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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think I was over-drugged for giving birth?

146 replies

Purplegras3 · 01/09/2022 18:39

How much anaesthetic did you have giving birth? Looking back now I think I was super over-medicated and it did me no favours bonding with my baby. For the first week after birth I was like a glazed zombie until the drugs left my system. I had 8 epidurals, mountains of gas & air and some other drug I can't remember the name of. I was full-on hallucinating that I was in my favourite tv shows. I couldn't see the room I was in. When the anaesthetist asked me to turn over for another epidural, I asked to whose side was I to turn? And I named the characters I could see around my bed. I could also see my dm at the foot of the bed, naked and standing on a plinth, painted head-to-toe in gold, holding up a bunch of grapes! 😆It's funny looking back but also fucking serious because I couldn't walk for 24hrs after and I couldn't be present to my baby's needs either. Anyone else experience the same as me?

OP posts:
Hellocatshome · 01/09/2022 18:42

Was having an epidural, gas and air and the other drug in your birth plan? Hallucinations were more likely from the gas and air than the epidurals I would have thought. I'm sorry you feel like it affected you bonding with baby.

mrcow · 01/09/2022 18:45

I had pethidine and full on hallucinated being in a rap concert. The clock on the wall ticking was the beat and loads of other noises contributed. It was so noisy that I was shouting at the midwives to speak up as I couldn’t hear them over the music. I calmed down after the birth and realised it had all been in my head. I don’t think the clock even ticked!

GingerAndLemonn · 01/09/2022 18:46

Why did you have so many epidurals?! I thought you only needed one?

Frizzzmonster · 01/09/2022 18:50

I have never heard of anyone having more than one epidural.

The thing is you don't know how much pain you would have been in if you didn't have all those painkillers.

You could ask for a review where they go through everything that happened and explain why.

MargaretThursday · 01/09/2022 18:50

Tbh with #1 you could have waved anything in front of me and told me that if I'd sign it it would take the pain away and I would have signed it no questions asked. I wasn't exactly rational after 24 hours of no sleep.

heyitsthistle · 01/09/2022 18:51

GingerAndLemonn · 01/09/2022 18:46

Why did you have so many epidurals?! I thought you only needed one?

I assume she means she had top ups as an epidural only last a certain amount of time.

I imagine it was the other drug that made you hallucinate. Sounds like a lot. How long were you in labour?

luxxlisbon · 01/09/2022 18:51

How did you have 8 epidurals?

You can’t really blame anyone for over medicating you with the gas and air when it was entirely within your control though. If someone says they need it, it shouldn’t be down to a random midwife who doesn’t know your pain threshold so say ‘no, that will be enough’.

The gas and air, even the epidural really shouldn’t take a week to wear off. It was more than likely just tiredness and general trauma from giving birth that kept you feeling shit for a while.

georgarina · 01/09/2022 18:51

Why did you have 8 epidurals?? I've only ever heard of people having one. Multiple doses if it's patient controlled but that's just pressing a button.

Hibye23289 · 01/09/2022 18:59

I'm sorry because you are bothered about it all but the bit about your mum 😂😂

baileys6904 · 01/09/2022 19:03

I was in labour 42 hours and only had one epidural so not sure how you had 8?? I also had gas and air and pethidine, of which the latter made me feel ill

However I would said my first week was a blur, not because of the drugs but more to do with the knackeredness from giving birth

Sunnyqueen · 01/09/2022 19:04

8 epidurals?? Is that what it says in your notes?

Madwife123 · 01/09/2022 19:05

An epidural leaves a catheter in your spinal column that drugs are continuously administered through. You can have top up’s which gives you a burst of the medicine, usually by pressing a button on the machine, but you don’t have another epidural put in. Once it’s in, it’s in and it lasts as long as you want it to. There is never a reason for more than 1 epidural unless you removed it for some reason.

Darkstar4855 · 01/09/2022 19:07

An epidural is done with local anaesthetic drugs so wouldn’t make you hallucinate and the gas and air wears off very quickly. Were you given pethidine? Or codeine for postnatal pain? They could make you feel a bit groggy.

MissyB1 · 01/09/2022 19:11

It wasn’t your epidural and very unlikely to have been the gas and air, you must have had pethidine at some point. Pethidine can make some people go a bit loopy!

GingerAndLemonn · 01/09/2022 19:14

heyitsthistle · 01/09/2022 18:51

I assume she means she had top ups as an epidural only last a certain amount of time.

I imagine it was the other drug that made you hallucinate. Sounds like a lot. How long were you in labour?

Show quote history

It why would they need to turn her over for that? Mine was just topped up through the tube.

bloodyunicorns · 01/09/2022 19:15

'Mountains of gas and air' - but you're in charge of gas and air! Your breathing it in!

If you want to talk about your birth, talk to PALS at your hospital. Ask for a debrief.

RedHelenB · 01/09/2022 19:16

GingerAndLemonn · 01/09/2022 18:46

Why did you have so many epidurals?! I thought you only needed one?

You get it topped up. One of my favourite memories was the anesthetist padding up in his slippers at the dead of night to deliver the top up and ease the agony.

LilacPoppy · 01/09/2022 19:17

Diamorphine which is basically pure heroin does make you hallucinate but it wears off within a few hours not 8 months. Gas and air within about 10 mins and an epidural just numbs you.
Your post natal depression is/was hormonal not due to medication.

annoyedneighbour1 · 01/09/2022 19:17

So midwives should have withheld pain relief after you requested it?

Sounds like a DM headline.

FishFingerSandwiches4Tea · 01/09/2022 19:17

Not quite the same as you, but when I had dc2 (csection) the anaesthetic didn't work so they kept giving me more, ended up with epidural and spinal plus diamorphine. The diamorphine made me feel rough. Not hallucinating but like extremely drunk and sick. It made the first few hours very difficult and I would never have it again.

Justanotherwinter · 01/09/2022 19:18

I was the same!
I had gas and air, then spinal block for c section, then morphine

BiscuitLover3678 · 01/09/2022 19:19

you can call up and ask to look through your notes - everyone is entitled but it’s not advertised. So useful. So many things you might not have understood at the time you can talk through.

ShaneTwane · 01/09/2022 19:19

Not given birth yet but this is a very interesting thread, i had no idea you could still have other drugs on top of an epidural!

How are you feeling with your baby now op? Congratulations.

But lol at the part with your mom naked on a plinth 😭

Justanotherwinter · 01/09/2022 19:20

I never actually consented to the morphine it was put through my IV
luckily I wasn’t a drug addict

henni85 · 01/09/2022 19:20

Gas and air leaves your system completely within 30 minutes, and as others have said, you are in control of it. It has given me a weird deja vu feeling, but no hallucinations (and I hammered it!)
Were you in labour a long time? How much sleep had you had? Extended pain and sleep deprivation can make me see and hear weird things. I would suggest it was sleep deprivation and a morphine-type drug that made everything so crazy

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