Diamorphine & Pethedine - do they work, what were your experiences of them?

[Taffindra]

I had an epidural with DS1, which obviously works brilliantly and is the last word in pain relief! I know its not always that quick or easy to get an epidural, especially if they are busy with c-sections - so can anyone tell me what they thought of Diamorphine or Pethedine? And if you have one of these, can you not then have a epidural at a later stage? I'm hopefully going to be at St.Thomas's - I've heard they don't do Pethedine...can anyone confirm that?

Hi, you can have diamorphine/pethedine and then an epidural later - I did. Have different effects on individuals, I found that I was initially knocked out by it - sleeping for a good 1 hr+ initially (which for me was a bit of a blessing as had a total of 54hrs in labour - then ECS), also made me a bit of a space cadet in terms of talking absolute drivel. I also found that my memory was effected although not entirely sure was totally down to the opiates - as I said very long induction etc with very little to eat and very little sleep. On a pain relief front, worked a treat. HTH

Hmm, well I haven't had either during labour, but I was given diamorphine when in hospital just before I had my appendix out. I had always avoided it before but felt it necessary at that point!! However I hated the way it made me feel and in fact I was quite sick afterwards which is a known side effect. It made me panicky and distressed.

I know some people love it and swear by it but I don't get on with it at all.

Pethedine made me throw up. And i went on to have high forceps (oww) delivery with ds1 - im sure that it made me groggy and i wasnt pushing effectively. IMO best avoided. i was adamant with ds2 that i wasnt having it, kept upright and moving and out he popped. there was some talk of it crossing placenta and potentially making baby drowsy and less likely to latch on, but i hav enothing to substantiate that and cant be bothered looking...too early...

had one dose of pethidine ... definitely relaxed me (only had that and gas and air which was brilliant)

to go from epidural to pethedine not a good idea imo!

moopymoo, yes it does cross the placenta and can make the baby groggy/sleepy and affect feeding to start with - hence why you can't have it too close to the actual birth (I think that's right)

i had pethidine, 5 minutes later baby was out (was only 7 cm when i had the injection but was 2nd baby) he didnt get any effects as obviously didnt get into my system by the time he was out, but i was very sleepy afterwards!!

Taffindra - you are right Thomas' do not offer pethedine. It's G&A, water or epidural

I had pethedine with no1 and it did help me sleep for a time.

Diamorphine didn't stop the pain of the contractions for me. However it did allow me to "sleep" (sort of) between contractions. But it made baby very sleepy for the first few days; if I did it again I would try to go without, but it was difficult (induced labour).

I had pethidine with my first and was away with the fairies. I had wierd dreams about swimming in our fish tank and slept for alot of it. I don't remember alot about the birth because of it, but it did still hurt. My son was asleep for two days because of it. I refused to even consider it for two and three and will not have it this time either. Of course if offered it after the birth I might take them up on their offer!

I had diamorphine and it made me very sleepy! It wears off after about 4 hours though so for me it worked out well as I was really drowsy and out of it during the boring dilation bit and then was totally lucid for the pushing some 8 hours later. I found the morphine after my eventual emergency c-section gave me the weirdy dreams (whilst half awake!) so I asked to stop getting it - not nice at all! But diamorphine was ok. I LOVED gas and air though!

Apparently you can ask for meptid (it's an analgesic that won't cross the placenta/make you drowsy) - but it can make you sick. My midwife said they don't carry it, only pethedine as the pain relief for home births, which I thought was disappointing. But a friend said you can request it via your doctor in time for the birth.

I had a home birth last year and got a prescription for a dose of pethedine that I kept stashed in my wardrobe 'til the big day. However, when the first midwife arrived to attend the birth, she told me that they wouldn't/couldn't/shouldn't be administering it anyway - can't remember why. Obviously at the time, this wasn't what I wanted to hear but in the event, I didn't need it. I just thought it was odd that I'd had such conflicting information and had had to walk all the way to the hospital to get the prescription in the first place!

i had diamorphine with my 1st,they were in a rush to get him out . not a pleasent experience for me, i felt totally our of it, as if i was floating on the ceiling out of my body. could understand what was going on, still felt some pain but did'nt really care so it must have numbed my pain threshold a lot. put it this way, if the doc had come in with an axe and said "now im going to chop off your arm" my reply might have been "well ok then just do it!"
had pethideine with my 2nd but it was given quite near to the end and so did'nt really feel any effect from it.

