Did you have morphine for pain relief after your c section?

[Cinai2]

I think some hospitals seem to use it, others don’t. Did you have it / needed it / any side effects?

I had tramadol, and then paracetamol.

Ive had four c sections and had morphine for at least 2 days with each one.

I went under general so woke up on morphine, and had it for the day after. Then got switched to paracetamol and ibuprofen 😂 somehow it worked out like that both times even though I was in different countries. No spinals

Heavenly drug.. but the first poo was like birthing another baby!

Nope. And when struggling really badly a few hours after the op being told by a (male) doctor that a c-section "isn't that painful".

Also my morphine was a button I just clicked.. amazing!

I think its an absolute joke that after major abdominal surgery you are expected to cope with paracetamol and anti inflammatory! Yet if you had your appendix out you would be given more!

Haven't had a C section, but gave birth with pethidine- {Failed epidural} pethidine made me so zonked and affected DS who was so sleepy afterwards..I felt I'd missed his birth - as so unreal and zoned out.

Constipation from Morphine is horrendous, but as there won't be any perineal stitches, it oughtn't be so painful! {Had it for a spinal op}

Morphine is very pleasant- less stupefying than Pethidine.

My friend had Diamorphine for a birth pain relief. Was alert.

#1 was diamorphine during the procedure (combined spinal-epidural for that one) and they gave me something else the first day and then diclofenac and co-dydramol. (I believe I am dating myself with this one!)

#2 and 3 were another country. Duramorph in the spinal, a dose of toradol when that wore off, and then Percocet (roughly equivalent to co-dydramol) alternating with ibuprofen. Since the crackdown on opioids here which has frankly got paranoid I have heard of OBs not giving Percocet at all. I only needed it a few days.

Anaesthetist

All patients get diamorphine in the spinal (stronger version of morphine)...unless there's a national shortage again, then fentanyl +/- morphine

Post op
Regular
Paracetamol
Ibuprofen
Dihydrocodeine (like codeine but safe for breast feeding unlike normal codeine)

As required oromorph (liquid morphine) that you can request by ur buzzer as needed every 2-4h ontop

You go home with dihydrocodeine as a script, Paracetamol and Ibuprofen you have to purchase yourself (occasionally trusts will give a script for it but cost cutting normally means have to buy your own

We prescribe exactly the same as required medication for both surgeries so not sure what your on about.

Csections are less painful afterwards as more superficial surgery and have spinal opiates which aren't given for appendix ops

Yes, fantastic stuff, just took all the pain away and left me feeling calm and relaxed.

I had one dose of oramorph, but it made me very sick so managed with paracetamol after that. Was fine actually.

Anaesthetists don't really deem pethidine a painkiller we would never use it as a drug..it's used commonly on labour ward as midwives can give it without a prescription, it more just makes people spaced out so they don't really remember the pain rather than genuinely removing pain... and makes people quite pukey.

General anaesthetic csections (rare only if baby is so distressed no time for a spinal or mum has a brain or spinal cord reason to not be allowed one) will get a PCA (patient controlled analgesia device) where it gives iv morphine via a patient controlled button as GA csections are a lot more painful post op than spinal/epidural csections

Yes I had morphine via oral syringe a few times while in the hospital (tasted like red bull to me which was weird) It did really help make the pain manageable but I did notice at one point that my speech was slurred when I was talking. It took me by surprise because I didn't feel particularly out of it or anything.

I'm having a c section next month and hoping it will be offered again while I'm in hospital.

This makes me feel quite tearful
Thanks you so much for replying.
I had an epidural that wasn't working, {Made top of left thigh numb, but nothing else}

They gave pethidine which was horrible.

It didn't kill the pain, made it feel far off, like down a red tunnel. and like I'd missed the birth of son.

That's the one thing I regret, having the pethidine!

Edit: Not pukey, thankfully, That would have added insult to injury! {Pethidine}

Thanks for explaining @Destiny123 Is Morphine always given orally, unless it was a GA section? Do I wait until the pain is unbearable before I request it, or should I ask for it earlier?

Sorry to hear, it's one of the reasons when I come to chat pain relief I skim over it as it is an option as patient choice but there's other options I'd recommend more

It's a shame the epidural didn't work, they're normally fantastic (you will very rarely have an anaesthetist give birth without one!) But unfortunately have a 1in10 failure rate. Normally we can fix the wonkyness but sometimes you have to remove it and resite it (the end of the plastic tube has 3 small holes that the anaesthetic sprays out of... sometimes they're just abutting a vertebrae so don't spray evenly out the end or are a bit clogged)

Don't let it put you off an epidural in future though, just ask for it early in labour as it's much easier to sit in the annoying position when having less painful contractions and more gsp between them x

I did with my 1 c section 23 yes ago - 2 doses. I didn't with my c section 3 yrs ago - just ibuprofen and paracetamol after the spinal wore off.

@Destiny123 well ive had both ops and c sections were definitely far more painful than the appendix op!

Paracetamol for first nothing was offered for the second and I was really poorly both times and in hospital for a week .
I did ask for ibuprofen at one point and a midwife told me I didn't need it .
But then she also made me get a shower not long after the c section and I nearly passed out then had two blood transfusions as I lost so much blood .
She was then really angry at me because she got told off .
I don't get why they don't allow better pain medication. It is a major operation at the end of the day . And if they do offer better things now then that's great . Especially for the first 48 hours after .

Yep. Everyone who has anaesthetic input should be seen by us the next day, I'm often pestering midwives to give the prescribed medication if the woman's in pain when I see them

Thank you, Destiny.
The lovely anaesthetist did try and ''do it again'', to no avail - My birthing days are over, but so useful for women who are still wanting children to know this.

My friends who had C sections all had impeccable epidurals, and were clear headed.

It does but in tiny tiny quantities, it's totally safe for breast feeding. Very rarely does it make baby a little sleepy, but not enough to be an issue in the doses we prescribe

My little chitchat in recovery is "we write you up for lots of pain killers, they are all breast feeding safe, if you choose to do so, take them regularly, even if you have no pain as it is better to stay ontop of pain than try to catch up with it afterwards. The midwives will offer you medicines every couple of hours, say yes to everything they offer you, and if it's not enough, buzz your buzzer and ask for the liquid morphine, which you can have every 4h"

We won't routinely leave epidurals in postop/delivery unless there's a concern re clotting/significant blood loss, as its an infection risk. It's rare to do so, I've maybe done it in 20 patients in 6 years