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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

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Original poster

Anyone experience hallucinations with gas and air while in labour?

50 replies

mylittlepuds · 12/04/2013 12:12

When I had DS I had pethidine and had awful, awful nonsensical hallucinations before and after the birth. I didn't think to blame the gas and air.

Anyway I gave birth to DD the other day and once again terrible hallucinations - this time with a weird scary religious flavour - that have really disturbed me. This time though I refused the pethadine and just had the gas and air.

So anyway...after a bit of Googling i've found that a lot of women experience hallucinations with gas and air.

Or is I just the pain of childbirth that does it?

Any feedback appreciated.

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WeDigUpTheRoad · 12/04/2013 12:17

Not really hallucinations as such but definitely felt quite out if it and maybe in fact it was a bit 'trippy'.

I'd had gas and air and although I had pethedine 8 mins after having the injection dd was born so I had no benefit in labour but the full effect afterwards.

Also, as she was dc3 (and def my last) I remember thinking I was going to make the most of the G&A afterwards for stitches etc.

I was giggling and floating around - ah lovely.

caramelwaffle · 12/04/2013 12:17

Gas and Air.

Memorrrrrrries.

Put that stuff on prescription, and give me the whole prescription pad

Had similar experience to you, Op.

IYoniWantToBeWithYou · 12/04/2013 12:18

Not a hallucination but in my last labour I hit the gas and air pretty heavily and I could hear a fat boy slim song being played on the radio over and over, the radio wasn't even on.

Oh and in another one of my labours I thought that the midwife was singing a dolly parton song, she wasn't.

MikeLitoris · 12/04/2013 12:20

Yep.

With ds the anaesthetist turned into beaker from the muppets and with dd2 the rubber duck in the pool was talking to me with a Scottish accent.

I asked dp what the music playing was and he didn't have a clue what I was on about. There wasn't a radio in the room.

Very strange

BedHanger · 12/04/2013 12:21

Yep, had gas and air twice with the same auditory hallucinations twice. Also had horrible paranoia and felt that everyone (MW, doula, DH, registrar) was laughing at me whenever I closed my eyes. Hated it!

TheFallenMadonna · 12/04/2013 12:22

I visualized my contractions as Mr Men.

catlady1 · 12/04/2013 12:22

After the first few breaths I felt like my hands had blown up like massive balloons, but that only lasted a minute or so. After that it did bugger all :(

SchroSawMargeryDaw · 12/04/2013 12:26

Not hallucinations as such but I felt awful and was convinced my voice had changed and I sounded like Cher.

mrsbugsywugsy · 12/04/2013 12:33

I had hallucinations on no pain relief at all. I think it might have been because I had been there for three days with no sleep!

WorkingtoohardMama · 12/04/2013 12:37

I just heard everything on repeat, I kept asking dh why he was repeating himself! And was laughing saying, you've just said that ha ha, he was looking at me with a very confused expression - he said I was completely out of it, and tried to limit the gas and air when I was having dd - no chance, I loved it!

IEatCakeInBed · 12/04/2013 12:47

Me as well, although with DD1 I had pethidine and 2 anti emetic injections too, so not sure what was responsible. I was 'trapped' down a dark hole, trying to get out and see the light, it felt like I was down there for ages. At the risk of sounding dramatic, I really felt like I was fighting for my sanity .

With DD2 no pethidine, but apparently I was rambling about having to get the sausages out of my wellingtons (???!). So not scary, just very bizarre!

Original poster

mylittlepuds · 12/04/2013 13:06

Thanks for all of your reples. This thread has really made me feel better about it so thank you. After DS I obsessed about and really worried about my sanity. This time I think I'm just going to have to accept it's just the affect of the drugs and that I'm very sensitive to anything like that.

Ieatcake - very similar experience to you first time around. I thought I'd gone to hell and couldn't get back. This time I was the same but different hallucinations.

I wish I'd have known/someone had have given me a shake after DS to tell me it's normal to feel like this with pain relief in labour as spent pretty much two years worrying about it. No one did - midwives/counsellors. Would have helped me a lot...

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Notmyidea · 12/04/2013 14:23

I had flashbacks to my first, traumatic, birth. Dh tells me I was quoting bits of the nmc code of conduct (rules governing nurses and midwives) like something out of The Exorcist.
I had a perfectly nice midwife that time, too.

