Wow! I can't even imagine being pregnant on top of all this FM problems. I had 4 successful pregnancies and Luckily raised them all to adults before this stuff hit me! I too, have had this awful leg pain. My doc sent me to a Rheumy and he said Lyrica and stretches, low impact exercise, heating pads, hot baths, stuff like that. I imagine tho, that you are pretty limited on the meds you can take, so maybe the low impact exercises and stretches, maybe hot baths. I don't know about that tho, cuz it seems like I read something once about not taking hot baths while pregnant. Darn brain is gine from this stuff! Lol! As for youe docs attitude...get rid of him and find a doc that knows about FM! Good luck, hon.

bumping for more replies

I am so sorry you are suffering from sciatica. Hopefully it is just the pregnancy pressing on the nerve. I have met many women where this just happened while pregnant. I have been suffering w/it since april. In August I was on bed rest for a week from the pain. I am at my wits end w/it. The MRI saw nothing pressing on the nerve.I stand all day at work so that could be the prob.I have tried everything and taken every type of medicine. Only percocet helped(which you obviously can't take w/ the baby.) My dr. only gave me10ofthose and won't give anymore cause of how addicting it is. Acupuncture helps a little,and so did the chiropractor.Good luck.

I think that I have this. What do the doctors say? How do you treat it? I have a doc appointment next week and Im gonna tell him that I think I have this. Any suggestions?

how do they test for sciatica?

Okay ladies, there are things that can be done for sciatica. I have had it on and off for years and you don't have to be stuck suffering. First, find a good chiropractor. Believe it or not, things being misaligned make the pain so much worse. Sciatic pain comes from the nerve being pinched and can come from the lower back. If you make sure all the bones are aligned properly you can unpinch the nerve. It may still take a little time for the inflammation and irritation to go away, but it will get better if this was the source of the pain. And in pregnancy, the hormone relaxin makes things soften and loosen so you can deliver the baby. This also causes things to get out of place. I was adjusted on the way to the hospital to deliver my son and I can tell you it helped so much!!!

Next, try a massage therapist that is willing to gluteal massage. There is a muscle called the piriformis that can contract and put pressure on the sciatic nerve. Massage therapists are taught were this muscle is and can work out the tightness that causes sciatica in many cases.

Moist heat is a great way to help relax tight muscles, so if it seems to be coming from tight butt muscles then heat is the way to go. But don't use dry heat as this will just add to the inflammation and won't penetrate deep enough to help relax the muscle.

Avoid standing because this will ad to the pain. Avoid laying on your back as this too ads to the pain (and is not safe in late pregnancy.) Lay on your side with your knees bent and a pillow between them.

Lastly there is a great stretch to help the tight butt muscles. Lay on your back with your knees up. Bend one leg over the other. Gently life the foot that is still on the floor, pushing your other leg up towards your chest. Push upwards until you start to feel a stretch. Don't push to the point of pain only a stretch. Then put that leg back on the floor with the knee up and repeat with the other leg. Do this gently 3-5x several times a day. It is especially good to do first thing in the morning (you can even do in bed if its firm) and at bedtime.

I don't know how I would have survived my pregnancy in 2006 without my massage therapist and chiropractor. I didn't have fibro when I had my other two children, so this one at age 41 with fibro was tough, but with the care I received it was the easiest delivery I had!

And the sciatic pain is completely gone. It is starts to flare up, I just get my massage therapist to work on the area and it always goes away. Hugs, Fern

They order a MRI for the lumbar region. It could be muscular, or it could be a disc pinching your sciatic nerve. The MRI will show if it is a disc. Then neurologist to do EMG to prove that the nerve is really pinched by the disc. Good Luck Hope this helps.

You CANNOT have and MRI done for sciatica when you are pregnant! Sorry not a good suggestion in this situation. A chiropractor can also treat the sciatica if it is coming from a pinched disc, but that is unlikely. In this case, it is more than likely the pregnancy causing the problem and maybe a contributing factor is tight muscles from fibro and/or myofascial pain syndrome.

