No food&drink with epidural

[NordicMum]

Were you adviced not to have food&drink if you had an epidural? When I gave birth last time, nobody mentioned it until it was too late and I was screaming for water but they didn't allow me to have it. I was also put on a drip. Before the epidural I had really painful and frequent contractions for about 24hrs, was sick several times because of pain so obviously I felt exhausted and dehydrated.

Do you have mental capacity?

If you do then there's no such thing as "allow".

Now that I think about it... no food, but yes definitely water. I had an epidrual after 16 hours of contractions that were so nad I passed out between them.

Your experience sounds dreadful Nordic.

Fizzy, I also had maternal pyrexia (type of fever) after the epidural when the baby was born, I felt like passing out and couldn't hold the baby at all. Also lost 1 litre of blood because uterus stopped contracting, but when I look at it now, if I had really painful/regular contractions for 24hrs, then about 7hrs in epidural, surely the uterus is knackered by then anyway? I was only allowed to stay in hospital when we visited it the 4th time as I wasn't dilated enough. The baby was also distressed during the last few hours, so maybe that contributed towards the whole hassle. This time I definitely have some sugary drinks at least if I have an epidural.

In the unit I work in you can have fluids (clear ones - so water/ cordial are OK, fizzy drinks such as coke aren't) but no food once you have an epidural in place.

This is because once you have an epidural you are sadly self selecting into a group who are more likely to need an operative intervention and possibly a GA.

Pregnant woman are MUCH more likely to vomit during anaesthesia than the rest of the population. The classical description of aspiration of vomit in anaesthesia came from a pregnant population. In life outwith labour ward we cancel elective operations if people aren't adequately fasted as we think it poses an unacceptable risk.

Yes as a competent adult you have choices to make but as a responsible healthcare professional I also have choices to make. I have had a fair degree of verbal abuse in the past for cancelling folk who haven't stuck to the fasting rules for elective surgery but quite frankly I feel that were I to ignore the fact that they had had a full Mcdonalds breakfast 30 mins beforehand and then run into problems during their anaesthetic I think the GMC would be questioning my capabilities.

In an emergency situation (life or limb or baby threatening) we just get on with it but the risks of aspiration are higher so we use a slightly different anaesthetic technique to take account of this ie. regional anaesthesia(epidural / spinal) is first line and we only opt for GA (with rapid sequence induction) if we feel there is no other 'safe' option.

Having only this week anaesthetised someone for a section who vomited copiously I think sticking to the rules is a bloody good idea. Fortunately for her her airway was protected by a breathing tube at the time she was sick. If it had happened before all the vomit could very well have ended up in her lungs necessitating a trip to ITU. Some unfortunate individuals even die as a result of aspirating vomitus. Not the way you intend to start life as a new Mum.

I don't mean to be alarmist I just think that when you take a decision to ignore medical advice you need to know exactly what risks you are exposing yourself to.

I hope this doesn't have too much anaesthetic jargon in it.

They shouldn't refuse you water or clear fluids. Pretty sure even lemon Gatorade would be okay and that would get your sugar levels back up as well as your fluid levels.

Hi I had iced water available at all times - and drank loads of it I was really thirsty, but no food (not that I wanted any anyway)

I wasn't allowed to drink freely, just sips and ice cubes once the epidural was in. I did however have some lucozade once i was in recovery holding my baby (got told off for that )

hmmm. as soon as the epi kicked in I ate loads (two chicken sandwiches, gatorade and quite a few mini mars bars)... the midwives/doctor didn't have a problem with it. though after reading gasman's post... maybe i shouldn't have... interesting.

I understand that if they thought there will be any complications or problems and I needed emergency C-section, they asked me not to eat anything, but the whole issue of not having any water whatsoever still annoys me. Of course nobody gave any reason then nor afterwards.

Your experience sounds VERY similar to mine, I was however allowed water (didn't want anything else) until they decided I was having a c-section. I had a fever though and midwife got me some ice-cubes for relief, though the consultant did come in and have a go a me for this later on. I told her I was aware of the risk of ice-cubes and I'd made the decision and I wasn't having that c-section anyway (I was right he was born just as they went to wheel me out!). What pissed me of is after they wouldn't let me eat straight away and I was suddenly starving after not eating for days as 'you'll throw it back up' I was so hungry I didn't care!