Agonising hip pain from sleeping on side

[LucyT87]

Can I ask people about sleeping on the (left?) side?

I’m usually a side sleeper anyway but move about freely and end up on either side. I’ve been trying to sleep on my left side using a pregnancy pillow but usually end up with a dead left leg and or horrible leg cramp.

so I sometimes move on to my right side for the last couple of hours of sleep which I know is less ideal but I’ve been told is ok. Then I get absolutely agonising pain in my outer right hip and down my right leg as I wake up. I basically can’t walk until it settles down. Has anyone else had this? I know aches and pains are normal but it feels really extreme for something I’ve never heard about pregnancy. I’m nearly 20 weeks so not even a huge bump.

I had awful hip pain during my pregnancies. A thick memory foam mattress topper helped along with sleeping with a pillow between my knees and ankles. On a positive note it went away as soon as babied were born!

I had this, it's utterly crap but I think falls within 'normal' for pregnancy. I had to switch sides every couple of hours at night because the pain woke me up. I had quite severe pelvic girdle pain. It did go away after birth (both times!).
I wouldn't worry too much about sleeping just on your left side. I just avoided sleeping on my back.

Please check with your doctor to have your vitamin D level checked. I know that pregnancy can cause issues with hips but it could also be that your vit D level is low. Mine was and I was in terrible discomfort when trying to sleep on my sides and that all stopped when I got my level up. As you are pregnant, it is best to get checked by the doctor and advised what to do if the level is low. Good luck.

Try sticking a small pillow or even a rolled up towel under your waist, and another between your knees (although your pregnancy pillow probably does that anyway?) And swap sides more frequently. You could also try sleeping on the sofa is it’s big enough so that you can have your back supported up against the back of the sofa.

I'm also getting hip pain while sleeping. I got a top mattress 8 cm think and it has helped. Before I had to swap sides every hour during the sleep due to the hip pain and now I still swap sides but now every 2-3 hours and the hip pain is less, although my arm still go numb so have to swap because of the arm regardless of the hip.

The pillow between the legs also helps but it moves out through the night.

Pretty normal unfortunately, sounds like it could well be spd. Does your pelvis/hips/lower back hurt at other times too? And does it hurt when you try to change position in bed?

I had this in my left hip at around 24 weeks pregnant. I was swapping sides every few hours during the night but it got so bad at one point that I had to come downstairs and sleep sitting up on the sofa. It was definitely worse in the mornings, getting down the stairs etc but it got to a stage where it was painful all day long and quite debilitating. I couldn’t sleep on that side at night because of the pain.

I spoke to a community midwife who referred me to NHS physio, which came through quite quickly, they didn’t do any manipulation, just gave me some exercises. I was also advised to see my GP, who prescribed me paracetamol and codeine. I have to say that none of this really helped, apart from the paracetamol, a little bit and I was taking it at 3am every night as well as during the day!

The breakthrough came when I decided to make an appointment privately with an osteopath and I can’t recommend that highly enough, if you can justify the cost (it was about £75 for a 1 hour appt). She diagnosed me with an inflamed gluteal bursa in my hip, did some manipulation and gave me some exercises and over the next few weeks, I healed up. I’m now 38 weeks almost and I haven’t had any pain for at least the last 2-3 months, which has been such a relief. I also invested in a pregnancy pillow as I was just using ordinary pillows beforehand.

Hope you manage to find a cure for it, I remember how tough it was 🥴 I remember thinking that there was no way I could last another 4 months with the pain - I could hardly walk, but fortunately things improved massively after I saw the osteopath. I’ve still had to swap sides at night every few hours along with trips to the loo 🤦‍♀️ but I don’t have any pain now and I’m getting more sleep!