is it possible to ask for low dosage of pethadine?

[SANA]

I have been told by many who have had pethadine that they didnt like it, I am due in the next 2wks and dont want an epidural and want to use gas & air but want to keep the option of pethadine open if i get into a panic and feel I cant cope, I was thinking of asking for a first dose of only 25mg so that if i dont like it i havent had to much, I understand that the normal hospital dosage is 150mg.......anyone able to comment?

pethidine was the only drug i specified i DIDN'T want on my birth plan because I'd read that it only works in 30% of people and then it acts like a sedative, not a painkiller, so decided it wasn't for me. in the end i had an epidural at 4cm first time round because i was absolutely exhausted from vomiting during virtually every contraction.

25mg sounds so low that it probably wouldn't do anything anyway.

I had it with Dd2 (not through choice, long story) and it didn't work!

I had pethidine with DD and it made me sleep (which luckily for eme is what I actually ewanted to be able to do at that time). However, I thought I was fine a couple of hours later when DH arrives, but he assures me I was out of it for a good while.

Do they have meptid at your hospital? I didn't want pethidine (had nothing in the end, had a water birth), but would've had meptid as a last resort.

SANA - is it your first child ? If not you won't have time for pethidine... if you fear panic take rescue remedy and get someone to help you breathe.... when it ALL becomes too much then you are too near the end to get pethidine anyway.

I had pethadine when it all became too much and regretted it. I believe it was a bad call from the mw to suggest it (I didn?t ask for it but was desperate and took whatever she offered by then) .The baby was born about 30 mins later, very drowsy and not very well.
Second time I took gas and air, had someone strong and trustworthy with me to keep me focussed on breathing and calming me down, fantastic MWs with great backrub technique and rescue remedy. I am a big wimp and yet I believe I coped better without it as I stayed in control and so was calmer.

I'm surprised that so many people have had negative reactions to pethidene. I had it twice and I found it really helped me relax when i started to feel panicky. It did make my babies a little sleepy, but this wasn't a problem, and it actually helped me get some much needed rest after the birth.

Also, I don't know about hospitals everywhere, but I was offered a half dose to start with to see if it agreed with me.

Kelly - some babies need the antidote to it ! And when babies are too sleepy it's not great either (particularely when BF).... I think Pethidine is fine in some situations but it really is more the minority rather than the majority.

I asked for half a dose of Diamorphine with DD. I had a full dose with Ds and like a few posts here, I didn't like it and Ds was born very drowsy.

I tried to labour with DD with only gas&air, but it all got too much. I asked for hlaf a dose, but the Doctor recommended 3 quarters. I had the injection, but dd was born 50 mins later!!! I;m glad I didn't have a full dose as I wouldn't felt very detached from the whole event.

I've never heard of an antidote being given. Admittedly, the consultant wasn't too happy that dd slept thru her first night, but she was fine otherwise. It didn't cause any probs regards bf. It is a difficult choice, I think I would have been more worried if I had heard more about the possible side effects.

This is the thing... sometimes Diamorphine/Pethidine makes you so relaxed and out of it that you dilate faster as one of the possible reasons you're not progressing "quickly" is your state of mind in the first place... fighting the pain is really not ideal but sometimes that's all you can do if no one is there to help you cope with it.