SPD - advice and reassurance needed please

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After a week of steadily increasing pain when I moved I went to the doctor yesterday and found out I have SPD.

I now have painkillers and a physio appointment in 3 weeks but despite looking on the Internet I can't find much advice on what to do for the bast in the meantime.
If you have been through this was gentle exercise/walking recommended or were you advised not to move any more than necessary and to avoide the things that are causing pain - which includes walking for me
Also the pain is particularly bad after I have been sitting in my chair at work, I don't know whether a cushion on the chair would help, I don't want to do anything in case it makes it worse.

I was relaxed about the birth as my first was very straightforward with no complications but I am scared now. Does SPD make labour much more painful and difficult?

Finally I know it should go away when the baby is out but the thing I am most scared about is not regaining full pain free mobility afterwards so positive stories and reassurance would be appreciated.

I am only 25 weeks so I now have 15 weeks of pain to look forward to

I am 27 weeks and had my first physio two weeks ago! It is so painful after walking so I understand what you are going through.
I was advised to try and do little bits at a time but nothing that hurts. No ironing, hoovering, pushing shopping trollies. The list is quite long. If you go on the nhs website there are leaflets you can download.
Hope you get better soon xx
Ps I have found a support band really helps!! Xx

This might not be helpful, I have SPD, its not as bad as yours. I've been advised to keep my knees together when sitting, to swivel out of the car with knees together. Also I need help now getting out of the bath by my DH, we don't have a shower.

I had it in my last pregnancy. Physio didn't help, avoiding anything strenuous did though. Walking up hills and stairs was particularly difficult. I would shamelessly take a bus two stops rather than walk and used lifts wherever possible. It totally cleared up the same day as my baby was born and I have no trace of it now.

Mine was aggravated massively by walking up stairs. Taking one step at a time helped a lot. - I did feel stupid, but I say that made the most difference of anything.

I also got a ridiculous pillow that went around shoulders, down front, through knees and up round bum. The support round the butt helped a lot ad well. The first time I lay down with it I cried as it was the first time I'd been comfortable in weeks.

Cold compresses frozen peas round front/ between legs, and a hot water bottle round the back also helped when sitting.

It's horrible and I think affects people in different ways- but that's what worked for me. Hope you feel better soon

I went to a physio class and we were shown ways to use a towl to support while sitting. Try googling that.

I have pgp mildly and keeping the knees together helps me minimise 'damage' and keeps it at bay most of the time

Ps. Mine actually eased a bit in my 3rd trimester although came back at 38 weeks. But it was a nice bit of respite!

Oh you poor thing, it's horrible isn't it?

I had chiropractic treatment for my spd and it was amazing but pricey.

One of the girls I work with had it badly in her second pregnancy and ended up on crutches at 24 weeks. She found sitting on a gym ball at work was better than an office chair.

Thanks for the replies.

It hurts every time I move but I don't want to be constantly taking painkillers so I trying to put up with it as much as possible and only take when needed.

I have health insurance through work so I might phone them and see if this is covered but the excess is quite high so might just have to wait for the nhs physio.

Off to look for the nhs leaflet and support from towels / pillows

I know a lot of people find them helpful, but i find sitting on a gym ball makes things worse for me, i think its because you sit with your legs open and it helps open the pelvis up, which is sort of the opposite of what i need when the pain is bad. Best thing for me is sitting with my legs up on the sofa and legs together. Definitely keep legs together when you stand up or turn over in bed.
Also instead of rolling over in bed (which is agony for me) i find it much better to sit on the edge and flip round with my pillow so that my head is at the foot of the bed. Much more comfortable and means i don't have to spend all night on one hip.
Mine isn't as bad as some though.

I had it in my first pregnancy, very severely and ended up in a wheelchair. If the physio are no good, or it gets worse I highly recommend going to a chiropractor or osteopath, look for ones that specifically deal with pregnancy.
There is the pelvic partnership trust which has excellent advice on their website, sorry can't do links.