I used TENS, then G&A also for my first, once they gave me Synto i begged for Diamorphine, which made me more drowsy and out of it, don't recall any significant pain relief.... ended up with emCS

Second birth, again TENS and then G&A later on, had a bit of a panic, was struggling with CFM and getting positions changed, ended up with Diamorphine although had been dead against it. Regret it, was drowsy and compliant and out of it.

Next time will have a Doula and stay at home! Don't want to interfere with body's natural hormones etc! That's my pesonal opinion now that I've learned more about childbirth. It will be HARD but interfering tends to lead to more interfering and longer births so plan to at least TRY at home, realistically know that it may not be as easy as all that!

Cutting a long waffle short, I don't recommend diamorphine from personal experience, but then I cannot live with the risks involved in epidural and would never consider that either.

It's important to research your pain relief options fully, all pros and cons, and make an informed choice.

I hated pethedine. It didn't mask the pain and just made me feel really spaced out and druggy - in fact it felt a bit like drinking a whole bottle of gin, I had to stagger to the bed as I knew I would fall over if I stayed standing up.

i had both with my first-it was horrible,i was hallucinating and falling asleep between contractions.had just pethidine with my 2nd,that was awful too,i wasnt in control and felt like i was p*ed out of my head.neither of them did anything for the pain.

had just g+a with my last 3-what a difference.i really enjoyed their births as i was awake and knew what was going on.

my first 2 had to have oxygen when they were first born also as they were too drugged and sleepy.and bf ds1 was a disaster cos he was asleep for the first 4 days and didnt want to feed.

when it comes to pain,birthing positions,breathing and mental attitude make all the difference ime.

On a bit of a tangent, I'm always suprised by how wonderful people think G&A is. Have heard it makes folk giggly and a bit silly, it made me cry buckets and I thought I was dying, floating up near the ceiling and hearing was like it is when you're under water. Hated the stuff. I think from what I remember the pethedine did make me throw up repeatedly too.

Thinking about pain relief, I'm really not sure what I want this time round as it was all pretty yuk. Big thumbs up for TENS though, got me through over half my labour.

i had pethidine with first ds and it was crap -all the pain, but totally out of control too and i was in shock afterwards because of the pain! i had an epidural with twins and it was brilliant - pushed them out, felt it all and no pain.
i think that you have to decide that you are going to be incredibly bolshy - i was 9-10cm by the time they checked, but noone was going to stop me getting that epidural - i shouted and i'm afraid to say it worked!
my friend is a consultanr anaes and thinks peth is rubbish.

Diamorphine made me throw up green stuff for hours after my c-section. Wasn't in pain though!
Gas and air was utterly useless, but at least it gave me something to bite when I was in pain...

Twiga, the G&A made me sick and drunk the first time but the second time I believe it was effective and was surprised not to feel sick and drunk. When I asked I was told that was because I didn't start it till much later in established labour, after 5 cms. So I reckon those who love it didn't start it till much later....

I also found that once I got the blasted Fing diamorphine I was unable to suck on the G&A and kept blowing on it instead

pethadine :bad bad bad experience

Didn't seem (iirc but its all a haze) to make any difference to pain relief

I threw up.. over myself/dh and midwife

Then i had Hallucinations -
I made the mistake of watching Moulin Rouge a few days before... i was convinced Toulouse-Latrec was talking to me.. seem to remember i was having a proper conversation with him

I don't remember this but dh also said i turned to him and said i was "going to die"

When ds was born i didn't really know what was going on .. i said .. oh look its a baby.. all suprised

Then i was sent to the shower to get cleaned up and passed out.. naked on the floor

What i did wrong was to state in my birth plan that i did'nt want an epidural, i so should have had one but after the pethedine was too out of to think what i should be doing.

Sorry i don't want to turn this into a scary labour thing
Perhaps not an ideal birth story but i can laugh about it now

my labour was 13 hours...started gas and air which i caned!!! that made me super high but when pain got worse i had pethadine...mw kept askng how i was....in bloody pain i shouted..so she gave m another shot....made me feel queasy....then baby came....if he was gonna be longer would have had epidural...wouldnt have felt him tear me ope then lol!!!

my leg swelled up where i had the shots for a good 2 weeks

I chose to have half a dose of pethidine ( as recommended by many midwives) as I was worried about effect on baby and am quite small (was in the middle of a non-progressing 36 hour labour with no end in sight and due to start syntocinon in the morning - desperate for some sleep). Didn't touch me one way or the other - no pain relief, no grogginess - just a waste of time.