Original poster

mylittlepuds · 12/04/2013 14:35

Notmyidea - that made me splutter with laughter

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EyeoftheStorm · 12/04/2013 14:37

Similar experience to MrsBugsyWugsy. Contractions for 3 days at 30 weeks. DS2 decided to arrive in about 30 minutes. No time for pain relief.

I thought I'd been on my knees, eyes squeezed shut, hanging onto the midwife's shoulders for dear life. Talking to DH about it afterwards and he was because I was on my back the whole time.

Weird to remember such a huge experience wrongly.

MammaCici · 12/04/2013 17:26

I hated G&A. I hallucinated and it was a seriously "bad trip." I thought I was in a night club at one point. I thought everyone (except DH) was plotting against me. They were actually because I had chosen a place that specialise in natural birth so my pleas for epidural took 2 hours to be acknowledged. I thought the midwife was evil - the sort that you read about in papers that poison newborns or something. Even the next day I was afraid of her. I certainly wouldn't like to see her next time. I also hated my doula. I wanted her to f@ck off. When I eventually got a walking epidural I stopped the G&A. I got a new midwife and the rest of the birth was more manageable. Still bloody hard though!

I will never use G&A again. I don't know why anyone would enjoy being out of it at such an important time. Yes to pain meds but a big fat no to mind altering drugs during birth.

lakeofshiningwaters · 12/04/2013 18:20

Not during labour, but the day after when the gynae consultant came to see my broken fanjo me. They gave me G&A whilst taking the packs out.
I was sure the consultant was wearing one of those jokes bow ties that spins round. Apparently I kept telling him to turn it off because it was tickling my thigh

ChocsAwayInMyGob · 12/04/2013 18:23

Not a hallucination but in my last labour I hit the gas and air pretty heavily and I could hear a fat boy slim song being played on the radio over and over, the radio wasn't even on.

Believe it or not, a similar thing happened to me. After hours on gas and air I told DH to turn the radio off. He said it wasn't on and pointed out that it was probably the foetal heartbeat repeating over and over and sounding like 90s music in my head.

He was right- it was as if my hearing was hearing double and it sounded like rave music being played in the room.

dancemom · 12/04/2013 18:28

Gas and air sent me crazy! I was convinced that everyone in the room was asking me about my ISA and how much I had in it and all sorts of other banking questions - really random!!

cece · 12/04/2013 18:31

Ohh I heard music too. I thought I was at a music festival when in laboour with DS2. Apparently I was ranting about chicken burgers at one point!

With DS1 I thought I was scuba diving. Most disappointed to come around and realise I was in the middle of giving birth...

GozerTheGozerian · 12/04/2013 18:52

I also thought I was in a nightclub - like a rave really - and I was on the side of the dancefloor. I could hear really loud dance music and I swear I could see ravers milling around me... At one point I heard (I think) DH ask if I was ok, and the midwife said yes, it's just the drugs. Although that could have been in my hallucination too I suppose!

This was when I was having stitches after - it didn't affect me like that in labour - no idea why but it was really quite freaky.

LovesBeingWokenEveryNight · 12/04/2013 18:54

I had weird things popping into my head, with dd it was pictures, an old baby toy I played with, road signs eyc and with ds it was a song that went round and round my head.

Original poster

mylittlepuds · 12/04/2013 19:19

It really upset me . I wish I'd have known this time that it was the 'harmless' g and a that did it last time. I was convinced it was the pethadine.

My hallucinations were so, so strange centring around the meaning of life, existence and the universe. I kept thinking I was being given major insights into life.

There was also a sense of time stopping and then 'something bad' happening - like dd being rushed away. Hard to explain really.

A couple of times I even asked if DD had already been born.

It makes me sad that I'll now probably never have a non tripped out labour.

OP posts:

EmmaGellerGreen · 12/04/2013 19:23

Oh yes, I hallucinated! I was in a lovely bar with old work friends. It was all rather lovely for a while. Then they took it away

Original poster

mylittlepuds · 12/04/2013 19:25

And why the hell did I have to have nightmarish ones instead of nice ones?!

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