Severe pregnancy back pain

[SheldonandAmy]

I am 26 weeks and really struggling with back pain. Everyday activities are causing severe pain in the middle of my back and it is only relieved if I have a very quiet day. Is it worth speaking to the GP to see if there is anything they can offer? I can't see how I can go another 11 weeks until my maternity leave.

Is it preg related or did you suffer from it before? If preg related I'd speak to your midwife first. Could be PGP possibly and they can refer to physio for that and give you tips for dealing with it too.
If unrelated to preg, I guess your GP yes. Don't ask don't get!

Yes I never had anything prior to pregnancy. A few weeks back I suffered from pelvic pain which seems to have resolved and turned into back pain.

Have you been to a physio, osteopath or for deep tissue massage? I'd try them before I'd bother with gp, who will probably just shrug and say paracetamol! Yoga and pilates stretches, swimming, and kinesiology tape can all help too if you haven't tried them.

I’m similar OP, 22 weeks with a previous back injury that hasn’t caused me any issues beyond minor niggles if I overdo it in 10 years until I hate 20/21 weeks and it’s been agony! All day every day.

I knew it would flare up a bit but not this much, I’ve tried everything, hot baths, hot water bottle to ease any inflammation as you can take ibuprofen pregnant. Signed up to pregnancy yoga, doing all my stretches and it is constant! I have no idea what I’m going to do either but you have my full sympathy- it’s really rubbish. Xxx

I had some back pain in my first pregnancy and GP and midwife both did the "shrug try paracetamol and massage and core exercises" thing. However mine wasn't anywhere near as bad as yours sounds so worth chatting to them, I'd have your midwife as first point of call. You could ask for a referral to women's health physio. If you can afford to do this privately I'd just skip straight to that tbh I've just seen one for PGP this time in my second pregnancy as I can't even get hold of my midwife at all nevermind get a referral to anything.

Yep I currently have it, it’s so bad it wakes me in the middle of a deep sleep and I can’t even turn over to change position in bed. The thing that works for me is a hot water bottle which I rest on the exact spot where my pain keeps occurring, then I fall asleep again after a while. It’s horrible but I don’t like taking pain killers so thought I’d need to find a different method to keep it at bay x

@Tilly18101 I have just booked a pregnancy massage in the hope it will help. It was hard to find someone qualified in my area and it cost a fortune! Lets hope its miraculous!

I've tried all those things too - I just feel like it needs a decent anti inflammatory! Still only 13 weeks to go!

I had one a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately I found one for 40 pounds /hour and it was amazing. Still a treat but worth it! Hope it does the job.

Oh my goodness. I’m only 12+3 and my hips are agony. I’m terrified of how much worse it could get

@Bladette84

Oh my goodness. I’m only 12+3 and my hips are agony. I’m terrified of how much worse it could get

It won't necessarily get worse. Mine started about 6 weeks at 20ish weeks and it has got slightly worse in that time but the last say 4 weeks or so it's been up and down and not continued to progress worse. I am employing strategies though to assist via exercise, posture, support belt etc.

@Bladette84 I had severe hip pain at 12 weeks and was really worried about how much worse it would get. I had a pregnancy massage which helped massively and the hips cleared up by about 16 weeks.

Unfortunately, it has now been replaced by back problems but I didn't start to get these until about 23 weeks so had a few weeks of respite.

That’s good to hear. I’ve got a dodgy back from injury in the past and hips have been dodgy thanks to running ( which I miss but just cannot manage any more). I’ve had a haematoma but that had pretty much resolved so hoping to get back to Pilates. Pregnancy massage might be the way forward!