Fibromyalgia pain during pregnancy

[Saxelby88]

Hello ladies.

I have fibromyalgia along with pretty bad IBS and migraines. In the first 3 weeks of pregnancy (when I didn't know I was pregnant), I felt well. Better than I had felt in a long time. This past week however, is a different story altogether.

I am getting very bad pain in my hips. I have had cramp on and off for about 10 days now, and I thought it was the cramp type pain dragging down in to my legs, but it seems to be centered in my hips. My knees, ribs (at the back) and shoulders also hurt pretty badly. I am not on any medications now that I am pregnant. My GP advised paracetamol but if Fibro pain gets too much to bear, I can go back on codeine. I would much prefer not to, but I am not sure I can cope. And this is at 6 weeks! I can't imagine how much pain I will be in later.

How does relaxin affect us? Does is start to increase at this early stage?

Thanks for having a read girls. x

 

[hayes]

Hey hun,

I suffer with fibro and ibs too, but for me neither has been too bad in pg, the sickness was defo a lot worse.

I am just getting hip,back,leg pains now but im lucky im being induced on the 14th. I wud say the best thing to do is keep in touch with mw and gp and let them know how bad pain is getting because there are things you can have/do that will help. Does heat help you?? I find a warm bath really helps.

Michelle. x

 

[BunnyN]

I have fibromyalgia. I had bad back pain early in pregnancy but it didn't last long and leg cramps toward the end but only for a couple of weeks. Although I got a bit uncomfortable and tired on the whole pain was not a big issue for me during pregnancy so just because you are bad now doesn't mean it will last the whole pregnancy. I did have very bad morning sickness which I suffered from more than any pain.

 

[Saxelby88]

Thank you ladies. I have not slept well for a few nights, so I think I feel worse because of this. I have the weekend off work so I will try to rest up as much as I can.
No sickness for me as yet. Felt a bit nauseous yesterday but I was travelling in the back of a car for about 2 hours each way when we went out for new years day, so it was probably travel sickness more than anything.
Bunny, have you had your baby now? If you have, how did you find the birth. This is starting to play on my mind a little. I am hoping my midwife will be knowledgeable about this condition. I think I will be taking any pain relief available!

 

[BunnyN]

Thank you ladies. I have not slept well for a few nights, so I think I feel worse because of this. I have the weekend off work so I will try to rest up as much as I can.
No sickness for me as yet. Felt a bit nauseous yesterday but I was travelling in the back of a car for about 2 hours each way when we went out for new years day, so it was probably travel sickness more than anything.
Bunny, have you had your baby now? If you have, how did you find the birth. This is starting to play on my mind a little. I am hoping my midwife will be knowledgeable about this condition. I think I will be taking any pain relief available!

Ah yes, the insomnia was pretty bad during parts of the pregnancy too, although other times all I did was sleep.

Yes I have had the baby, she is 8 months now! Labour was actually a great experience for me. I had a natural home birth. Honestly although it was very painful I could cope fine with the pain. I think the fact that I am used to dealing with pain helped. I didn't find the pain of labour the same as chronic pain. You have so much adrenaline and hormones flooding your body that it gives you a real rush as well. Also unlike chronic pain, you get breaks between the contractions. I did have a very long labour and contractions were not super strong and were quite irregular right through, including during pushing. The MW said that my labour was quite unusual in that way and I think that might have been to do with the fibromyalgia. I think my body knew what it was doing though and that I needed to take it slow.

I took paracetamol throughout labour which helped take the edge off of the chronic pain but didn't feel the need of anything else for the contractions. I think being at home really helped because I felt very relaxed and was able to do my own thing in my own environment. Moving about helped a lot as I do not do well being stuck in one position at the best of times. Contractions on my back were much more painful so I avoided that. The hardest part was dealing with the fatigue from a long labour and lack of sleep. I was exhausted after the labour but physically felt quite well and I made a good recovery.

 

[Saxelby88]

Thank you Bunny. I really needed to hear that! My mum said that too about being in pain a lot of the time and being able to cope with labour better than I think I will.
Thanks again. xx

 

[SarahCourtney]

I know this is a bit old now but I have Lupus and Fibro and saw a physiology yesterday who told me fibro can make pregnancy more painful because we are more reactive to discomfort. Our bodies change 'uncomfortable' signals from nerves in to 'pain' easier so in pregnancy when we get aches and pains they are more likely to effect us stronger than other people. But then we are also used to dealing with pain so... Lol

I found I was in a lot of pain in my first trimester and then it eased and now it's starting up again. Highest levels of relaxin are released in first and third trimesters so makes sense I guess! Hope you're doing okay now

 

[MissHufflepuff]

Hello ladies,
I am a full time fibro warrior at the age of 24. I have only learnt how to control my fibro within the last 2 years after a battle of around 5 years previous.

Well, a few weeks ago we found out that we were pregnant (YAY!) and the midwife believes i am around 8 weeks...but MY GOD am i in pain?!
I have been taken off all of my fribo medication as was expected and advised to only use paracetamol, but as i was on tramadol and orimorph pre-conception, paracetamol is like a drop in the ocean!
The pain is not whole body as i had expected, but is instead localised to my lower back and hips, with heat running down my legs (I feel like i have wet myself ALL THE TIME).
I am currently off work for 2 weeks due to school holidays, and when i get back i will be seated for most of the day in a supported office chair.

Did any of you lovely ladies experience this? How on earth did you overcome it? Is there a light at the end of the painful tunnel? PLEASE HELP ME


Thanks in advance x