Pregnancy Symptoms and How We can Help

For this blog, I wanted to talk about the common pregnancy side effects that women have and I see in the office all the time. You cannot totally get around all of them but you can do things that can help to be as functioning as possible during your pregnancy.

Morning Sickness Or Nausea

You will not always get morning sickness in the morning contrary to what the name suggests. It also does not always stop within the first trimester because some people can experience it during the entire time of their pregnancy. Such nausea can be draining and depleting to you.

Although you can have medications to remedy morning sickness or nausea, a natural way is to keep yourself hydrated. It is super important and you can also always go to a hospital to get fluids to try to make it as less miserable as possible for you.

Melasma and Linea Nigra

Melasma is a condition where your skin darkens. It is often in your face and you can have a mustache or blotches from such condition. Basically, it is because of the shift of your hormones.

I knew I was susceptible to melasma as I was on birth control for a brief period of time. It was summer time when I was pregnant with my kid and I started to develop melasma on my lip. Although it is not going to harm your health, it is a terrible side effect of pregnancy. What I did was I used a lot of zinc-based sunscreen to diminish it as much as possible.

Another skin pigmentation that you can experience when pregnant is Linea Nigra. Your Linea Alba, which is a fibrous connection between your rectus abdominis, going from your sternum down to your pubic bone. That is where the Linea Nigra can happen and it sometimes turns dark during pregnancy.

Both Melasma and Linea Nigra can stay even after birth. Sometimes they lighten or sometimes you have to undergo different dermatological processes to have the skin lightened. However, it is better to stay ahead of it and used a zinc-based sunscreen.

Hemorrhoids

Hemorrhoid is a pressure problem. If the pressure is too great or you are straining when you are doing a bowel movement, it can add to the misery of having hemorrhoids. One of the things I suggest to patients to try to avoid that from happening is getting squatty potties. It is like a little stool that you put by your toilet so you can put your feet up on the toilet so you are in a better ergonomic position when you are having a bowel movement or urinating.

They are not horrible looking as I have one in every single bathroom in the house. My kids use it so they can wash their hands. It is very easy to incorporate into your bathroom. If this will prevent you from having hemorrhoids, I will definitely urge to invest you in a squatty potty. It also helps with your pelvic floor health because it puts the pelvis in a better position and give less strain to the pelvic floor when you are going to the bathroom.  

Diastasis Recti

This happens to almost every pregnant person because of the growth happening. Diastasis Recti happens along the Linea Alba where the Linea Nigra happens. As we get bigger, there is less room and it will pull the Linea Alba apart. We are having the separation of the abs when this happens and it could take place all the way up the sternum or all the way down the pubic bone or anywhere along that area.

It is going to cause pressure issues as well because you do not have as much room in general. We want to be able to give as much movement and mobility for the pressure to go as possible. So I try to have pregnant moms do a lot of rib cage mobilization and breathing so that they are really working on getting their ribs move out and in so their lungs have that area to go when they are creating pressure.

If your rib cage is mobile and you are able to swing out and in easily, there is less pressure on your Linea Alba where the diastasis might happen.  

Back in the day, they would say do not do any core exercises as it is bad when you are pregnant. However, what are bad exercises are doing crunches and the like as it could make your diastasis recti worst. You can still do some things to help the other structures of your core such as belly hugs. This is something you can do easily to help support your low back and work on that muscle that wraps nearly almost all the way around your center.

Varicose Veins

I did not have any issues with this. My little sister though, who works at the hospital and is pregnant, is a huge proponent for compression socks. She has seen great results wearing compression socks so it could be a good preemptive measure against varicose veins.

If you have any kind of swelling, or family history of varicose veins, compression socks are great to wear to get ahead of this pregnancy side effect.

More on swelling, you can be perfectly fine right up to the end and then you swell immediately. I never had swelling and I think it is because I stayed on top of a lot of different things to help with my lymph system. Swelling and the lymph system cannot be separated. A stagnant lymph system will cause swelling.

