People who've had SPD/PGP

[MainlyMaynie]

At 34 weeks mine is starting to get worse after being stable for quite a while. I've been wondering what happens next.

How long did it take you to recover after the birth? I discovered yesterday playing with the pram we've ordered that I can't lift my leg high enough to unfold it!

Could you carry the baby ok? I am finding the amount of weight I can carry is getting less and less.

Had you lost a lot of fitness? I'm worried that it's going to take me a while to build up to even walking short distances! My well developed shoulder muscles from the crutches aren't really going to be very handy.

If you had it in one pregnancy, did you get it again the next time? The same or worse?

Did anyone manage to make it all through pregnancy without using painkillers? I've managed till now as I don't want to take anything unless I really really have to, but if it gets much worse I will be very tempted!

Hope someone has some positive answers :)

This might not be the same for you, but mine disappeared after the birth! Completely!

This time it seems to have eased up (am 34 weeks) but have stomach muscle problems instead. Last time I was carrying twins and it was awful, but as I said, fine as soon as I could walk again after the c-section.

Fingers crossed for you. Go back to your physio, they might be able to help.

Thanks Loopy, I hope that happens for me too! Physio has been great so far, I'm going to call and make another appointment today.

And go ahead and keep yourself topped up with paracetamol, not just when you think you need them most. It is safe and made all the difference to me.

Mine went immediately post birth and we used some savings to pay for physio so I could get my core muscles back. Mine was stable from 26ish weeks to 34 but once baby started to engage it got worse. Paracetamol and hot water bottles wrapped up for gentle warmth helped. One thing I didn't know was there are physios/chiropractors who specialise in SPD. I wish I had seen one of these, not a community physio who said "here's the belt you need to buy, toodle loo, oh, don't forget your crutches"!!!!!

Mine also went immediately post birth. Actually I didn't think about it whilst in labour either and it had been awful for the last 4 weeks!

My physio was useless, just gave me a support belt and a sheet of exercises. If it comes back this time I will be moving in with my chiro .

I was on crutches with my first DS from about 28 weeks. With my next son it was milder but still there. Now 20 wks with 3rd DC and have the familiar twinges again. (I swear, before I even knew I was expecting my 3rd, I said to DH, "if I didn't know better, I'd think I had SPD" - I was about three weeks gone! but it only lasted about a day.)

Disappeared immediately after having both boys though. Good luck!

I had it bad with all three pregnancies. It got a LOT better after the birth, but was still there a bit (e.g. if I carried something heavy/kicked a door in a scissor motion etc) before gradually fading over time. Heck, I ran the London marathon between DC2 and DC3.

I'm 2 weeks out from DC3 and I'm still in agony sleeping on my side at night though, even with pillows between my knees, which I'm sure I didn't have with my first two which worries me a bit - but during the day I am fine.

Had mine in last (third pg) was really bad towards the end got zero help or support. This time was prepared!

Im 31w tomorrow and its alot lot worse, alot of pain in pelvis, hips not too bad, knees awful, cannot lift or carry much at all. Feeling really quite restricted and feel as tho have ages to go. Physio been good and support belt does help to a degree.

Last time it went immediately so am hanging on to that thought!

OMG thank god!! I have had pain on and off since about 10 weeks (currently 22+1) and was worried that I might have to live with this forever!!

I had mine with all four pregnancies but in the first I just thought it was normal . Disappeared pretty quickly after ds1, took about 6 months after ds2, can't really remember after ds3 which is strange as I felt the worst when pregnant with him.

Used a belt but no crutches or painkillers. Did all the stuff they tell you like sleeping with a pillow between your legs etc. But I don't think my physio was particularly good last time - this time I have a much better physio who knows what she's talking about and as well as suggesting safe ways to stay active has also manipulated my pelvis (gently) to correct a misalignment.

In terms of lifting and fitness, ds3 was a bit of a porker (4.1kg at birth) so I didn't carry him around as much as I had done with the first two. And my fitness slowly came back - I did the Swimathon when he was about 9 months old.

this started for me at 13 weeks after some ill advised downhill running

15 weeks now, will it get worse? It's not too bad at the moment, apart from pushing door with foot, getting up out of chair at work, turning over in bed.

I have had it in three pregnancies and in between too, although that only tends to happen when I have been working on my feet for a long time (I worked an 8 hour shift at a beer festival and couldnt move the next day!)

But regarding the pregnancies, it went pretty much the same day as i gave birth, as I said only returning when I spend along time on my feet. Take paracetamol 4 times a day (this was recommended by my consultant) as it will help. The physio will help with exercises that will help, but doing pelvic floor exercises helps with those muscles too.

The Pelvic Pain Partnership are a good place to find out more information, especially if you are one of the unlucky ones like me who's doesnt clear up completely post birth.

I found that it was worst in my first affected PG, slightly better in my second and then got worse again in my third.

I got it at around 20wk with ds3, now 14mth. I coped within reason until about 30wks when I needed the belt, then crutches, codeine then tramadol. I was induced early because of it as I became bed bound towards the end. To make matters worse baby was a shoulder distortia birth, needing the trauma team to deliver him who for obvious reasons ignored my SPD during delivery so the advice to keep my legs close together, not in stirrups etc went out if the window! Post birth I got worse, it took me weeks to walk without crutches, dh had to take unpaid leave to help me with dc's. 14mth on and the pain is still there but much less so.however I can't walk for more than say half a mile without being in severe pain and needing codeine, I could never consider going to the gym or an exercise class at the minute and I still struggle to get in and out of car/bath or going up stairs. I know I'm in the minority so hopefully yours won't be this bad, but wanted you to be aware that it doesn't always go straight away.