My birth was no problem at all, although I avoided stirrups and was lucky to have a water birth, baths were the only place I felt comfortable in the last few weeks! Try not to labour on your back and make sure the midwives know you have SPD.
It is recommended you measure how far you can open your legs without pain before labour and insist you don't open them wider than that- with painkillers you won't be able to feel the limits of your body and could do more damage.
Don't push yourself through the pain- it makes it worse, get help!! Hope it doesn't get any worse for you.

I had SPD with both previous pregnancies (from about 4 months with dd2 and on crutches from 5 months). I can't add much in terms of advice - it's all been said in pp but would add that it should make birth easier.
Your pelvic opening will be bigger and you pain threshold higher. It does limit positions (no lying on your back with your legs in stirrups) but I had both mine kneeling down and this was fine.
If you have an epidural, you'll need to measure the comfortable distance between your knees beforehand.
Oh, and I was back to normal straight away

I was signed off work from 26 weeks in last pregnancy as sitting in a chair for more than half an hour was unbearable!

You need to minimise what causes the pain for you. But keeping knees together, pregnancy pillow and sleeping on a folded duvet all helped me. There were days when I could only lie or stand. You just need to do what you can to get through I also found the support band from the Physio was useful if I needed to walk a short distance.

Mind disappeared instantly I gave birth but you do need to tell midwives not that they cared at the time as my DD was in distress which was more important than hurting my pelvis!

I'm 37 weeks and have had spd since about 17 weeks. I found physio brilliant. I was given exercises to do at home and if she found my pelvis out of line (which she did on one occasion) she manipulated it back, which made a huge difference.

I bought a pregnancy pillow straight away and sleep with it between my knees.

I have found the paid has varied in terms of severity, and also found that at different times it would be my hops, back or groin that was worse. It's currently my groin.

The exercises I was given were all to do with strengthening my pelvis, I found walking makes things worse, so you may be best doing pelvic floor exercises until you see the physio.

I found sitting in work very difficult, but they should do a risk assessment for you. Mine did and I have a foot rest and back support now, which has made a difference too.

I think I have been quite lucky that I have reacted well to physio (or rather the spd has) I know others have it much worse, but I have also been worried about post birth, so it's good to hear about the experience of people where it went straight away.

Good luck with the physio.

Echoing a poster above, contact the pelvic partnership and ask for a list of recommended practitioners.I'm in london and although they had no osteopaths listed for here I found the british school of osteopathy through looking online. Highly recommended if you are london based,its half the price of other osteos and although its final year students practicing they are monitored by v experienced tutors in the 'expectant mothers clinic'.
I had a problem turned out npt to be pgp itself but 2 sessions and I'm all clear,they cracked my lower back and relief was immense.

Feel a bit better knowing that other people have coped and recovered fully afterwards.

Not covered by health insurance so will just have to wait for my nhs appointment and hope they have a cancellation soon.

When it is really bad I just think how am I going to get through the next 15 weeks but I am already learning which things make it worst so I can try and avoid doing those things. Unfortunately my work chair is one of those things so might end up having to stop working earlier than planned.

I had this badly in first pregnancy and to be honest found physio not very helpful prior to birth but great after. This time as soon as the pain started I saw an osteopath, got a 'wedge' cushion for my chair at work, started wearing only trainers, avoiding stairs as much as possible, avoiding vacuuming and anything which aggravated it and its really subsided, if its bad i alternate heat and cold in the evening on the front and back and I feel so much better.
Hope you can slow it or reduce it. It is horrid.

Ouch.

Would suggest avoiding things that aggravate it (I went on a bike ride as thought "gentle exercise" would help, then couldn't walk for days). I found wedging myself into bed at night with pillows helped. Keeping knees together as someone else has said. Regular painkillers - paracetamol is safe as houses and does help.

In terms of childbirth, having to lie down for examinations was tricky (I had to have speculum due to prem birth). Was totally paralysed by contractions anyway so ended up lying wonky on a bed --thank god for dh or I'd have been on the floor) which was fine! And the SPD pain went as soon as I'd given birth - it was awesome!

just to add - don't dispair! I thought I was going to be in constant pain from about 20 weeks and as long as I didn't over do it I managed to mostly keep it manageable. it came and went for sure, but wasn't 20 weeks of agony by any means..