I had a bout of sciatica once before, years ago when I had a back injury, and it went away when my back got better. It came back with a vengance today, and I figure it is pregnancy-related this time. I can’t take aspirin, which would probably be the first thing I’d try if I wasn’t pregnant. Does anyone have any advice? It hurts like hell.
Help me! 
I was unaware pregnant women can’t take aspirin, though I doubt it would help. Have you tried heat and massage? I feel for ya. I never had “regular” sciatica, but I did have an incident where the doctor gave me an injection and hit my sciatic nerve, which took about 6 weeks to heal. I likened the pain to being shot in the butt with a flaming arrow. Every time I moved. For six weeks.
I had a friend who had a nasty bout with it (I’m talking six months) and she went to a napropath (sp). She had a degree of success with that.
Oh it’s an absolute bitch ain’t it. I hurt my back in my early 20s and I get recurring bouts of pain.
I think NSAIDs(Non steroid anti inflammatories) are generally considered to be better. I take ibuprofen which works ok. If it doesn’t then I occasionally have Voltarol which my doc prescribes for my arthritis.
Otherwise I tend to manage the pain with things like warm baths. Combination of the warmth and being able to just float and not actually use my legs helps. You also need to work out what is going to trigger it to be very painful. There’s a certain level of pain you’ll get and then there’s the really really painful times. Try to work out how to avoid letting things build up to that point.
Yeah, it’s because it can cause bleeding or some such. At my age, and with a history of miscarriage, I’m trying to be extra cautious.
Dang. Ouch. I am going to go up and take a hot bath in a little bit…I remember that helping last time.
I hope hope hope it does not come to that. I gave the baby a stern talking to, and told him/her to get OFF my sciatic nerve. I am hoping that is going to help! 
I’m not sure if I can take ibuprofen…will have to check on that. Thanks!
We had a friend over the other night that was having a bout.
We gave her a mai-tai, and after dinner hopped into the spa for 20 minutes. She called me the next morning to tell me she slept the whole night and felt great.
You might want to skip the alcohol, since you are pregnant, but if you know someone with a spa in the yard, go for it.
Thanks! Should have searched first!
Nope, no mai-tais for me, unfortuanately. Weirdly, one of my cravings has been for a margarita. It’s like a cruel joke.
Too bad I don’t have a spa, but I am definitely going to try a hot bath.
Nice smokescreen! I appreciate you keeping the baby’s sex a secret (if you are still clueless yourself!)
I thought hot baths were taboo for pregnant chicks, too. Something about retaining too much heat in the babyal area? Did I hear that wrong?
*Aren’t * clueless. Sheesh.
Ouch.
My advice comes from back injury, not pregnancy. Loads of physical therapy and steroid injections didn’t fix it, but surgery and gabapentin did. Also, relieving the physical compression helps, and making the compression less-than-constant helps the nerve damage be temporary rather than permanent. In pregnancy, doesn’t it change when you change position?
Good luck.
In that thread I finally found relief doing exercises from This site. However, if you are far enough along to have much of a belly then some of these might be difficult (or even dangerous, I’d ask your doctor first!).
I still have slight episodes from time to time, but nothing like back when I started that thread. I truly hope you find some relief soon 
I had that problem when I was pregnant.
The only thing that I found that helped was the epidural. 
Well, and having the kid.
Congrats! If this is your first, you are gonna be amazed.
Actually, after reading that previous thread, I feel a little better…it reminded me of what it was like when I had that back injury, and I couldn’t sit, stand, walk, or pretty much do anything, was in severe pain, and had to hobble around with a cane. This is more of a nagging ache in my leg…it’s bad, but I’m not immobile!
Dang, Kalhoun, I never heard that I couldn’t take a hot bath…the baby was moving around like a jumping bean while I was in there, so maybe he/she didn’t like it! (Oh, BTW, I still don’t know the sex of the baby, but I knew if I said just “him” or just “her,” you would think I gave something away! Nothing to give away yet…I think we are going to open the envelope on Christmas, just for a fun little gift to ourselves.)
Today it seems better…if it gives me trouble later, I will try some of those exercises. Apparently, when your organs get shoved around in there, sometimes they just get shoved into the wrong place. If so, I could be in trouble…like Auntbeast, a lot of times it lasts until delivery! Thanks for the congrats, Auntbeast…this is my second one, but the pregnancy seems to not be going quite as smoothly as the first one. I missed out on a lot of the little negative side effects the first time, and once my morning sickness went away, felt great. This time, I’m much more tired, have more nagging aches & pains, and trouble breathing.
Check with your doctor…I may not be accurate on that…I heard “no hot tubs”, and I assume a bathtub would fall into the same category. It’s been 30 years for me…memory fails.
(I trust you will honor your promise to keep that little tyke’s gender a secret until the unveiling! OHMYGOD I think I’m more excited than YOU are!)
I’m having an attack of sciatica, I’ve found the only thing that eases it off is to lay flat on my back and stretch the offending leg as far as I can several times. Not sure if that’s practical when you’re pregnant tho’. I tried the bath routine (since the new house has a large “whirlpool” bath) and put my back out trying to get back out of it…
I also had some nagging sciatica from a previous injury that flared up during pregnancy - while i never took her up on it, my midwife recommended a chiropractor. I had several friends recommend a chiropractor as well - they said it really helped them. For my next pregnancy, I WILL be going to the chiropractor - there’s no way I’m suffering through pregnancy without help.
Hope it gets better for you!
E.
I will definitely ask my doctor…you are right about the hot tubs, but I think they get hotter than a standard bathtub.
Don’t worry, I PROMISE I will spoiler-tag it. I have the envelope with the info in it clipped to my refrigerator, and every time I see it I have to resist the urge to rip it open! It was easier last time when I just told the tech I didn’t want to know!