’d be great to know if that’s changed.

(I used the word ‘generally’ because occasionally NSAIDS are used for short periods in 2nd trim but, as per the MHRA advice, that needs to be with medical input, bearing in mind any particular details of the pregnancy, and with consideration of more monitoring of the fetus because of the risk of renal impairment and narrowing of the ductus. NSAIDs should absolutely be avoided in 3rd trim. It would seem rather bold to advise the OP to just crack on with ibuprofen on the basis of not much information and without advising her of the possible pitfalls!)

Oh OP my back did this to me earlier in the year whilst we were on holiday & it's the only pain I've ever experienced that's reduced me to tears (I've huge tattoos, 3 births, multiple gallstone attacks, cracked tooth up into my sinus & years of sporadic of herniated disc pain).

The ONLY thing that helped me to any degree was a TENS machine, with the pads either side of my spine slightly offset to the side the bulge was happening. HOWEVER you're pregnant so I'm not sure on how to use TENS safely without inducing labour by accident.

Walking was manageable but sitting, laying, sitting on the loo was absolutely not. Also try laying on your side with a cushion or pillow between your knees so your hip & leg are horizontal & not tilted at all.

My back resolved itself after about two weeks with one week of that insane pain, just fucking wild pain - even dh putting the tens pads on me made me cry.

GP said if it happens again the only reason to go A&E is if you cannot wee/poo (cauda equina) cos that's an emergency. He also said...I'll whisper... (you can lie & tell them you can't wee or poo & they'll have to mri you. But surgical solutions aren't necessarily the answer anyway so probably not worth it).

If you can afford it see a private spinal surgeon and request mri

Sounds like very similar symptoms I had when I had a ruptured disc. Do push for an MRI, although there is depressingly little which can be done in the immediate.

I’m currently 7 months pregnant and at around 5 months also experienced very bad pain in my lower back and SI joint..I’ve been seeing an Osteopath once a month and it’s really helping. When you are pregnant the body produces relaxin to relax the joints for birth but this can lead to some joints going a bit out of kilter..an osteopath will be able to manipulate you and you should feel a whole lot better hopefully. I hope you feel better soon!

There's no way she'll be seen within 3 hours, unless she's having a heart attack. She's likely to be there all night, on a plastic chair and then, if she's admitted, a trolley in the corridor. These responses would have been correct 5-10 years ago, when A & E was a place you could go to get help. It's not like that now. They'll save your life if you're dying, that's about it.

Wtf is wrong with the healthcare system when pregnant women are being told to avoid A&E ‘cause A&Es are busy’. OP’s symptoms need to be assessed. They may be due to sciatica or another non- life threatening issue but in pregnancy things can go downhill very quickly.. Why on earth would anyone rely on the reassurance of strangers online who have no medical background / let alone haven’t examined you

Your description reminds me of how I was when pregnant with my second. The pain was unbearable, I had SPD, unfortunately all I was offered was pain killers some physio and told it would go after birth, which it did. I really do sympathise, get all the help you can from family members to help with your other children, I remember crying crawling on my hands and knees trying to get my 2 year olds PJs on, I had no one to help and hubby worked long hours.

if you think it’s something other than back pain that is muscle related, have any other symptoms I would go to A&E.

Yep, I was surprised how effective these hot and cold gels were last time I was in agony with my back

I have sciatica (I know what you have is more than that) and I find hot water bottles, voltarol and hot baths help a lot. I literally rub voltarol everywhere. I'm not sure if it's ok if you are having a baby though.

I’d go straight to A&E now. Don’t wait for your husband - that’s wasting three hours when she could be getting seen

Go to the maternity assessment unit, not a&e

Don't lie to doctors

Not helpful when OP needs medical attention now. Her baby moving doesn't mean everything is okay.

The best time to go is 8am.

I was in hospital with suspected appendicitis last week and they wheeled me through A & E on the way for a scan. It was awful. Corridors full of trolleys with people lying on them, doctors kneeling beside them to take down medical details. Horrendous amounts of noise, god knows what viruses flying around in the air with so many people packed into such a small space- and this was just a Wednesday afternoon, not a Friday night.

I don't know if whatever is up with you could be serious, but I wouldn't go to A & E at the moment unless I thought it was life threatening.

I don't believe that is true.

🙄

And for those that are saying don't bother, if you physically can't sit / move and the pain relief isn't working then you need to go for pain management, people do get admitted for this - even if they deem the other things none urgent.
So go. And don't be fobbed off!

Physio here. Jesus Christ, go to A+E and demand an MRI. If your back is numb and you have weakness, altered sensation and pain down one leg then you might have a compressed nerve in your spine - could be a disc, yes could also be sciatica. The pain relief isn't working so at the VERY least you need to go in for pain management and DO NOT let them send you home until that is at the very least under control. You need an MRI scan. And to be totally honest I'd just tell them that you peed yourself if you have to to get a scan, as it's utterly disgusting that an acute pain like this isn't being taken seriously. You're being fobbed off because you're pregnant. Yes, pregnancy can cause / worsen back pain but this is not manageable at home at all, and if you weren't pregnant would they still be just telling you to get on with it? No don't think so.

I would honestly get a taxi now and save yourself a few hours waiting for your DH, if you do have to wait a long time then you'll have the addition of zero sleep otherwise too.

A&E do not deal with back pain without paralysis or incontinence, it would be a waste of your time.

I have a skeletal and co-ordination issue and as a result suffer a trapped nerve in my pelvis when my joints dislocate and it sounds somewhat similar to what you describe. It in my case does however fade after 1 week of rest. Pregnancy maybe effecting your pelvis too.

If you are worried then speak to either the pregnancy unit for advice or your GP again but A&E will just waste your time (they will literally shoo you away trust me, been there done that) and be painful for you.