I do so feel for you Jimjamie, it is no joke when that searing burning pain runs down your legs!! When mine starts, my daughter massages very gently all the way down my legs, it hurts first off, but gradually it eases, I follow that up with heat pads and a analgesic gel. Hope this is some help to you, take care, find relief soon, hugs owlxx

I had terrible sciatic pain during the last three months of my second pregnancy. It got so bad that I could not walk and spent a lot of time in the fetal position. We induced the birth of my son and I can look back and honestly say that was a mistake. For many reasons, THE most painful thing I've ever felt when that oxytocin kicked in, very painful delivery, he wound up in the NICU b/c he was premature, I lost 3 units of blood . I digress. don't mean to scare you.
I completely agree with Fern. Please give what she is saying some consideration! I went for chiropractic adjustments as well as physiotherapy and massage at the time and all three helped. We induced because it got so bad that it felt like I was being branded with a branding iron, only no one was taking the iron off. But, I suffer from a condition called spondylosthesis, where the small plate that joins the front half and the back half of each vertebrae is soft, like cartilege. So, my bones are slipping forward by millimeters, very small movement. In the facet joints and at L4-L5 the bones are pinching the sciatic nerve. I've had this condition forever, but the sciatic pain really started when I was pregnant for the second time. Delivering baby gave me immediate relief. I think his head was on that nerve or something. But as the spondy... worsened, the sciatica returned. The two things that help me are indeed massage, in the BUTT and chiropractics. Both of which you can do while pregnant.
Oh, a p.s. When I was in so much agony during the last 8 weeeks of pregnancy, my doctor did prescribe percocet for me. I felt terribly guilty at the time, but I shouldn't have. He is now 13, an honor student, a fantastic athlete and a lovely, normal kid.
Hope you find some relief.
Katherine

Wow! Thanks so much for all of the replies! An MRI is not an option although there are some doctors that would argue that they are safe, my ob said no, and most places where they do mri's will not do one on a pregnant woman unless it is a life or death situation, when your pregnant there isn't a standard way to test for sciatica,but it happend common enough during pregnancy that if your symptoms fit with sciatica they assume it's sciatica, I also had a back injury 3 years ago and have 2 enlarged facets of my spine as well as mild arthritis, so it wouldn't take much for me being pregnant to have my sciatic nerve pinched. Earlier on in my pregnancy I did take pain medication occasionally but my doc is very reluctant to treat with that because of the risk of addiction, my ob also does not really want to be treating any of my back issues he believes that is out of his scope, my primary is too afraid to treat me because of the pregnancy, I was told to see a pain specialist but I can't really afford that and I am so close to being finished and I've fought so hard for so long already I should be able to make it thru this final stretch, I am really interested in getting a massage but it's something I don't think my insurance covers, accupuncture looks promising though we'll see!

Katherine, don't feel bad about taking Percocet while pregnant. I took Dilaudid the entire pregnancy with my doctor's prior approval due to my fibro and myofascial pain. Ben is 10.5 months old and is perfectly healthy and way ahead develpmentally. Hugs, Fern

I have sciatic and I am a massage therapist and work at a physical therapy clinic. Here are a few ideas first lay on your bed and bring your knees to your chest one at a time then both together. Then cross your leg over the other one and put your hand on your knee and pull into the stretch try these in the morning before you get up and hopefully this will help other than that try some physical therapy it will help.
Good luck
Tam

Being pregnant w/fms is definitely no walk in the park. I've gone through it w/3 pregnancies. I will tell you, my best friend was my rice heating pad. Just pop it in the microwave for 2 minutes & it's good to go. Good luck to you on the rest of your pregnancy! :}

I have heard a lot about different stretches but some of them are near impossible to do with a big belly in your way, and I went thru physical therapy my entire 2nd pregnancy and nothing gave me much relief besides the water therapy,which also was only relief while I'm in the water, PT can't get to agressive atleast they won't where I live they say you're so relaxed and softened up everywhere in your muscles that it would be easy to make an injury or condition worse or cause a new one.