SPD: how to cope with it

[SuchaFattyCatty]

I have been having a lot of lower abdominal and lower backache since the 19th week. It's getting very bad now. I had a appt with the gynae registrar who said its SPD. She basically said it's going to get worse and not much we can do to help it. I am in agony especially towards the end of the day and find sleeping so difficult. Turning in bed or getting up from sitting is very painful. Are there any tips on how to cope with this? My bump isn't even big and I barely show. I shudder to think what will happen once it gets really big.

It's not to do with the size of your bump - all hormonal. Get a brace - really helps.

And highly likely it will magically disappear when you deliver. Mine lifted 2 days before dd was born.

I feel for you - I was on crutches with spd by the end of my last pregnancy. Some tips that might help - wear shoes with decent arch support (walking boots worked for me - yes I looked like a prat!). Don't be tempted to try stretches or any kind of exercise (unless directed by the registrar/physio). Get an exercise/birthing ball to sit on instead of the sofa. Make sure that its big enough that the bend of your knees is greater than a right angle. I used an exercise ball in the office too! My final tip is to sit on a bin bag in the car - this means you can slide around to get out and don't have to open your legs!

Hope these help. It'll all be worth it in the end!

You need a Physio referral ASAP. They can tell you how to stand/sit/get out of bed so you don't make it worse. They also give you very gentle exercises to 'switch on' certain muscles.

Pelvic floor exercises are essential. Also bracing with your pf when you need to move. Set a reminder in your phone to do them.

Sitting on A ball really helps release my back off. I wear a Lycra bump band every day.

My Physio also says lying down for 30 mins in the middle of the day and/or when I get home would really help. Impossible at work & with a toddler to deal with!

I was in pain early doors this pregnancy. Last time it was more like 5-6m when the bad pain set in. Getting Physio has really helped. Plus spending 10 days on holiday with my feet up a lot at about 6months. I recommend a holiday most of all!

Use an ice pack in the evenings to ease the inflammation, and reduce as much as you can the movements which aggravate it, like walking uphill or upstairs, pushing a shopping trolley, really anything which involves you standing on one leg. There are some core strengthening exercises you can do, I think if you google pregnancy pilates you can get some YouTube videos. Being in water helps, so some swimming as well, though obviously watch how you're kicking, no breast stroke. Do a search on here as well, there are loads of threads on it.

It's not something you should just have to put up with, some people have had great results with support belts, and physiotherapy. I had it really bad with my first pregnancy, now I'm 27 weeks with my second and am being really careful, and apart from a few twinges I have been able to keep it at bay. Good luck!

Take plenty of rest. I'd actually recommend taking a week off from whatever you normally do to completely rest the pelvis. Be as lazy as possible. I had problems with SPD from 19 weeks and it became unbearable during a house move but after a week of rest it settled down. I know it will appear again now I'm in the third trimester but any way you can delay the worst effects will help. Also avoid lifting and standing on one leg. Not that there's usually a lot of need for hopping around but still, avoid it. Hope it settles for you.

Thanks for all the tips. I have been trying to get a physio referral even before I knew it was SPD as the pain was always there from very early on. My GP said that there is no physio available
Can my midwife refer me to physio? I will speak to her, she is a lot more sympathetic than the doctors I have seen.

About the car tip and bin bag. How does that one work?

Kalevala the staff room at work is on the third floor :( , no lift available and I have to go up and down a fair bit. Will speak go them if I can be accommodated downstairs somehow.

Also how do you change trousers or jeans. Lifting a leg to do that is agony.

I sit on the bed to put my trousers on. I'm trying to think what else I do. Oh I roll out of bed with my legs together and I take the stairs very slowly and deliberately. Definitely ask about moving things downstairs because it will only become worse. Perhaps print off a leaflet on SPD to explain because my boss as lovely and understanding as she is thought I was making up the condition.

Pull a major strop with the GP/MW so you definitely get a physio referral.

Definitely get one of the braces from them - it's like sort of uber reinforced tubigrip and really makes a difference.

For me (sorry to worry you!) there was only twice it really stopped - when 'swimming' (well, just sort of floating in the pool) and also once I had a pregnancy massage on a waterbed. Lovely. If I had my time again I might actually have splashed out on a waterbed at home, or borrowed one.

Also think about if you can stop work early? Change hours/route to work...I had to stop at 7 months and take up residence day and night on the downstairs sofa.

I'm 21 weeks and starting to have mild spd. Went to an osteopath this week (privately, £40) and he found my hips were wonky. He kind of cracked my back and now I feel so much better - almost no pain. He also recommended the usual - sleep with pillow between knees, take things slowly, wear a support belt.

Last pregnancy I had physio, which also helped, but I've found the osteopath more effective.

