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May 15, 2005 ~ Sciatic Nerve
Sunday.
I woke up several weeks ago and tried to sit up, but a wave of intense pain pushed me back down in bed. It centered in my left hip, but spread up into my lower back and down my left leg. I gritted my teeth and rolled out of bed, seeing stars, then limped to the bathroom. I recognized that pain. I had had it before, usually after a long day of housework, lifting and bending and leaning over. But it had never been this bad before. And I hadn't done anything unusual or strenuous the day before.
So I did what I usually do when I have back problems, what has always worked to help drive them away. I stopped hiking or moving any more than absolutely necessary, so as not to strain it further. I cut my computer time down to a minimum, only sitting at a computer when at work. I took Epsom salt soaks every night, and applied a heating pad to the worst area. I did back stretches that I knew were safe.
But it got worse. Worse to the point that Morgan and I were seriously starting to worry that I'd be partially handicapped by the end of this pregnancy. I couldn't do the simplest things. Everything hurt. Walking, sitting, standing. But worst of all was a laying position, or trying to get up from a laying or sitting position. I found myself holding back tears just trying to raise myself out of the tub or out of bed. Turning over was a nightmare. My hip and leg kept giving out while walking. Bending or leaning over in any fashion was out of the question.
I mentioned these problems to the midwife, and she said that it was almost certainly my sciatic nerve. There are two of them, each running from my lower spine through each hip and down each leg. The sciatic nerve commonly has major problems during pregnancy, because of how things move around in that region. It can get pinched and pressed due to everything being rearranged. I was shocked to find out that these problems can start this early, but apparently it is pretty common, and since I'd already had some minor trouble with my sciatic nerve before pregnancy, it wasn't too surprising that pregnancy had made it much worse.
When I got home, I researched what I could about the sciatic nerve during pregnancy. I was very surprised by what I'd found. Every other back problem I've had, the main instruction for healing had been rest, staying off my feet, not lifting or exercising until the pain went away. However, apparently with sciatic nerve problems, the opposite is true. No matter how much it hurts, exercise is a must to get back to a functional state. Apparently, all those weeks I'd been doing exactly the wrong thing!
So I started hiking again. Hiking miles every day, at least an hour and a half. (The doctor had mentioned that as long as I kept up my pace of hiking throughout the pregnancy, it shouldn't be dangerous for the baby at all). And stretches as a supplement. It was very, very hard, at first. Moving while having back pain seems very counterintuitive. I took it slowly at first, careful not to fall when my leg suddenly gave out. The first few days were very difficult. But I was determined not to lose my mobility during this pregnancy, so I kept at it.
And steadily, it has gotten better. I still have bad days, but they are manageable, now. I still can't bend or lean over, and I have to be very careful about lifting things. Getting up and turning over are still tricky. But walking isn't painful, and my leg isn't giving out all of the time. I can't spend long at the computer (my history of updating so poorly lately shows for that, I suppose). But I'm very thankful for what I can do, after how bad it got a few weeks ago.
The midwife recommended, and I'm considering, seeing a chiropractor. Since I can't have an x-ray while pregnant, and drugs are out of the question, it might be helpful to at least get a little assistance with alignment. The trick will be getting my insurance to cover it, because I can't afford it otherwise. We'll see.
Overall, I'm having an incredibly ideal pregnancy thus far. If I can beat this one little thing...
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