Just a light-hearted question about Diamorphine...

[TheBreastmilksOnMe]

Whay did it make me so ill during labour? I was given anti-sickness medicine at the same time (apparently) but I have never been so ill in all my life. I just could not stop vomiting and I couldn't even lift my head up off the bed.

There was a point when the midwife came back in to check on me and said 'oh my!, you have been sick havn't you' to the countless bowls of vomit dotted around the delivery room. I am never going to have it again ut would just like to understand why it mademe so ill when I was supposed to have anti-sickness meds with it?

Are you sure you were given Diamorphine? Cos its usually only used for cancer pain. You realise its Heroin, and therefore (I assume) it would cross the placenta?

You sure it wasnt Morphine?

It would make you sick purely because some people react that way. Codeine makes me really dizzy and sick, its just a side effect.

It was definately Diamorphine as I had read up about the drugs you could take during labour and it was between Diamorphine and Pethidine. Ironically I had heard bad things about Pethidine making you sick so I chose Diamorphine. It is also used for labouring women but not as commonly as Pethidine. Pethidine crosses the placenta too.

Ah, ok thanks, I stand corrected. I didnt have any drugs during my labour 14 years ago. Not cos Im smug, but because he was undiagnosed breech so became an emergency c-section.

Not been lucky enough to have another baby

Congrats on the safe arrival of your baby!

yes, this really worries me because they say pethidine makes you sick, gas and air can make you sick, labour can make you sick! You cant win.... I havent heard of epidural making yo sick so hopefully I can have that, as being sick really scares me!

sorry to hear that...sounds like a pretty normal response to diamorphine though, which is similar to heroin. did it help with the pain?

it's amazing that for our whole pregnancies we are encouraged to keep as 'clean' as possible, and yet we are offered diamorphine of all things, during labour .

I didn't think that it was actually heroin, just a derrivative that has been chemically altered so it's quite safe used as it is isn't it?

Mine ended in an EMCS too Sukie! It was the start of a long long labour!

Yes it did help with the pain and when it initially kicked in it was quite a nice, woozy, drunk feeling. It was an hour or so later that the vomiting started. It was a painful OP labour. I had planned on a water birth but the drug made me so ill that I couldn't even face getting off the bed to crawl to the pool. I then had an epi which didn't help the matter of an OP baby (undiagnosed) which led to weak, irregular contractions that needed help to become more efficient which led to a mum so exhausted and a labour so prolonged that a EMCS was the only option.

The cascade of intervention as it is put. This time I am wiser and I am steering well-clear of an such drugs and epis. The last thing I tried was G+A which I was most afraid of as I'd heard it could make you sick but by then I coudn't have cared less and you know what? It was wonderful and it worked! This time around I am sticking to my original birth plan of pool and G+A!

Just as a side comment both Diamorphine and Pethadine are opiates... So both derivatives (spelling?!) of heroine. If you go onto safe-fetus.com you can see that Heroin is in a less harmful category (Cat B) than Ibruprofen (Cat C).... I am NOT suggesting we all develop ourselves a little smack habit just highlighting a fact!

I had it with DS2 and I loved it, I went into labour knowing he was already dead so was happy to take anything!
I told the midwife I could see what junkies see in it!

hmmm they gave me meptid as an alternative, along with anti sickness...didnt even get offered anything else!!

unfitmother ... your post just made me cry ... I am so so so so sorry xxxxx

Some women are very sick with opitates and although an anti sickness drug would have been given with the diamorphine it clearly didn't work. What they should have done is offer you an additional stronger anti emetic.

I had it when I was pregnant and dislocated my jaw. It was supposed to knock me out a bit so they could put my jaw back but all it did was give me the shakes and make me feel freezing cold. Awful.

The pethidine i had during my first labour was awesome. I had a decent sleep which I needed after being awake labouring through 2 nights.

Best of all though was gas and air. Amazing stuff.

diamorphine, morphine, pethidine...all opiates. Can all cause vomiting, could all x placenta.
IMO the choice of pethidine as the "opiate of choice" in labour is not based on much in the way of evidence; if you were going down the opiate route for analgesia I would go with whichever the unit you are in is familiar with.