Bad epidural side effects last time. Likely to be the same second time round?

[megonthemoon]

I had a hideous time with DC1 with the epidural last time. It didn't work properly on my left hand side so I would get a lot of pain within about 15 mins - I know that is just one of those things that can happen and may well not happen next time - but the main problem was that each top up - which happened frequently because it wasn't working very well - caused my blood pressure to drop like a stone, making me feel very faint and nauseous and completely out of it. I wanted to curl up in a ball or lie on my side, but had to be flat on my back because of being continuously monitored due to worries about DS and them not being able to get any reading when I was moved. It was all pretty hideous and went on for about 8 hours. I am petrified of this happening again, much more so than the pain of labour.

Anyway, my birth plan this time takes account of lots of different pain relief and I am very very keen to avoid an epidural this time in case the low blood pressure thing happens again, because that would mean I couldn't in any way be mobile as I would probably just faint.

The problem is, I am now 41+0 and this baby is showing zero signs of being ready. Although there is still a good chance I'll go into labour naturally, I'm booked in for induction on Friday. Obviously that increases the likelihood that I won't be able to cope without an epidural - everyone I know who has had syntocinon has either had an epidural beforehand or demanded it immediately afterwards given the 0 to 60 impact it has on their body.

So now I'm panicking about whether my really bad reaction to an epidural last time is likely to occur again - i.e. are side effects like mine specific to me and will occur each time, or specific to a situation and therefore may well not happen again.

I have a mw appt on Tues and will talk through it then, but she probably won't know the answer and I probably won't get chance to talk to an anaesthetist who might know more until Friday. So just wondered if anyone has had this happen and what the outcome was second time round

If your midwife can not answer your questions then ask her for an urgent referral to a consultant anaesthetist. I had a hideous time after my epidural went wrong so with this baby I visited the labour ward for a meeting with anaesthetist. I am glad I did as a lot had not been documented in my notes and we made a plan together for my labour.

Good luck and enjoy your new baby.

Thanks lcy - I'll do that. I should really have had this conversation a long while ago but I have kind of been burying it, convincing myself that I'll be able to get through without an epidural this time as it is bound to be quicker (main reason for having it last time was exhaustion having been going for 30 hours, rather than pain per se as I was managing that reasonably well). And then suddenly I've realised that this birth may end up being quite medicalised so an epidural is more of a possibility now. Gulp...

I understand from my doctor sister that no it's not more likely tio happen again just because it happened once.

but for your peace of mind try to speak to anaesthetist or make sure that they see exactly what happened last time eg make sure its written down in 2-3 bullets somewhere

Hi

I'm an anaesthetist and I would second the advice to have a chat with one of them at your hospital.

Usually epidurals are one sided because the plastic tube has sited itself more one sie of the epidural space than the other, and/or because you have fibrous bands (normal) in your epidural space that seperate off one side and stop the anaesthetic getting in. It won't necessarily happen again, but having access to the record of your old epidural is likely to help your anaesthetist get it right - so even if you don't have chance to speak to an anaesthetist, ask for your records to be made available.

There are other options, even if it doesn't work, like remifentanil, which provides good pain relief.

And you may not need it of course. I went 13 days over with my LO (3months) and was panicking about induction, but escaped it by 12 hours.

Hope your LO comes along soon. Best of luck.

Thanks magnumicecreamaddict (me too by the way - especially the almond ones :))

Do you know if the blood pressure issue is also most likely to have been situation specific or is more an issue about how I react to the anaesthetic and therefore likely to occur again?