Spondylitis Association of America Forums General Discussion Women Only Message Board 16 weeks Pregant-Severe Sacroiliac Pain Suggestions??

I second or third the water. It was the only way I survived my last pregnancy. Also a good support belt for when your on your feet alot. I used a lot of the icy hot patches duing my last pregnancy, now I have the lidoderm patches, I wish I had those when I was pregnant. I even rented a large birthing tub so I could labor in the water, not birth but just labor and it was amazing. I had a horrible experience with several epidural attempts with my second child so that wasn't going to be an option.

Congratulations on your pregnancy!

Congratulations on your pregnancy. I too had to deal with severe pain during my pregnancy. Fear kept me from taking any medication during that time. Besides drastically increasing my water bill, there was one thing that helped me if only for a short time. It was acupuncture. No just needles, the guy I went to used cupping. It creates a suction and leaves these hickies all over your back. BUT, it did give me relief long enough to catch my breath, focus, and deal with the pain coming back. A pain break, no matter how short, was what I needed at the time.

One other thing that helped me. It’s going to sound silly <sigh>, was learning to bead. Seed beads to be specific, making ear rings and such. By learning how to focus completely on a project, I also learned how to put my pain behind me instead of in front of me. The pain was still there, but I was less aware of it. I was also a little less grump J

This was almost 18 years ago. My how time flies!

I was on my way to bed and I remembered one more thing … A friend once suggested I keep a diary of my diet to see if any particular foods had an effect on my AS. I was game for the experiment. It didn’t cost anything and I saw it as a form of actively fighting my condition. Anyway, it turned out, tomatoes and potatoes seemed to affect my flares. I’m not suggesting there is any scientific basis for this information … it’s merely my own personal experience.

Hi Everyone,
I'm new to all of this, but I am trying to figure out what is wrong with me since my doctor hasn't been able to. I just called for an appointment with a Rheumy yesterday so I don't know what that outcome will be.
At any rate, I wanted to ask you all if my symptoms sound familiar. One day I woke up with a stiff neck and that was about 9 weeks ago.
With steroids for 2 weeks, inflamation in my neck has gone down, and I don't get cramps in my neck anymore.
I was off of steriods for 2 weeks and just took motrin. Motrin helped, but I still had a lot of pain in my neck.
I also have some pain and sometimes cramps (charlie horses) at night in my right side just above my love handle.
My left, big toe is also affected by being sore and swelled.
I also have pain on the top of my head. Not like a headache, more like muscle aches. This gets worse when I have to sneeze or yawn.
MRI of the neck, X-ray of the neck, side, pelvis, and foot all come back as nothing wrong. Blood tests come back OK except for sed rate being way high. I am HLA-B27 positive. How much of this is familiar with any of you? I'm especially interested in knowing about the top of the head and toe because I haven't read anything about that.
Also, we were trying to have another baby before this all started, I see that some of you are pregnant now, but did you have AS before you became pregnant and if so would you do it again?
Thanks for the help.

Hi Jackers,

Would I have done it again? Well, my daughter wasn’t exactly planned. My personal frame of mind at that point in my life was that I was not going to have children because I could not handle the thought of passing on to my child the remote possibility of suffering my condition. In hindsight, almost 18 years after having my daughter, that thinking was wrong!

I believe the decision to have children when you are diagnosed with AS is divided into two parts… The challenge of the disease on you. and the affect of AS on your child.

I have only met one person in the last 20 years with a more severe case of AS than I have. This has made raising a child quite challenging. But, you know what? Raising a child in ANY physical condition will be the most challenging thing you ever do. It is also the MOST rewarding!

The affects of AS on your child comes primarily in two areas. The increasing physical limitations and the fear your child may inherit your condition. With adequate support, physical limitations are minimized. The real issues of physical limitations end up being your own psychological issues. For me it was not being able to play sports with my daughter. I was very athletic before my AS kicked in. When my daughter made the High School Softball team, I couldn’t even play catch with her. That really hurt! But, who was it hurting? It wasn’t hurting her … it was my issue. Her issue would have been if I missed any of her games, which I didn’t. An interesting point on attending her games is that most of the healthy parents, never attended a single game.

The next issue is whether you have passed this condition on or not. I’m telling you straight up my experience, I never lost that fear until my daughter was tested. For a long time I figured since I had such a severe case of AS, the probability I would pass it along was high. I was scared.

If my daughter was HLA-B27 positive though, it did not mean she would develop AS. I looked at it like cancer, a person who may be predisposed to getting it should probably avoid suspected activities that may start the cancer. This is how I approached dealing with the possibility of my daughter developing AS. I conditioned her into living a healthy lifestyle and since the medical profession doesn’t really know for sure what starts AS, I protected her from the things I thought (based on my discussions with people over the years) started it. I was also open and very honest with her.

I did not feel it was my decision to have her tested to see if she was HLA-B27 positive. I felt that I was already doing everything I could and testing her would just add to the anxiety. I felt it was her decision to be tested and that decision would surely come one day when one of my “protection” rules would be challenged. LOL The day came, when she was a teenager and wanted to dye her hair. Chemicals soaking into her scalp for 30 minutes was an issue with me. So, she wanted to be tested. Thank goodness she was NOT HLA-B27 positive!

As ridiculous as it sounds, I think having AS made me a better parent than I would have been if I had been “healthy” I take nothing for granted. I am focused. I am master problem solver. I have developed a level of patience I never though possible for my previous personality. My beautiful daughter has developed into a compassionate, strong young woman who lives a healthy lifestyle, evaluates risks carefully, and appreciates life.

Without AS, I do believe we would both be different people.

Brandy

Quick Update!! The cortisone after a week and half has begun to work! The SI's are feeling about 75% up to par. I'm only sore now when I lay down or sit sloppily. The Orthopod that did them for me said that I would continue needing them throught out the pregnancy. So I will schedule as needed. Happily!
Jackers......I read your post. When my AS is flared up my neck bothers, all of my back except lumbar, and definitly my right big toe. Although, my Rheumy says the toe is regular arthritis I do think it's related. The pain from sneezing can be from inflammation in the cartlidge that attaches your ribs to your sternum and spine. Yes, mine can get VERY sore even to breathe. As far as if this sounds like you have AS I am not a doc. I know that I was made definitive by a bi-lateral hip x-ray that showed significant changes in my sacroiliac joints. Which not so ironically is what started this string of chatter. Goodluck to you, everyone will manifest a little bit different so just because none of us have exactly the same showing as you, does not mean you do not have AS, similarly, it does not mean you do Keep your chin up!