Poor you, ash. That sounds horrific.

I'm luckily at the other end of the spectrum. I started feeling pain around 28/29 weeks. By 35 weeks I was on codeine and crutches, and pretty much housebound. Then at 38/39 weeks, it started improving. At 41 weeks I am now almost pain free, and walked a mile today. No one appears to know why - I saw a consultant today who was mystified - but it seems that there are no certainties with SPD!

Thanks for the replies everybody, sounds like there's a good chance of it getting better quickly but also an element of luck. I'm very jealous of Stiffy walking a mile at 41 weeks!

Stiffy, mine did that too with pg 2 - I think baby's head stabilised things for me. I have had ongoing problems with PGP between pregnancies though, and am off to the gp to ask for an xray after the physio got exasperated with me. It was SPD with pg 1 but since then my problem has been a very loose SI joint. My second pregnancy was much better than the first though. There really is no predicting things.

How long did it take you to recover after the birth? From not being able to get in or out of the bath for months (literally) I walked down the corridor to have my first bath within 2 hours of ds's birth. I even got in and out by myself! By a couple of weeks after I was nearly 'normal' and within a month completely normal.

Could you carry the baby ok? No probs at all.

Had you lost a lot of fitness? Never had any to begin with! No, seriously, not much.

If you had it in one pregnancy, did you get it again the next time? I only had it in pg3, but it took ages to get diagnosed (started about 10wks, diagnosed at least 12 weeks later). Unfortunately by that time a lot of damage had been done which meant that it was too late for some of the help I should have had. This time I implemented everything I had been taught immediately and didn't really get any twinges until at least 20wks.

Did anyone manage to make it all through pregnancy without using painkillers? Nope. Took max cocodamol and dihydrocodeine last time. Have just begun cocodamol this time (am 30wks) but that's mainly cos I did something v silly on Monday and hurt myself. I'm really hoping that the physio will manhandle me tomorrow and put me back together again as I'm a bit cross as I'd been doing sooo well.

As others have said, take paracetamol all the time. It's not spot pain relief - use it as a course of medication, every four-six hours without fail. But only four times in 24 hours please! It is perfectly safe for the baby.

Any problems that I still have (as I do have joint problems, but not really spd) is due to hypermobile joints and scoliosis of the spine. The first of those things is v common in spd sufferers apparently.

Mine began improving almost immediately after giving birth. I couldn't sit cross-legged for several months, though. It had no effect on my ability to carry my babies. Your crutch-strengthened arms will be very useful in that respect!

I had SPD very mildy in my first pgcy (undiagnosed, I realised what it had been with hindsight, when I developed SPD during pgcy no2).

With no2 I did not have it badly enough for crutches, but it was severely limiting, and I was in some degree of pain every day for the last trimester.

With no3 I didn't have SPD at all! Well, not until the last 3-4w, when I began having twinges. Again, it improved substantially within months.

I think there must be some connection with breastfeeding, because each time I reduced the amount I fed (eg when dc started sleeping through), there was a noticeable improvment. And that's not to do with sitting less, because I fed lying down as much as possible.

I wonder whether my birthing positions were significant: with dc1 I was reclining on my back, putting pressure on my sacrum and coccyx, which therefore could not move, thus the baby's head put extra pressure on my symphysis pubis - spreading and weakening it?

With dc2 I gave birth on my side, barely spreading my legs - knees maybe 30cm apart. Could that have protected my SP by allowing the sacrum and coccyx to move with the baby's passage?

I seen an nhs physio a couple of weeks ago for this and was really disappointed by the ' 1 in 5 women get it, do you know you can take codeine and is should go away after the birth'. I need help with it NOW, had still 6 weeeks to go at that stage. I have since had 2 appointments with a fantastic chiropractor and the difference is fantastic. I am still sore, but I dont feel the need for painkillers or to cry if I have to turn over in bed.

Hi, weirdly I had thought about starting a thread about my SPD/PGP today and have seen this. Had some PGP early on in the pregnancy that was kind of like a sciatica type pain, which occurred after I had been on my feet all day, this came and went. However last Friday night I felt something 'go' in my bum, and after that the SPD started. Was in considerable pain over the weekend, and since then it's been fairly mild, but always there. Am 25 +1 now, dreading it getting worse, though taking comfort from the people who have said it stabilised a bit at 34 weeks. Waiting for my physio appointment to come through, but may also consult a chiro too.

Wanted to go on my bike today (it's set up on a turbo trainer - so not biking outside) and it was too painful getting on it and sitting on the saddle :(

Can i ask fellow sufferers a wee question? I hav been very lucky and been good for several weeks are high heels and ahem sex known triggers for pain or have my recent flair ups been coincidence? Have learned my lesson - hubby delighted!

Heels yes, definitely for me. They affect your gait and make your muscles etc work in a different way (hence the "high heel wiggle"!)

Cant say about sex, havent been lucky enough to find out about that one, sadly :(

Well my pain is very bad today, yesterday I had sex, walked more than I had for a while and sat down in the car at at a wedding reception for ages, so it was either a combination of all three or one of them. Hey ho, all of the things (except sitting in the car) were fun :)

I think the sex depends on the position you are in when doing it! I think keeping legs together may help reduce the chance of pain.

Definitely 100years. If you can manage all fours then that's the only way it works in this house at the moment

And same goes for heels witches. A total no no.