Twitchy leg/nerve pain in late pregnancy

[peanutpie]

For the last few weeks I've been getting a horrid twinge that seems to come and go in my left leg. I imagine it is nerve pain, with in the baby lying on my nerves? It's horrid and sort of makes my leg collapse a bit.

Up until now it was only happening when I was standing or walking (particular changing direction) but I've also got it a few times whilst lying in bed!

I expect there is nothing I can do about it? other than wait until the baby is out of course!

Anyonelse had this? I'm 38+ weeks pregnanct now and it's been happening with more and more frequency since week 34 or so.

Is it down the back of your leg? If so it sounds like sciatica.

Hi

I've had something very similar since about week 16 (I'm now 28 weeks) - it sometimes feels like shooting pains down the outside side of my left leg, other times it would be like a dull ache, other times my leg would almost give way under me (but that might have been the shock of the pain - god help me for childbirth itself!)

My GP was spectacularly unhelpful - just said that it would only get worse until the baby came - and then it would go away.

However, it has improved over the last few weeks, I believe, as a result of changes I have made - these are:

• I've been to antenatal yoga which seems to have helped - although I'm not quite sure whether it was the general relaxation or specific movements which obviously released the pressure on the nerve.

• recognise which sitting/standing/sleeping positions make it worse and avoiding those.

• avoiding doing any one thing (standing/sitting etc) for an extended period of time,as this seemed to trigger it too.

-I've also found that laying a spare duvet (folded in half) under my bottom sheet, to make the bed a bit softer, has really eased the frequency and intensity of the pains at night.

I haven't found anything that makes it go away completely but do now feel that I can manage it without collapsing in a heap or bursting into tears!

good luck!

Doretball - Thanks for your advice. I'd been thinking today that sitting for a while seems to make it get worse. I think it may be why it's bad in bed because I generally sit down and watch a TV in the evening.

Hope your twitchy legs remain manageable in the coming weeks!