Leg cramps (sciatica?) during pregnancy

[kirstyblue]

Hi all,

I’m nearly 14 weeks pregnant and for the last couple nights I have hardly had any sleep due to really awful leg cramps/ache. It seems to be from the very top of my legs on my sides by my hip/bum and down to my knees. Does anyone know what is causing this and if there is anything that will help??

Also I am trying my best to sleep on my left side for baby but I feel like it’s not helping my legs.

Anyone else getting this?

Thanks in advance x

[JessRose]

Sciatica type pain normally starts lower back, from your bum cheek kind of area.

Pain in hips I’m unsure what the cause will be. It may be sciatica but my sciatica hasn’t ever started from my hip area before. I’m experiencing both sciatica and hip pain at 25 weeks at the moment... My midwife has referred me to physio. Maybe you should try and do the same, sooner rather than later I guess is also beneficial.

In the meantime, when I go to physio tomorrow, I will ask and see if I can shed any light for you!

[kirstyblue in reply to JessRose]

Thank you for your reply. I guess it’s not really my hips, it’s like the very top sides of my legs. Feels almost like lack of blood flow. Although the cramps have stopped for now, my top legs and bum cheeks feel pretty achey today.

Do you get pain everyday? X

[JessRose in reply to kirstyblue]

I’ve had it for the past 6-7 days continuously. But before that, it was one/two days every week ish from about 20 weeks. Before that, no problems. I’ve experienced sciatica like pain before I fell pregnant too, but it wasn’t very often. X

[JessRose in reply to kirstyblue]

I went to physio! It’s all under the umbrella of “pelvic girdle pain”. I’d try and go if I were you, I got some really great advice and exercises that really helped!

[EvaK82]

Hiya

If you are unsure if it is sciatica then google a picture of the sciatic nerve routes - there are three and they go to different parts of your body.

Sciatica is caused by one (or more) of the discs pinching the Nerv. Depending on where you get the pain, it indicates where the pinching happens.

One test is to lift the opposite leg (to the one hurting) and see if this at any point causes the hurting leg to ‘cramp’ - then you know the cause of the pain comes from the connecting point of the two legs - I.e. the spine. I found this fascinating when they did that to me... also - does coughing or sneezing cause the pain to flair?

I have had sciatica since the end of October due to a disc prolapse and the pain profile definitely changed over the course of time.

First it was just aggravated by sitting - so the pain would freeze me after getting up, and then slowly walk itself out. At Christmas I got a bad chest infection (lots of coughing) and a fever (inflammation) plus slept on a soft bed at my in-laws and all of this led to a far worsening of the condition. Sitting is still a problem, but now is also laying down which means I have not slept properly since Christmas (sometimes 2h max with interruption). Try and find a position that is least aggravating - there is lots of tips on sciatica sleeping positions and even YouTube videos. I have found laying on my tummy, propped up with varying degree of cushions (sometimes a mountain, sometimes none) under my front to help. It recreates one of the *McKenzie stretches (he is the sciatica guru) - a bit like cobra in yoga. Sometimes I need to really push my arms up to get a good bend in and that eases off the pain. See what works for you.

I find a hot water bottle on the base of my spine and the cramping area also helps.

I don’t want to make this sound super easy. Because it’s not and the above would create 2-3h sleep instead of none - so I am definitely going out of my mind!

Then the last few days (since Sunday really) things have somehow become even worse. I now have pain in lots more places in addition to the above. And a sleepless night yesterday and lots of googling revealed that the Hormon *Relaxin peaks round about now at 14weeks pregnant. I am 13w5d - so very similar to you! And this hormone makes all ligament etc much more lax - it can affect your hips and pelvis but also other non birth related areas like knees etc.

So it maybe that this is what is bothering you (people refer to pelvic pain), or that this has caused a “waiting to happen” disc prolapse to occur etc from a small out of place movement? I only just went running for 3 days in a row which did mine. So nothing major needs to be the cause!

As to treatment options: I agree with the other comments - act fast. I waited weeks and weeks thinking it will just go away. My journey so far included: lots of

*physio (the massages are nice and the taping may help a bit but ultimately it wasn’t a game changer),

*osteopath (waste of time - most can’t do any adjustments as your pregnant. If you do see one then make sure they specialise in pregnancy and are comfortable with you being pregnant),

*Hydrotherapy (rehab exercises in pool - this is amazing and the only time I am currently pain free when in the warm deep water!)

* I’ve seen a spine surgeon who confirmed the diagnosis but couldn’t do anything as I was 8w at the time (no MRI in first trimester and definitely no injections) - I am seeing him again on Monday as you can do MRIs from second trimester. I have also read of some cases of spinal injection during pregnancy but need to understand this more from him.

*I’ve seen a pain specialist- who has prescribed me 20mg Amytriptiline a day which is used for Nerv pain in low dose. Plus Co-codemol; you can get the 8/500 at Pharmacy OTC (I need to take 2 of these tablets four times a day). The doctor needs to prescribe these as they need to weigh up the risks with the advantages for you.

Of course you want to minimise all medication in pregnancy but not sleeping for weeks and crying in pain will have just as much affect, if not more, on the baby. The above drugs have been used over many years by pregnant women in different dosages and the retrospective data analysis could not detect a link to increased complications or birth defects, so doctors do prescribe them if needed. Both drugs can cause withdrawal symptoms in the baby if you take it late in pregnancy- but hopefully this will not be necessary!!!

Call your GP, they will be able to prescribe these too. If you have private health insurance then get referrals to the various functions - I would gently demand them rather than wait for their pathway protocol if you are in a lot of pain. As part of the treatment protocol is to wait and see as many milder cases resolve itself - but my case was severe and wasn’t helped at all by the prolonging.

Sorry for the VERY long reply - but I wanted to share everything that I had to painfully peace-meal together over the last 3.5 months so hopefully you can nip this in the “butt” (literally) very soon.

Good luck

[2Baby2019]

I had this in my first pregnancy. Tips try coconut water and make sure you drink plenty through the day. It was awful as I would suddenly shootout n jump out of bed scaring the life out of my husband.