Should I go to A&E?

[Aandespine]

I'm 5mo pregnant. Woke up yesterday morning with excruciating back pain. I cannot walk unaided (thankfully have a pair of crutches at home I've been using to shuffle to the bathroom and back), cannot sit, even on the toilet seat I'm having to lean to one side, cannot bend over. I'm struggling to lift myself up from the toilet seat, cannot turn over in bed. I'm climbing the stairs on all fours then I take a while at the top (in a lot of pain) to stand up straight again. My lower back is numb and I'm getting tingling pain under my belly, and shooting pains down one leg. One leg feels heavy and weak.

Have been to see the GP. They can't tell me what the issue is, no advice re recovery time or prognosis. They've just prescribed dihydrocodiene. No other advice besides to go to A&E if I experience incontinence or numbness down below. I pleaded with them for an MRI which they say they'll try to request without any guarantees/it will be at the discretion of the radiographer who will decide if there's an indication for it.

Now I've had sciatica in the past and the pain was in no way near this. I'm in tears numerous times a day and the pain is literally exhausting me. I dred going to the toilet. I'm bed bound. I have a family member taking care of my 2 young children.

I haven't yet been to A&E because I cannot sit and wait there for hours to be told the same thing (pain meds and no further diagnostics).

Please tell me what to do

When I was 26 pregnant (and please don’t be frighten if my story because it’s one in millions to be where I was) but I suffered like yoh from sudden incredible pain. Couldn’t sit, couldn’t stand, couldn’t watch tv couldn’t read I just spent days in painkillers…..the drs kept telling me that pregnancy hurts and that I was just anxious.

carried on…..got to 32 weeks pregnant and my baby stopped moving. Long story short they’d stopped growing at 26 weeks and I went into multi organ failure…I spent a year in hospital with 4 of those months in ICU…..

again I wouldn’t worry this is happening to you but I’ve since done interviews for baby charities and I always advocate

you know you’re own body. You trust your gut.

I kept saying to the drs that they were wrong and they were…I knew the amount of pain I was in wasn’t normal as no women could have coped! They couldn’t have worked or even walked…..

advocate for yourself and keep an eye on it. Don’t forget count the kicks.

Not all hospitals have 24hr emergency access to MRI.

I work at a district general and we have to transfer people to a teaching hospital 1 hr away, after 7pm and at weekends.

They won’t do an MRI on a pregnant person if they can help it. It’s like a last resort

My DH phoned 111 recently and was given an appointment for the urgent and emergency care centre which really sped things through for him.

OP, I mean this kindly because I know you are pregnant and in a lot of pain.

This is coming across as a bit silly. Your midwife has told you to go to A&E. I'm really not sure why you're here asking advice on mumsnet instead of following the advice of your midwife.

How is anyone here going to help, or tell you what's wrong? Most of us are not medical and even if some are, they can't examine you via a message board.

It's your body, your pregnancy, your choice. But for what's it worth, I think it is sheer madness you are sitting here ignoring the midwife's advice when you are in so much pain.

I had the same symptoms when I was pregnant, it was horrible!

I saw Physio (after I saw obgyn, midwife & GP )who showed me some pregnancy safe exercises and how to sleep / get up etc to not make it worse.
I also took painkillers and used dry heat.

It took a few weeks to get better, but went away completely once I gave birth.

I am not medical professional though, so I would still follow their advice and go to A&E if you feel worried.

Pregnancy complications can be dangerous to mom and baby. Why on earth would you take the risk? This doesn't sound normal and at worst A&E will be able to reassure you.

The GP said there were no red flags and that there was no risk to baby. Baby is moving fine. 2 GPs told me not to go to A&E!!

The risks are minimal. It's better to take paracetamol for a fever, mild pain etc but for that level of pain it's likely to be recommended in a&e anyway. Safer than naproxen, tramadol & morphine.

A&E very rarely do MRI for anything other than a suspected emergency, for back pain this would usually be a suspected cauda equina.
The role of A&E is to diagnose and treat life threatening emergencies, they may not always provide a quick route to a (horribly painful and debilitating but not life threatening) diagnosis

i'd trust the advice of a midwife over a gp atm.

Yet you're asking randoms on the internet whether to go to A&E???

The pain you describe doesn't sound normal and the painkillers aren't helping. I would not simply rely on one or two GP's words on this one, especially if they don't have access to ultrasound and other OBGYN diagnosis tools. Again, why on earth would you risk it, especially if the midwife told you to go to A&E.

I had SPD when pregnant and could barely crawl. DH had to help me up in the night and when roll me over when I wanted to change positions it was excruciating.

A couple of years after I ended up with a torn ligament in my pelvis (no idea how) and it sounds similar to what you've described. I went to physio, had every painkiller you name and nothing helped but time - it's over 2 years now and still gets me. They never X-rayed or did an MRI, physio said they couldn't refer for one.

Hi OP

i had SPD and sciatica during both of my pregnancies and honestly it was excruciating. The sciatica meant I could barely walk with the pain in my back shooting down my left leg, I couldn’t bear any weight on that leg at all. The spd meant I was unable to open my legs more than a couple of centimetres without agony so things like getting out of bed or in and out of the car were extremely painful.

My advice to you would be to rest as much as possible, warm baths, painkillers and sleep with a pillow in between your legs if sleeping on your side. Your GP or midwife can refer you to physio to ease your pain.

Really hope things settle down for you over the weekend and you don’t spend half a night in a&e to be sent home 💐

It would be best to put your mind at rest. Could you call 111 and explain you're unable to sit waiting in a chair as it's too painful. Or maybe at reception they would be sympathetic. I've found as well that if you wait until maybe 6 am there will be a lot fewer people in the waiting room

Search up Symphysis pubis dysfunction. I had awful sacro-illiac problems when I was pregnant. I used an Emma Jane belt around my hips to stop my sacro illiac joints from moving about. I couldnt walk without it. If you are smaller than a size 14, it shouldnt matter as it works on pulling the velcro tight. It wont hurt baby as it sits under the bump.

www.amazon.co.uk/Emma-Jane-Maternity-Support-Belt/dp/B000VLRM54/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2KVFGKX2HLBIS&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ok6zCXvQTEujfNrlIBZW3UGm3nvIL4-suSfokLyfk2mH4Yp7WKmAt7ofjZ2pManVFvlPYJASXV9OYqjh2TGYrpIwPLKfdzJTP0locNeBsYWdr4KLG4vKtDQa-_nADovcuRTtdsW5Syfvp1VQ8YewpsI3N9UkMEdjkloNUp98R7juEtQCAPrkfWFlUmZNKEEVWTh9a8n91SsbqUxMY8_sV4H5r5L4L_XHssyMFSy_zrglTMuVLgNUcV9MxTSipG2GnL0AzUlV6i0SEnfEunLMm7RBb65IGMag_lzRAvlg-c4.IORXqxU_2_sZAzyrdCW5oza1kqYpmRkztnaxAMz4U8I&dib_tag=se&keywords=emma+jane+pregnancy+belt&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1728069023&sprefix=emma+jane+pregnancy+belt%2Caps%2C167&sr=8-1

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.

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.

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!

🙄

I don't believe that is true.

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.

The best time to go is 8am.

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