One of the things I did twice a day when I was pregnant with both of my children was dry brushing. I used a natural-bristled brush and I dry brushed my feet, groin, hands, armpits, sternum, and gut. These are the different areas that work with dense tissues. So with dry brushing, we work towards the center because we want to encourage it to come back, recirculate, and not be stagnant. It is like filtering your fish tank. Your body is a fish tank and if your lymph system is stagnant, you will have a dirty fish tank. You want to keep the fish tank filtered and running smoothly so dry brushing twice a day is something I suggest to all my pregnant patients.

Another way is to do diaphragmatic breathing. Being able to use your diaphragm as much as possible acts like a pump and it pumps down onto your abdomen to flush your lymph system around so it can be nice, mobile, and not stagnant. This is a suggestion I make not only to pregnant patients.

Varicose Veins In Your Labia

You might think that varicose veins only show up in your legs, but it could also happen in your labia. I have had that when I was pregnant with my second child. It was in the second semester and I sneezed and coughed so much all day long. I think it was too much pressure so I developed the varicose veins in my labia.

I looked into getting into a sports underwear support and wore them but I did not find them to be super helpful. It can, however, work for other pregnant women. So I looked into other remedies like inversions and lymph work to try to get relief. It was not too bad and it resolved post-pregnancy completely so it’s good to know that varicose veins in your labia is not permanent.

Acai Joint Pain and Pubic Pain

Acai joint pain is super common. Your pelvis is the circular thing and the tailbone is the key piece at the back. The acai joints are those on either side where the pelvic bone meets the tailbone. When you have all these hormones running through your body during pregnancy creates laxity in the ligaments. Because of this laxity, you can have instability in some of these joints.

There are lots of stabilizing exercises I did for patients for their acai joints to bring a little bit of stability to that area. If it is really bad, I suggest a brace. Braces, however, are suggested only as needed because it can atrophy the muscles a little bit. If you cannot walk or you are in so much pain, by all means this will be available to you and we can work on strengthening after giving birth.

Pubic pain or lightning crotch is another symptom pregnant women can experience. It is the pain in the front area and it can be worse on one side versus the other. The pubic synthesis is the little cartilage that joins the two and it can be excruciating as your pelvis is shifting or gets stuck in one position. There are different things we can do to balance it and give it stability. If your pelvis comes in a circle, your inner thigh muscles and adapter roots attach into the front side of the pelvis and working on those also help with the lightning crotch or pubic pain.

Carpal Tunnel

Carpal tunnel can also be tied with swelling. Sometimes the swelling can cause some impingement on the median nerve in the wrist. Working with your lymph system and trying to do some muscle work can alleviate a little bit of the symptoms.

Headaches

I had some wicked headaches and sometimes you cannot take anything when you are pregnant. So for me, I took magnesium when I had headaches. Sometimes it helped, but sometimes it was not enough. A lot of times muscle work helped with my headaches.

Back and Neck Pain

The extra weight in front of you can cause lower and upper back pain as well as neck pain. You are drawing yourself forward but you are also trying to hold yourself back. Your center of gravity is shifting and it is going to affect everything up and down your spine. Giving certain exercises can help with that gradual shift of our center of gravity.

Conclusion

The midwife I had with my daughter said to think of getting ready for the birth of your daughter like training for the biggest marathon you will ever compete in in your life. That was a pivotal point for me because I already knew that I wanted to be active and to have it as with recovery as possible after having my daughter. But what my midwife said made me realize not to baby myself and keep doing the things I was doing, doing it with intention, and doing it with the mindset that I want to have a healthy core and pelvic floor as possible post-partum so that my recovery and delivery will be as easy as possible.

Putting in the work ahead of time is going to make the work you do after less intense. So I like that full encompassing approach and not forgetting about continuing doing it after the baby gets delivered.

It was difficult for me as I got wrapped up in all of the new mom stuff and forgot myself. So, continuing that level of care before and after your baby arrives is important.

I hope these will help you as much as it helped me.

If you have any questions, you can drop it in the comment section or you send me a message through Facebook or Instagram. I’d be happy to do another podcast about your questions. Also, if you want me to talk about something specific, let me know!

You can also check my TikTok account as I use the platform to educate viewers about movement, chiropractic education, yoga, pregnancy, and more! 

Thank you for listening and see you next week!