Alternative to morphine

[Solero]

So am looking at an elective section due to bigger baby ( you may have seen my other posts) and I am ok with the decision as had an emergency section with DD1 and it wasn't as awful as I expected it to be. However I had a pretty violent reaction to the morphine in that my skin felt like it was crawling off and ( apologies for the TMI) i projectile vomited many, many times which hurts like hell when you have just had abdominal surgery I will be having this discussion with consultant but just wondered if there are any alternatives that give the same level of pain relief?

Im a nurse and in my hospital there is a drug called oxycontin which we use as an alternative to morphine but Im not sure if they use it in pregnancy tho.

I react badly to morphine- my midwife arranged a meeting with a consultant anaesthetist before my due date to discuss options.

He wrote a plan and stuck a giant yellow sticker on the front of my notes to make sure his team was notified when I was admitted.

It was very reassuring knowing it was all arranged, and I wouldn't need to fight to refuse drugs at a vulnerable time.

Apparently intravenous paracetamol is very effective and safe, and a good option for those of us who can't have opiates.

It's worth knowing that some epidurals have an opiate in them, I had a non-standard one arranged which was brought in to the delivery room when I arrived (wasn't needed in the end but was good to know that the right one was there if it was needed).

Have you had a chance to raise this with your midwife?

See my consultant in a couple of weeks to fill in all the paperwork re the section so will make a point of asking for alternatives then.

I had a hideous time with IV morphine during my first CS. I was hallucinating and vomiting for the first 24 hours of DS's life. For my second CS I did say to the anaesthetist that I'd rather not have the same again so he put the morphine in my epidural - exactly the same thing happened though - thought I was in Timbuctu for hours and just as much throwing up too :-(

I'm pg with no. 3 now and will be having another CS. I'm also wondering if there's an alternative so will be watching this thread with interest!

Xalla, if I remember right, the anaesthetist said it was easy to use alternative non opioid drugs during a CS but would be more difficult to control the pain post-op. Personally I'd rather be eaten alive by a tiger than suffer the 3 days of hallucinations, paranoia and vomiting I get when I have opiates, so I told the anaesthetist I'd be happy with more pain... However, I have no experience of cs so you may well come to a different conclusion.

speak to your consultant hun. I have a meeting with the anaesthetist at 34 weeks as I am violently allergic to codeine and there is a fair chance I will react to pethidine in the same way as they are closely related, combined with asthma which makes entenox a possible no no I could be in for a fun labour! I am hoping there are some non opiate alternatives but if the hospital know about your morphine issue they should refer you for an anaesthetic review as standard.

Good Luck