sciatica - ouch, what to do?

[LetThemEatCake]

34 weeks pg with dc3, have never experienced this in previous pregnancies but ow, ow OW, it HURTS!!

Sod's law that I get it when I have 2 toddlers to run around after and not in pg1 when I could have adopted yogic poses for hours on end ...

any good advice from fellow-sufferers?

No advice I'm afraid, but I know how you're feeling. I'm nearly 7 months pg and never had sciatica in my first pg so suffering from it now was totally unexpected. I'm starting physio in the hope it will help with the pain. Hope you can manage to rest as much as poss. Not easy I know with having young children. Just 6 weeks left for you. If I get any tips from the consultant I will pass them on to you.

lay on the floor and slowly draw your legs up as near to your chest as you can get them, hug your arms around your legs and gently rock side to side - I've had sciatica once in this pregnancy so far and this really helped ease it and stretch my back out so it healed within a couple of days, I did it several times a day - had to get hubby to help get me up off the floor but there you go! Hope it helps, and don't lift anything heavy especailly heavy bags on one shoulder or anything like that as it will trigger it again...

thanks a million, both of you x

I saw a chiro/osteo who helped a lot. Stretching is good as long as you can still lay on your back which I can't any more. Other than that take it easy and absolutely NO lifting or twisting.

I went for a pregnancy massage where they concentrated on the nerves in the area I had been suffering from sciatica, it was pretty sore at the time when she was massaging but it got gradually better over the next week and has now totally dissapeared!

I went to a proper massage therapist, not a Spa type pregnancy massage.

I found pregnancy yoga really helped, not sure if you can manage to get to a class, but if you look online I'm sure there will be some info of good poses to help you. I sympathise, I had it for a few weeks and I think a combination of the baby moving off my sciatic nerve and yoga helped it go away.

I suffered from sciatica a few times before I got pregnant and god you don't realise how much it hurts unti yoo have it (am really dreading getting it again while pregnant).
Acupuncture with physio really helped me.