How to get through work with awful pelvic pain...

[bugswhatsup]

I'm 26 weeks pregnant and for the past 2 weeks have been suffering really badly with pelvic pain. It's stopping me sleeping at night too, I can only get about 30 mins unbroken sleep at a time and that's with a pregnancy pillow- without it I don't think I'd get any...

I've been off work for a few weeks as we all had covid and didn't feel too well, so essentially I've used up my company sick pay. So I can't really afford to get another sick note as we all know SSP is shocking. I'm bringing my mat leave forward to 34 weeks and can't really bring it forward anymore. Also, My belly support band helps but it's still agony.

I'm not sure what else to do or what anyone else can even suggest, but if you had the same thing what helped? Is there anything my midwife can do for me? I'm really struggling with it now and just don't know how I can go on for another 8 weeks like this in work.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Hi there

Having recently been pregnant and suffered the same you have my sympathy! Just to tell you that the moment my twins were born the pain vanished... so it doesn't last forever. Not that that helps you right now!!

Do you work from home or can you? I found being able to do this and have regular breaks during the day with my pregnancy pillow helped lots. As well as that work sorted me out with a memory foam cushion for my chair which helped too.

Certainly working reduced hours up until when I started mat leave at around 31 weeks helped.

You should be able to get referred for some pregnancy physio through your midwife. Mine was rubbish and never sorted it out or passed me any information so I ended up having some private osteo treatment which helped a little. I've also heard that antenatal swimming sessions can help too.

Keep going, not long now and the pain will be a distant memory once your baby is here x

This is SPD, ring up for an appointment with your midwife and let them know ASAP.

Here...
www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/related-conditions/common-symptoms/pelvic-pain/

Get a Swiss ball. This increases mobility in your pelvis (… also handy for bouncing with baby when they arrive).
Find an osteopath.
Get supportive shoes.
Pilates.
Get regular massages for glutes and hamstrings.

With my first dc, I was a wreck with spd—crawled into a random osteopaths days before labour, whose magic hands somehow took the pain away. Next time, I was prepared for it and did the above. It didn’t totally prevent it, but it did give me an approach to dealing with it which significantly reduced the pain. Pilates and massage made the biggest difference.

Good luck.

Have you been to a physio? Or osteopath? Or for a massage?

Ask for a women’s health Physiotherapy referral

Your midwife should be able to refer you for physio treatment - depending on your location you might even be able to do a self referral, try googling your location NHS physiotherapy self referral.
The NHS website also has some links where you can check if self referral is possible:
www.nhs.uk/conditions/physiotherapy/
If it's in budget I would recommend some private treatment with a chiropractor, osteopath or physio as the wait for NHS treatment is obviously not short.
Also look at the following 2 websites which have lots of good information and suggestions on exercises and modifications to your movement to hopefully reduce the pain.
thepogp.co.uk/
pelvicpartnership.org.uk/

To add - the sooner you can get referred for NHS physio the better as I wasn't able to be seen in person until 33 weeks due to the Christmas break, though I had my phone consultation before Christmas & she sent me some extra details by email which was all useful.
But basically I'm too close to my due date & not severe enough to warrant further treatment on the NHS as my range of motion isn't so reduced that it will impact my birthing options; I can book another appointment if the pain doesn't go after birth though. Though I was severe enough for her to give me crutches to use and I'm not supposed to walk more than 10 minutes a day.
I was already seeing a private chiropractor though so am just keeping that up.

Just wanted to say hugs, i took my previous 2 mat leaves at 28 weeks due to horrendous spd. Only had ssp which was rubbish money.
This time I've been signed off work since about 20 weeks, currently 32 weeks.

If you're planning on having more babies, after delivery please please please see a chiropractor or osteopath who is experienced in spd, as once baby comes even if pain disappears like magic, it shows an underlying issue with your pelvis. So get it fixed before another baby or you'll have it all over again. I really wish I'd realised this as I've made my pelvis worse over the years without knowing, when this one comes I'm spending the time and money to finally get my pelvis sorted once and for all!!

Thanks so so much everyone for your suggestions and lovely empathetic responses. It really is awful pain and I feel for anyone who has to experience it. Will take on all suggestions and I think I'll get in touch with a private osteopath to arrange some treatment sessions!

I did see my midwife today for a routine appointment who really empathised with me, she was really lovely and gave me some suggestions regarding moving positions and walking up stairs etc... She did kind of encourage me to take my maternity leave earlier than planned if possible but I think 34 weeks is the earliest I can logistically go. In other words I best get my big girl pants on and crack on 😩😂 not long to go!

Thanks again everyone x

I had PGP so sympathise with you.
It really was agony and nothing seemed to help.

Best suggestions are,

• work from home if possible and of not, try to reduce your hours a bit
• dont sit for too long. I found sitting actually made it worse so try and get up hourly and move around a bit
• ask your midwife to refer you for pregnancy physio. I didnt wait long to be seen to be fair but if there is a wait look at self referral
• look at your posture and see if you can improve it at all
• comfy shoes helped me as it made my feet ache as well
• yake maternity earlier? If you cant, consider being signed off for a while

It really is rubbish but I can honestly say all of the pain disappeared as soon as baby was born. It was amazing that i suddenly felt no pain when i stood up (except pains from giving birth, that was a different ball game!).
Good luck!

I'm 19+3 and literally just got back from an NHS physio appointment where they diagnosed me with pelvic girdle pain! I've had agonising pain around my lower back and sharp pain at the front resulting in needing to lie down it's so bad. I'm a teacher so on my feet all day and it seems like everything triggers it - sitting, standing, walking! I'm going to get work to do a risk assessment though to be honest I can't imagine what they can do?

I have just been given a belt/elastic band though which sort of holds my hips together (?) when walking, and I have a follow up in a few weeks where they can put me onto antenatal physio classes if I'm still in pain so definitely recommend getting your midwife to refer you to a physio because they seem to be taking it relatively seriously and I have felt quite reassured from my meeting earlier.

I'm only 9 weeks and already getting the familiar hip pain when sleeping on my side. I had it quite bad in my last pregnancy and was referred too late. I'm going to go to a osteopath this time hopefully. Can you do that privately? Just once to see if it'll help?

I'm also going to try and join a pilates class too. I really wish I had taken more action to make my muscles stronger before this pregnancy.

What is your job? You should have had a pregnancy risk assessment and this is the kind of thing to discuss with work during that. If your needs have changed since th last one, ask for another.

You can take paracetamol for pain, I took it a lot before bed as my pain wasn't worst overnight too which like you really affected my sleep. It did help a bit. I also occasionally took codeine when I just couldn't cope with the pain - speak to your GP about this before doing it, but they usually say it's ok if necessary and as limited as possible. Again this helped a little.

I worked from home at a computer, I found working sitting on exercise ball helped me. Plus lots of getting up and walking around, changing positions very frequently etc. I saw physios twice during my pregnancy (privately), once in second trimester who gave me exercises to help. Once in third trimester at nearly term who gave me more exercises and did some manual therapy. I also had two pregnancy massages in third trimester which helped temporarily. I found the bath so helpful too, I basically didn't have pain when I was in the bath so had a lot of warm baths in the last few weeks. I found my pain was worst if I was too sendentary or the opposite, too active - I had to try and strike a balance in between somewhere. I kept fit and active the whole way through as well though which I'm sure also helped - I did pregnancy yoga and pregnancy interval training exercise classes. The instructors modified exercises when there was any that would have caused me pain.

The pain had completely disappeared within 24hrs of my delivery, it was magical.