Arthritis during pregnancy

[Mississippi03]

My dr thinks my SI joint pain is caused from arthritis from my first pregnancy. I had significant difficulty with pain and nothing took it away except prescription strength naproxen (after pregnancy)
But my son just turned one.. Im 13 weeks preggo. And the SI joint pain is back with a vengence. Preventing me from walkng or bending at some points throughout my day..
Has anyone had experience with arthritis during pregnancy? How did you deal? Is there anything you could do or take to help with the pain? I find just tylenol so useless!

 

[2have4kids]

Hi there, I feel your pain! I have stage 4 arthritis in my knees and they said I'd be up for knee replacement soon if I didn't quit my impact sports (volleyball & running). So I quit them. The only thing that has helped me over the years is avoiding high impact sports, keeping my BMI right down to the healthy minimum so I'm not carrying extra weight, and keeping up weight training so that my muscles stay strong enough to support joints that no longer have any padding in them (the cartilage is all gone and so I grow bone spurs. I've had surgery to smooth off the bone spurs off in my knees as an attempt to avoid replacements. I love naproxen too, it's great for arthritis but totally a no-no during pregnancy unfortunately! Anti-inflammatory foods are great ie hot peppers (thankfully I LOVE hot foods), spices like turmeric, garlic & ginger, avoiding carby sugary foods that invite bloat & swelling (bread, noodles, crackers, candy, chips, starchy foods, and rice) and eating more vegetables which naturally help your body flush fluids, and protein which helps repair your damage zones ie arthritic areas. Also helps you keep your muscles whereas high carb diets decrease your muscle mass and bulk up your fat mass. I was in so much pain, was a BMI of 31 and decided I would lose all the extra weight in order to not feel so much pain and it's helped IMMENSELY! I lost 70 pounds and now, when not preggers hover around 20-22 bmi and rarely have to take NSAIDS anymore. It's unfortunate that we can only use food, massage, tylenol and gentle stretching / yoga while pregnant to deal with this stuff, I feel like an old lady right now!