Insist on a physio appointment. It took me till my third pregnancy to get bolshy enough! I ended up paying for a private appointment to get a diagnosis and it made it a bit easier to argue my case. (about 40 quid) There's also a website that I found useful, I think google pelvic pain maybe.

My friend who also really struggled saw her occupational health person at work who also thought she was making it up, then went away and researched it and fell over herself trying to help. Is that an option?

I also found a chair with arms to lever myself out of helpful and got someone to swap my computer chair at work. Also Cocodamol to take the edge off the pain so you can sleep. Plus what everyone else said. Anyone said stairs one at a time?

Also, make sure it's written into your risk assessment at work. If they don't accommodate you, you are then able to go off sick/ reduce your hours without reducing your pay or it affecting your maternity leave.

Great advice here, just to add, stairs are your arch enemy right now, defo follow up asking your work to accommodate you on the ground floor. Don't feel bad asking - I had v bad SPD with DC1 and I'm sure using stairs at work contributed to my having to be signed off sick at around 32 and becoming very immobile. it's probably been covered here but sleep with a pillow between your legs, get help getting out of a chair or bed whenever you can, don't carry anything and generally rest as much as possible. Nows the time to start refining your delegating skills. I'm pregnant with DC3 and I have both my other kids well trained in going up the stairs to fetch thingsetc!!

See a chiropractor! Mine was £30 a go, but honestly, I would have paid £300.
The physio was as useful as a chocolate saucepan.
Get a support belt, but don't be surprised if it doesn't help or the endless putting it on/off to wee drives you barmy so you give up on it.
Use a TENS machine on your hips (think you have to be over a certain number of weeks).
Before you try to get up out of bed, try doing pelvic lifts or circles, teeny ones, just to sort of loosen up the joints etc that can seize up if you are staying still lying down.
Make sleeping with pillows a competitive sport, I have 9 and a full body one. (There is NO space for DH in our bed anymore, but he doesn't complain because he gets more sleep in the spare anyway!)
Co-codamol is your friend.
Do not get in the bath if you are very very sore, because getting out HURTS!
Shopping, carrying children, walking more than 10 mins, are all OUT.
Put an ice pack on your pubic bone, if it is particularly painful, like a sports player... you look odd and it feels odd, but the relief is magic.
Try silky pjs or a nightie, if helps you roll in bed.
Try to limit the bending down you have to do as well. Never squat, a sort of 'proposal pose' (on one bended knee) isn't too painful for me to be able to reach things on the floor.
And above all, always go at your own pace, however slow that may be. Take it easy.
SPD sucks, but my midwife told me that after birth it goes and during labour your body blocks it out.

Thanks again everyone. Lots of very helpful advice. Sitting to put on jeans! Genius! Can't believe I didn't think of that. I will speak to work about it. It doesn't help that the other women at work who were pregnant were women of steel and worked upto 38-40 weeks with their pregnancies so my boss thinks I am being melodramatic. Everyone at work keeps saying but you aren't even that big to be having these symptoms. I have asked for a risk assessment twice, once verbally and once in writing but I haven't heard anything official from them. Do I ask for it again? They are getting quite annoyed with me.

I will research more into it. Do I use a normal pillow between legs?

Sit down to put on your trousers/knickers, then stand to pull them up. Reverse it to take them off.
Oh and badger badger badger your midwife for a referral, I mentioned the pain at 16 weeks, it took until 28 weeks for a referral, because I didn't know what was happening to me. I got told it was normal and to put up with it.

I am going to print out this thread. Thanks for the very helpful advice. Should have asked on here earlier.

McTimoney Chiropractors can work wonders. I recommend seeing one asap. I didn't see one with DD1, saw one from 12w with DD2 and it really kept it at bay for the duration of my pregnancy. I'll be going again just as soon as I book an appointment as my sacral joints already feel like they're rubbing together/grinding and I'm only 10w!

It is not normal, and you do not have to put up with it! Agree with all points above, try walking up the stairs one step at a time if you have to go up (takes ages and looks silly, but less painful). Stay away from heels, definitely sit down to do anything one legged (amazing how often we actually stand on one leg!) and definitely do NOT take off shoes without sitting down (using one foot to pull off the other shoe is the most painful thing for me).

I read about something called a snoozle (?) on here which is to help turning over in bed? The serola belt is also good apparently.

Check out the pelvic partnership website, some great tips and a bit for employers iirc. Finally, I found osteopathy miles better than physio; mine is £30 for a session and sooo worth it.

I'm 20wks with my second and it's really kicking in now :( I remember being in such agony after the birth that I couldn't move off the bed to get to ds, but it did recede over the following weeks (didn't completely go ever but I have other back/pelvis issues).

Oh, and I use a normal pillow between my legs at night;bliss :)