Sciatica?

Anyone else having trouble with their Sciatic Nerve?
I can be walking along, fine as kind, and all of the sudden I get horrible pains in my lower back, on the left hand side.. and then my heel will get this weird tingly but painful feeling.
It's fairly aggravating, I work with the public and to just be walking along and then howling in pain a second later can be quite embarassing! :(

Ouch- I do remember getting quite bad sciatic pain for weeks/months before baby was born. The only thing that really eased it was lying down. But don't so this at work!

That sounds more like pelvic girdle pain which can be at the front or back of the pelvis. True sciatica is not caused by pregnancy (but can be aggravated by pregnancy if you already suffer from sciatica). It's usually confined to the right side of your back (mostly in the buttock) as your sciatic nerve is in the right side of your body. PGP pain can be felt either side and goes away soon after giving birth as it is strictly pregnancy related.

I nevered suffered from sciatica until pregnancy and it went away afterwards, but was diagnosed as sciatica by a GP and agreed upon by a second. What they said was the sciatic nerve actually runs down the spine and then branches into both thighs through the buttocks, hence that horrible stinging pain that alternates in each thigh.

The best thing I have found for sciatica during pregnancy (when it is hard to stretch it out) is to grab a tennis ball and sit with your legs to the opposite side on which it hurts. Place the tennis ball under your buttock where it is tender and support yourself so you can use it to massage the spot. It is even better than getting a massage cos you can really target the area. HTH