can you have gas and air with an epidural?

[colditzmum]

i only ask because I asked for gas and air while I was in labour, but the midwife said that as I had an epidural, I shouldn't need it and couldn't have it! Are the midwives allowed to withold pain medication if they feel you don't need it?

I had gas and air first but didn't need it after epidural. The first epidural didn't work so I just got another one. didn't need any other pain relief after that. Sorry don't know whether they can refuse though.

well i had it prior to the epi, not sure if you've already had the epi.

You won't need it if you've had an epidural - you shouldn't feel any pain if it works

The reason I wanted it at the time was that I was terrified, I have a phobia of needled and the drip plus the epidural was making me feel very sick andf anxiuos

Well I had it when I had dd. They gave me an epidural but the placing of the needle was so excrutiating they gave me G&A to help put the needle in. I then continued on G&A "while waiting for the epidural to take effect" and actually ended up all the time on G&A as the epidural didn't work, except to numb my thigh - not much use when the pain is in your abdomen!

gas and air can sometimes make you feel sick too, though, it did initially for me

If you already feel sick... then gas and air is likely to really make you sick. Did you not have a chance at all to try it?

Sory - mis-read your original post - didn't realise you had already been through this. I don't think they are allowed to withold anything that is viable so it could well be that there is a reason why you can't have it if you've already got an epidural in place. Gas and air can make you feel sick so if you were already feeling this way, it might be that the midwife thought it wouldn't be beneficial. Mears or one of the other midwifes should be able to give you a proper answer - I'm sure one will be along soon.

I used the gas and air until the epidural was in, then the midwife took it off me. I didn't feel sick at all, just very calm and spacey, which is why I wanted it back really.

did you use it while they were putting the epidural in? sure that would be ok, but not sure

have to agree g and a is magic, used loads myself while having dd's, the sick feeling went away quite quickly

maybe you will be lucky and not need an epidural

I had G&A, then epidural (which didn't work properly), then I can't remember, but for the stitching I had the epidural plus local anaesthetic plus G&A. I don't recall having the G&A taken away, but like I said I don't recall and will have to check with dh, who was a bit more with-it at that point!

I used gas and air alongside an epidural with dd1's labour and spent most of it up on the ceiling. Wish they'd let me take it home, it was lovely stuff...

I had g and a and an epidural because the epidural didn't 'take' and so I was still in pain - this was in my second labour.
My first labour in a different hospital - same situation with non-working epidural...no g and air allowed...so I would say it depends on the midwives.

(Isn't it terrible that they decide how much pain you are in!

CM, why should you need it? Did they offer to 'top up' your epidural for you? Must admit, they told me to let them know when I started feeling pain, but I pre-empted that and lied.

Found gas and air pure useless with dd2, but am aware it helps others

You can have gas and air if the epidural is not effective such as when waiting for a top-up. Also it might be that the baby is close to delivering and a top-up is not a good idea so the gas and air can be used then. It should only be used to help pain, not to make you feel spaced alone IYSWIM?

I had an epidural- didn't really work and had gas and air for the birth of my D.