Diamorphine? pethidine..pain relief?

[MissMartin10]

I've got a long way to go yet and always said ill never have a epidural so ive been looking at other pain relief, has anyone got any experience of diamorphine or pethidine and What did it enthrall? would you have it again ect?
Thanks x

Pethidine was delicious. But I only had it to help me sleep when I was in early labour (after being induced).

I didn't like prejudice. It didn't touch the pain but made me incapable of doing anything about it! I just wanted to be left alone to die-or as I suggested, if they could just phone my daddy then he'd come and get me and take me home!

Prejudice! Damn kindle! Pethidine!!

I hated Pethadine, made me really confused, I couldn't focus on anything, and I didnt understand what the midwives were telling me.

It also affected DS a bit I think - he didnt cry at all until the next morning, was so placcid! Thankfully feeding was unaffected, so maybe if you want a good nights sleep first night, use pethadine

Gas and air, on the other hand, was bloody marvellous.

I had diamorphine with dd and I felt right out my tree !

With ds I had pethidine and felt much more with it . Thank goodness because he was born 10 minutes after the injection or I'd have been right out of it for the first few hours of his life !

I had diamorphine. It made me feel "out of it" and sleepy inbetween contractions but I still felt all of the pain. DS was very sleepy for hours after he was born. I'll avoid it this time around but at the time I was on the synto drip, waters broken and ds was back to back- They refused my requests screams for an epidural so it was the only pain relief on offer. I would have taken anything at that point.

Pethedine didn't stop my pain but it stopped me caring about it iyswim. I drive my dh mad asking the same thing over and over. Saying that I did the same on G&A.

I had pethedine fairly early on but it still managed to cross the placenta and dd1 was very drowsy for 3 days, it was a nightmare trying to get her breastfeeding and she lost a fair amount of weight. They think it was the pethedine.

I probably wouldn't have it again. Saying that I couldn't do it on just gas and air. I tried with dd2 but ended up on a pda morphine drip (not a live birth so not available for you I'm afraid)

Next time depending on anxiety I may have a planned c-section alternatively I'd try in water, I've heard loads about how great water is.

nicky, I was in your situation. Decided I wanted an epidural and a section. The only way I could get it was by withdrawing my consent for the synto drip so it was removed and labour stopped. Waters had broken, so they had to get the baby out some how.

I was talked into pethadine with DD even though I said I didn't want it. I had had it in pregnancy as I was in severe pain with a blood clot on my lung and it made me really sick. It made me really sick again but thankfully wore off for pushing. DD was really sleepy from it too.

I had gas and air in the early stages with DC2, I tried water but it worked too well and stopped my contractions so had nothing for the rest of labour.

I had gas and air for pushing DC3 I found it helped me concentrate on my breathing.

I had nothing for Dc4 as we didn't get to hospital in time!

I could've written milkmachine 's post! Pethidine gave me a chance to rest once I was admitted after 5 days of slow labour and barely any sleep. It was amazing. Then once it had worn off I got in the pool for a water birth assisted by gas and air. The water was best pain relief as I couldn't get comfortable any other way. Gas and air made me more "out of it" than pethidine. But OP you just have to go with the flow and see what your labour is like. Mine was back to back and took ~6 days, yours might be quick, might be complicated, try not to give yourself strict expectations.

My hospital didn't do pethidine.
The pool slowed my labour down and did nothing for my pain.
Diamorphine made me vomit and made me sleep and slowed down my labour.
My tens machine was pretty good. What I really wanted was an epidural but couldn't have one as it was too busy.

I live in Germany, they don't offer pethidine or diawhatever here, and I've never been offered gas & air either, although I've heard that it's being introduced. I also have never met anyone here who has had use of a tens machine (or even heard of them). I was never advised paracetemol. Basically, pain relief options are water, aromatherapy, and then epidural. It sounds harsh, but to be honest, I'm not sure it makes much difference - anecdotally, roughly the same proportion of births here are with an epidural as in the UK. Which make me wonder if pethidine, gas & air et al are really that necessary? I was lucky, had quick labours with mine so didn't need anything, but it seems to me that if labour is very slow and/or the pain unbearable, then an epidural seems to be the best choice.

willnot epidural has been shown to be more likely to lead to further surgical intervention (emcs) so your post is a bit ill-informed. Also get off your high horse, lots of replies here refer to long labours, of course your experience of pain in childbirth is different if you had straightforward quick labours.

