Acupuncture and Physical Therapy for Hip Dysplasia during Pregnancy

     As I mentioned in a prior post, I have hip dysplasia. Being pregnant has increased my pain and also limited my treatment and pain management options. My back and hip pain is now accompanied by pain of the entire pelvic bone and sciatic nerve pain that sends a shooting pain from my butt down my leg. The shooting pains come on unexpectedly, usually while I'm walking or when I move to get up. The pain varies from day to day but has progressed along with my pregnancy. I was becoming desperate and willing to try anything; which is how I ended out starting acupuncture.
      I have no problems with Western medicine and I do believe that a lot can be said for alternative and holistic medicine/treatments and their healing abilities. My problem is with the needles. I HATE NEEDLES. You'd think I'd get used to it by now because being pregnant doctors are constantly taking my blood, testing this or that. But I still get horribly nervous each time. So the idea of getting pricked with numerous needles and left to "relax" in my human -pin cushion state was not something I wanted to try out. But when the pain gets bad- you'll try ANYTHING to make it stop. And that's how I began acupuncture.
     I've been going to acupuncture about a month now. Twice a week after work I let a nice Korean lady named Naomi stick little needles all over my body. I've learned to clench my teeth and remain as still as possible while she works her magic. Each session begins with her asking how I am doing, where my pain is that day, and the severity of it. She then has me lay down either face down or face up or even sitting and proceeds to stick me with needles. As I mentioned before, I hate needles so I try not to look but from my count it's usually between 15 and 25 needles. After she places them all  she covers me with a thin aluminum like blanket, dims the lights. and leaves me to relax and let the needles do their work.
     Does it hurt? Well that depends. Usually, no. Most times I barely feel the needle but other times there is an instant pressure and pain. Naomi explains it saying that the body is like a roadmap and everything is linked. So if she is treating my hip, she can find a point along that map either on my hand or foot or even elsewhere  that is linked to the hip. Sometimes she hits a point on the map that is blocked so its an instant "trigger spot." Those trigger spots are the ones that hurt and that I feel most. For me there is one on the side of my left hand almost at the corner of what I believe is the "life line," and every time I get a needle there (which is almost every section) it hurts. I've learned to brace myself for it. I think it also depends on what part of the body she is placing the needles. In general hands and feet are more painful. Being pregnant there are certain points that she can't stick me with needles so maybe that's why I end out with so many in my hands and feet. Overall it's not too painful and although I can't say that my pain has magically vanished I do find myself feeling better after my sessions now that I learned to relax a bit more.
     The center that I do acupuncture at is actually a physical therapy and sports rehab center. When I went for my first acupuncture session I also met with the chiropractor and head physical therapist. I already see a chiropractor elsewhere so I didn't opt to switch. As for physical therapy, my orthopedic advised against it until after the baby was born. The therapist at the center was surprised by this because pt is one of the few things that can help during pregnancy. She agreed that some treatments need to be avoided but there were still exercises and massage treatments that can be used to ease the pain. She offered to speak with my orthopedic and obstetrician.
     During my second visit she said she spoke with my doctors and got the approval. Seems my obstetrician was very accommodating where as it seems my orthopedic backpedaled a bit on his earlier statement claiming that he discouraged pt because obstetricians don't take kindly to it. Either way I got the green light and began a series of exercises that will help strengthen my hip bones and core. The other part of my physical therapy includes being stretched out by the therapist, and getting massaged to work out the knots in my back and hip areas and minimize the inflammation to the joints. I admit I love the massage and even though it hurts at times I usually feel better after. The exercises aren't difficult but I sometimes I feel pain while doing them or get sore afterwards. Still I know they are important and with time I hope they won't bother me at all. Overall it's nice to finally have some sort of pain management again. I'm not sure if I'll have the time or continue to go to weekly sessions once the baby is here but for now it helps with the hip, back, and pelvic pain so I just take it day by day and week by week.
    

Glucose Screening Test (Pregnancy Sugar Test)

     Between weeks 24- 28 of pregnancy it's standard to get a glucose screening test done. The test checks for gestational diabetes; diabetes that begins or is found during pregnancy. A woman can develop diabetes while pregnant and the diabetes can either wane off after pregnancy or continue. Kind of weird but I guess it one of the many changes that can occur with pregnancy; as if there wasn't enough to worry about.
     Anyhow, when I was about 25 weeks pregnant I went in for the glucose screening. My doctor instructed me not to eat or drink anything prior to the test (water was ok). My test was scheduled for the morning (9:30 am) so that I could come in soon after waking up. I was given a sugary drink when I arrived.

You're instructed to drink it within 10 minutes and report back on when I was done. They then have you sit for an hour. You're not supposed to eat or drink anything as it can taint the results. After the hour is up, your blood is taken and then sent to a lab to test the amout of sugar on the blood. If the levels come back high then there's a chance the mother developed gestational diabetes and a second, longer test is ordered. The second test is a three hour test. It's similar to the one hour except that you repeat the cycle and have to drink the glucose drink, sit, give blood, sit more, drink another glucose drink, wait more, give blood agajn, etc.

     I was worried about the test because I heard the drink is terrible and some people can't hold it down. I was worried I'd vomit and be instructed to come back another time to be retested. Actually the drink wasn't too bad in taste. It was like an in carbonated very sweet orange drink. It's given to you cold which helps. I found that as I got half way through the bottle the taste seemed more sugary and gross. But not too bad. I finished it in about 7minutes. After about 10 minutes the sugary taste was still stuck in my mouth and I wished for water. Then I started feeling a bit nauseated. Apparently it's one of man y possible side effects; see the bottle:

     The hour went by slowly and I was dying for some water to kill the sugary taste in my mouth but I stuck it out. After the hour was up, they drew some blood and I was free to leave. I was told the results take a few days and they'd call if anything was up or if they need to re-test.

 

     As I left the office the nausea seemed to get worse and I regretted going to the appointment alone. Motion make the nausea worse. As time went on I was feeling worse and I began to shake uncontrollably. I had a quick taco and that helped calm the shakes but I still felt off. I could feel the large amounts of sugar in my system and as my body tired to process it I felt extremely weak. I continued to feel this way for the rest of the day. NOT FUN. It's a good thing I didn't need to go back to work after the glucose test because I couldn't have done it. I was so weak and sick feeling that I took a two hour mid day nap. It helped a little but it wasn't until hours later and after lots of carb foods that I felt better. My advise to anyone that needs to do this test:

1.  plan to make a day of it. Everyone responds differently but it seems a number of people get sick during or after the test so if you can afford a day off of work- take it just in case.
2. relax, lay down and just wait it out. Time seems to be the only thing that helps.
3. try to get some carbs in your stomach; I don't know why but it seems to help.

     As for my results, I haven't heard anything back so I assume they were fine. I'm sure if there was any indication of possible diabetes I would have been called to schedule the 3 hour test.

Yeay! Another baby-related test passed with flying colors.