Chronic pain, drugs and pregnancy

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Hello all,

Just wondering if any of you have had any experience of coping/managing (or not, as the case may be) with chronic pain during pregnancy.

I have chronic (as yet unexplained) rib/chest pain and am currently taking pregabalin and tramadol for pain (having weaned off stronger meds at larger doses). I know that neither of these is advisable to take when trying for a baby or during pregnancy but the information out there is so limited - gp says to either come off everything or deal with the risk/possibly horrible outcome.

Although I have heard positive stories of women who've had no choice, were medicated throughtout pregnancy and ended up with perfectly healthy babies. Whenever I talk to a doc instantly I get the blank face and a shaking of the head, as if staying on meds was more of a selfish choice than a necessity.

Any stories would be great. At wits end and all that. Just want a chance to have a regular pregnancy!

Hope evryones day is going well x

I think you would be better speaking to an obstetrician. Maybe a midwife could help you find out?

Hi,

Thanks for your reply...my GP has told me in no uncertain terms that going to see an obstetrician would be nigh on impossible without me actually being pregnant. He's not been very helpful :/

I saw him again today and re-emphasised that I'm going to have to resign myself to either 9 months (plus however long it takes me to conceive) of agony or to the fact that I may not be able to have kids after all. Super casual, thanks very much! No biggie.

GAH!

Hi
I had a c6/c7 disc prolapse (meant disc presses on cervical nerve which runs down arm) extremely painful at 6 months pregnant.
Unfortunately the doctors (gp, orthopaedic cons and obs cons) were very clear that hard core meds was a very bad idea. I had paracetemol and some ibuprofen (generally not recommended in pregnancy) and a tens machine. They also agreed for me to have some injections into my neck under xray.
Sorry not to have better news. It was a miserable time.
Any chance of really pushing for a diagnosis? I only had three months of pain and that was bad enough but at least knowing the cause (and possible treatments after baby arrived) meant I knew there was light at the end of the tunnel. Poor you :-(

Hi, I have severe chronic pain. I have multiple chronic health problems too.
I take pregablin, morphine and fentanyl for pain. (I'm on other meds too for other problems). When I was pregnant I stopped the pregablin (as that was very high risk as it also an epilepsy drug, and can affect the brain). Pain drug wise I continued on morphine and fentanyl during pregnancy. My baby boy is now 9 months and he is fine. When he was first born we stayed in extra time due to withdrawal effects in him because of the morphine and fentanyl.

.......I have severe pain in my spine because I have a spinal cord injury, 3 burst fractured vertebrae in my spine, spondylyosis and spondylyothesis.

Other things,
Physio
Hydrotherapy
Warm packs
Ice packs
Gentle exercises (given by physio to do at home)
Yoga
There are also complementary / alternative therapies, such as reflexology, Indian head massage, reiki, etc. but again must be caution given /seek medical advice when pregnant.

For me, coz of my spinal cord injury I've had physio for 5 years now.
And ice packs help a little.