Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Childbirth

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

Flip

Original poster

Anyone had any side effects from an Epidural?

16 replies

JellyNump · 28/05/2006 23:00

I couldn't wee for the first few hours after it and had to have a catheter because I was really desperate but couldn't go and sitting after my epidural because my back felt really bruised and sore, I actually found sitting on the loo painful, not because of 'down there' but because of trying to hold my self upright in a sitting position because my back hurt so much. Is this just odd???
I know the anaesthaetist came round to explain all the side effects etc like head aches and being paralysed, althought I was in so much pain, I really didn't care at the time!

OP posts:

joanna4 · 28/05/2006 23:17

Yep I was much the same as you I also took ages to get good control back in my legs.

laughalot · 29/05/2006 11:26

I suffer more now with back ache especially in the winter.

Hollyboo · 29/05/2006 12:16

Had dd five and a half months ago and sometimes when I get out of bed and strech, I can feel a little ache where they put the needle in. I get pains in my back now that I never got, even when I was pregnant. Still, at least it worked for me when it was needed.

eclipse · 30/05/2006 21:09

Like Hollyboo, I had a sore bit where the needle went in for months afterwards. It didn't bother me much but just felt a bit clicky from time to time. Now, a year later I can't even remember when I stopped noticing it as it has gone completely. No other problems at all. Hope yours stops hurting soon.

Tommy · 30/05/2006 21:32

I've had a bad back since giving birth to DS1 in Jan 02. I've never been sure if it was the epidural or the way I was sat for 24 hours while was in labour (not being able to feel if it was uncomfortable)or DS1's enormous head getting stuck on the way out.
I also had a catheter
I had a couple of appointments with a physio (refferred from GP) which helped loads but the pain has come back each time I've got pregnant so could be something else entirely.Sorry - not much help am I?!

sassy · 30/05/2006 21:36

I had foul headache which was only cured by a blood patch (where they take blood from your arm and squirt it into your spine to heal wound site. OMG -this was almost worse than labour.

Needless to say, I was DETERMINED to avoid epi with dd2 - and did.

thirtysomething · 30/05/2006 21:47

had same as you jellynelly, couldn't wee on my own for 3 days after 1st epi, 2 days after 2nd - found it very upsetting and humiliating and cerainly got in way of just getting on with looking after my baby! Also made me vomit both times and I fainted after the first epi, about 6 hours after the birth, as stupid midwife insisted I walk to toilet even though i knew I couldn't walk or pee on my own - needless to say i fainted whilst getting on loo and banged my head. I'm not a fainter and it was a very weird sensation! Given pain i had with second labout though I'd still rather have had the epi when I finally got it...

ssd · 30/05/2006 21:55

God I could cry thinking about this. Had an epidural with ds1 was fine afterwards. Had an epidural with ds2 and couldn't wee for 13 weeks. Yes 13 weeks. Had to leave hospital with a cathetar in all the time for 1 week, then had to return to hospital to learn how to self insert a cathetar every day 4 times a day for 13 weeks. And keep a written chart of how much wee was passed...And it was truly awful. That coupled with breastfeeding lying on my side as I couldn't sit up as stitches and cathetars don't mix well and a disgruntled 2 year old trying to kick the pee pee bag as I was b'feeding baby nearly sent me over the edge.

Happy days...

handlemecarefully · 30/05/2006 22:00

No I didn't...

RnB · 30/05/2006 22:07

OMG SSD! How awful for you

Hollyboo · 31/05/2006 15:04

SSD that's terrible, what will you do if you go again?
Thirtysomething have to say I spewed 3 times each time the nurse pushed the boost on the epidural. She said it wasn't the epi that was making me sick??
Thanks eclipse maybe it will go back to normal, doesn't help carring my little lump of a baby around!!
I take my hat off to anyone who did it without an epidural.

Fimbo · 31/05/2006 15:08

I had the same as Sassy. The headache was the worst experience of my life. I had to have 2 blood patches to correct it.

Fimbo · 31/05/2006 15:11

Dural Puncture

A dural puncture, or wet tap, is perhaps the most common complication from an ESI. This complication only occurs in 0.1 to 5 percent of all injections. The result of a dural puncture is usually a spinal headache and nausea. A spinal headache occurs when the puncture in the spinal sac fails to seal itself off. This allows the spinal fluid to continue to leak out and lowers the spinal fluid pressure in the brain. When sitting, the headache and nausea are much worse, because the spinal fluid pressure is lower at the top, near your head, than at the bottom of the spine. The headache usually goes away when you lie down with your feet higher than your head. To treat a spinal headache, a "blood patch" is usually recommended. If the doctor realizes immediately during the procedure he has a wet tap, he may perform a blood patch before he removes the epidural needle. A blood patch is a simple procedure where about three ounces of blood are drawn from an arm vein. The blood is then immediately injected into the epidural space with an epidural needle. The blood then clots around the spinal sac and stops the leak by forming a "patch".

Hollyboo · 31/05/2006 15:14

Jesus. I knew one of the side effects was a headache but I didn't kow all that. How scary.

Original poster

JellyNump · 01/06/2006 21:05

ssd thats awful! 13 weeks! I must say they weren't very helpful when I needed my catheter. I went to the toilet 3 times to try and sat there for around 20mins each time, it hurt a lot cos I really really needed to go, so eventually went to ask a midwife to put a catheter in. She said 'hmmmmm well. I'll need to see what a dr thinks and if you're allowed one in' I said 'I really need one putting in as I'm desperate to go, so I don't care what the dr 'thinks' I need a wee'. that took quite a while and all I wanted to do was get into bed and hold my dd. Eventually they put one in and drained off over 2 litres!

OP posts:

LittleB · 01/06/2006 21:29

I was told after my epidural I would feel like I'd been kicked in the back by a horse, but I was fine, no side effects at all, would recommend one! I did feel the bruise about a month later and it lasted for a couple of months. I think the reason I didn't feel the bruise at first was because I had taken arnica throughout my labour and for a few days after, its supposed to help with bruising and I think it must have helped me alot.

Flip