I had just gas & air for my 1st dd and was very long and painful labour ended up with forceps - wish I would have had better pain relief in hindsight, (it was my fault/choice!) with dd2 I had diamorphine and really helped - it doesn't stop the pain but does make you give less of a shit about the pain! With dd3 I had diamorphine but was probs about almost fully dilated by the time I had it which was probs too late this was because delivery suite was stuffed to the brim I was on the labour ward in a bay with just a curtain round with other people in the bay with visitors etc - no gas n air as it's not plumbed in on the wards - (although they could have brought me a portable one if they had the correct number of staff on the shift - they were dangerously understaffed) anyway no adverse effects on dd3 breastfed fine although on first videos of her after I sound like I'm pissed!
With ds I had gas and air by the time I was begging for diamorphine they said your baby will be here very soon which indeed they were right and he was born quite quickly and would have been too late to have it he was here in the time it would have took to kick in but was absolutely the most painful one out of the lot and has defo completed my family!. So in summary I would say diamorphine is effective but as long as you have it at the right time - which is hard to plan?!

bitta - I would agree with that. DD1 was 2.5 days. I went into labour in the evening , so when she arrived I had not slept for nearly 72 hours. My resilience was very very low. DD2 was no less or more painful. But it was 9 hours (again evening start though ). The difference was astounding.

bitta I don't really have an opinion, I just wondered what the difference the pain relief makes overall, since I don't know anyone over here who had access to the options that people get in the UK. I would have thought maybe that the epidural rate would be lower if the pain relief options were really effective? But I'm prepared to be wrong on that - and as I wrote, I know that I am lucky to have had quick labours and not needed pain relief or intervention ("lucky" in the sense that things went so fast, I couldn't have asked for an epidural even if there'd been time to give me one, not in the sense that I didn't feel pain!).

I didn't want pethidine purely incase the timing was wrong and dd was born quicker than predicted. If you can manage it I think the less drugs the better, not from some earth mother view but just because labour itself is exhausting without also being in the position of coming round, it just makes it quicker to recover. But, and it's a big but, if you're in labour a long time you'll be knackered anyway so it makes no odds. And there's also a big difference between tolerating intense pain for a very short period, and tolerating less intense pain over a long period when I imagine you'd be more likely to need relief. In terms of drug pain relief I think the best plan is to research them all, if any have possible consequences for you, rather than the neighbours cousins gardeners grandsons ex mil, that you want to avoid then discard them, but otherwise go in with the idea it all depends on how the labour goes.

When expecting dc1, I was told by my bosses (ones a surgeon, the other an anesthetist) to skip the pethidine and go straight for epidural as the pethidine "is a shit painkiller" they were right :)

In many countries the only option is epidural. I'm glad I left the UK before having my baby because there's a weird stigma around getting an epi there that I don't like. People seem to be proud that they didn't have one. I'm not sure when making medical choices bragging rights should be a factor. I'm not sure what I will use but I'm open to all options including epi and any other interventions.

I had a long labour and was shattered. Requested pethadine so I could get some rest and so that DH could snooze too. It actually speeded up my dilation (maybe that would happen anyway). Ended up with EMCS due to DS heart rate going very low before I was ready to push. It kept me chilled out but didn't stop me refusing a high forseps delivery.
Absolutely no effect on my milk which came on on day 2

I didn't want anything either.

I bought a tens machine and did hypno breathing.
I was unfortunate to have a very long early labour with dd1 where she was back to back with was, not going to lie, excruciating. I would have taken anything they offered me 36 hours in but they told me I wasn't in active labour yet so wouldn't even give me gas and air. Luckily once I got past 4cm it suddenly went very quickly and I delivered within 3 hours. Once they got me the gas and air I was fine. Loved it

Dd2 was totally different as she was in a good position. Got to 10cm with nothing ( home birth and mw hadn't arrived yet lol). Had pool and gas and air for delivery.
Pool was fantastic.

I think what I'm trying to say is my labours were so different due to the size and position of the baby. With dd1 I would have taken anything at one point but I'm glad I didn't get it as I was able to power through due to my active labour being so short.
My second labour there was only maybe an hour where I struggled and I never felt I needed heavy pain relief.

It's worth bearing in mind that if you're induced and need the drip then an epidural may be necessary. I was petrified of epidurals but accepted that if induction was necessary then I was probably going to need one. X

I love pethidine.

I LOVE pethidine.

Go for remiphentanal if your hospital offers it

It's fab, very short acting so your only out of it for the length of the contraction. You control it as you press the button when you want a hit of it. I was able to hold a normal conversation with MW during each contraction and fully aware of what was going on yet the pain relief was amazing.

3 c-sections (not by choice).

Latest baby was delivered and looking to start eating while they were still stitching me up. No trouble with milk. In fact, baby born 5 and abut pounds and lost almost nothing during first 4 days in hospital. Had put on 4.4 pounds in 6 weeks!

(But, of course, everyone is different. I also LOVE morphine & tramadol. Perhaps I just like being high...)

I should of said most hospitals do offer remiphentanal but just keep quiet about it as its expensive, you will need to request it, it's unlikely to be offered to you without you asking for it.