Grr pain in legs & bum when trying to sleep!

[phebee]

Argh! This is the 3rd or 4th night in a row where I've kept waking up with pains in my legs/buttocks so much I have to get up and move to ease it!
It is like a bad ache right where my leg joins my buttock but on the outer side, like where your hips are but lower down, more in line with your privates, lol. It's driving me crazy because, apart from this pain, I could sleep quite easily. It started out only happening on my right side but now it's both. Pillow between my legs doesn't really work. Anyone else get this?


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[~Ash~]

Is that caused because your skeletal muscles are softening? I can remember the same kind of feeling with DD - not sure I found anything to stop it though.

Is it happening when you are lying on your side? I can just remember that constant feeling of not being able to sleep because I already couldn't sleep in my stomach (which I unusually do) and then my sides were out too!

Good luck - I hope someone has some useful advice for you!!


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[leckert]

I get that if I've been on one side too long I think it's the muscles getting tight. I can't remember the name of the muscles though
I find relief by rolling my sides on a cricket ball or tennis ball - the ouch you get on while doing this is a "good ouch" and it feels soooo much better later.
I need to do this later today as I'm starting to get the pain again and my chiro reminded me to do this. (I used to roll it out on a pilates cyclinder thing when I did pilates classes while pg with DS - the tennis/cricket ball was at home)

[peanutter]

yes - turns out my pelvis was out of place, as yet another left over from my last birth ...

but I've been seeing a chiro, who is sorting it out quite well.

if you can, find a chiro who is very experienced in treating pregnant women, and they hopefully will be able to help you too

and I now sleep on my left side with a pillow under my belly, and another pillow under my shins/feet (rather than between my knees) and it's helping me

[phebee]

Ash: yeah, it's when on my sides. I'm not a tummy sleeper at all (my sis made a donut with her pregnancy pillow, which she gave me, but that won't work for me) and back is obviously out too. Funny thing is, I've been only on my sides since 20wks now and only just getting this. Must be the weight of the baby.

Leckert: ooh yes I'll try the tennis ball thing. Is it an exercise you do during the day for a certain amount of time? Or do you do it when you actually get the pain. I think the stiffening muscles must be accurate cause when I get up and walk around it goes away.

Peanutter: ouch! I'll try the 2 pillows thing and see how that goes. I could just use my sister's long pregnancy pillow, but the problem is it takes up SO much room and I'm constantly flipping sides too, so it's very cumbersome to drag with me each time, lol


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[krysalyss]

It sounds like sciatica. The tennis ball idea is good and you can do it a few times a day and it helps when you actually have the pain too. Otherwise if you get on all fours, then straighten one leg and cross it behind the other and gently push back into the stretch, that may help. I seem to remember doing that one in prenatal. I get this a lot but the best exercises I have found for this are difficult with a big belly but hopefully the ball and this stretch will give you some relief.

ETA otherwise I just looked on a yoga site and it said if you stretch the other muscles in your legs like the calf then it may help too.

[leckert]

Leckert: ooh yes I'll try the tennis ball thing. Is it an exercise you do during the day for a certain amount of time? Or do you do it when you actually get the pain. I think the stiffening muscles must be accurate cause when I get up and walk around it goes away.

Sent from my iPod touch - sorry for any mistakes!

I tend to do it when I remember and it's sore. I probably should do it more often than I do but I've put my cricket ball somewhere safe I think I used to do it up to a couple of minutes at a time. Going to hunt down the ball when DS has a sleep later so my ball doesn't get stolen while I'm using it - he did that the other day when I was using a golf ball for my feet for the same reason - still have to work out where that one went



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[phebee]

Thanks Krysalyss, I'm not sure that it's sciatica though cause I'm pretty sure I've had that before and that was further around the back on my bum. Plus it felt more sharp, like nerve pain than this does. This feels like an ache and only happens during the night from about 2:30am, after I've been lying on my sides for a while. It also goes away as soon as I get up and walk around or stretch. But I will try the stretch you mentioned too!

[Ladylove]

Sounds like pubic/pelvic/sciattia type pain for sure. I get it in the dimples at the top of my bottom/base of my spine and actually in my groin. The other night I went to sleep with a heat pack between my legs!

My OB said its a combo of loose ligaments and bones, which makes them more prone to a strain, and the pressure of bubs growing bigger and pushing downwards.

[Lisa B]

I got something like this every night from about week 14. The only thing I could come up with to ease the pain and get some sleep was to heat up wheat bags in the night and place on my thigh area. Some nights I would be up several times to re-heat the bags. It did ease the pain for me and I slept whilst the bag was still warm.

The sleepless nights start pre-bubba.

[Ladylove]

Yes heat bags are amazing on the offending muscles.