HELP! Post c-section back pain - agony!

[RockLover]

Posting this here as more traffic, will post in childbirth too.

I just got home today after having my son (DC2) on Sat, I had an epidural then ended up having a c-section.

The epidural took AGES and 2 different spaces were used to site it. Now I have horrific back pain to cope with as well as scar pain. I cannot sleep at all and just sitting is very, very uncomfortable. I am taking paracetamol and ibruprofen (as standard) every 4 hours and it doesn't help!

My back is shaking all the time and having no sleep is driving me crazy. I am seeing the mw today, but just wondered if anyone else has had a similar experience.

Congratulations on the safe arrival of your DS

My experience was slightly different to yours but my advice is to see an osteopath as soon as possible.

I had sciatica with both pregnancies, and epidurals that took ages to site as apparently the space that the needle enters was very deep.

Epidurals can aggravate back problems simply because you cannot feel when you are in a position that is uncomfortable or damaging for your spine.

My leg kept giving way after my last one and a course of osteopathy made a world of difference. It's not cheap, but it's so worth it.

A coccyx cushion was also a good investment for me.

HTH

I had awful back pain and also shooting pains down my leg and in my bum after my EMCS. Midwife told me it was quite common but to make appointment with GP (I also had a numb patch on my face under my lip-she'd never heard of that!) but by the time the appointment came around, both had disappeared so I cancelled it. That was about 3 weeks after the birth.
I sympathise deeply, it was really miserable and a couple of times I had to raid the post-birth painkillers collection to get some sleep

You really need to see an anaethetist afaik - I had back pain and tingling after my elcs and the anaethetist checked me out every day I was in and booked a follow-up for 6 weeks later (which I cancelled as I was fine after the first week).

I wouldn't see an osteopath or anyone like that until you've been checked out by a specialist doctor.

You can take stronger painkillers like codeine. You do know you can' take paracetamol or ibuprofen every 4 hours round the clock, right?

Fwiw mine was just bruising from the 4 attempts to get the anaesthetic in and healed as the bruising went down.

I'm only taking the recommended 4 ibuprofen and 8 paracetamol a day so I don't overdose.

The midwife suggested waiting a few days to see if it eased up, then calling the GP for advice after that which seems fairly sensible. It's so bloody horrible though, I don't feel like I'm on this planet most of the time. Just want to be able to sleep, I'm only managing 20 minute bursts here and there.