Consider the long term side effects of the epidural. Learn about other pain management options wh...
Credit: JakeCampbe | ©JakeCampbe
My Experience of Having an Epidural and the Effects Years Later
Whenever a woman finds out she is pregnant it seems to start her and everyone else to think about the labor and delivery.I bet I was asked a thousand times about my plans for delivery and would I choose to have an epidural. I was afraid of the epidural so I strongly stated my answer of No!! I was going to tough out the pain of labor and childbirth. After all our mothers did it and never had any type pain relief so why couldn’t I? Through out my pregnancy I heard how great the epidural could be, how it made all the pain go away. I did my research on the epidural and what it entailed, but I was still committed to having a natural birth. This was until I found myself in labor for three days straight. On the third day I finally gave in, I remember how scared I was. I asked the nurse if it would be that bad and she said no it would be fine. So I agreed to have the epidural ,I would of agreed to chopping off my legs if it made the pain go away at that time.The anesthesiologist came in and prepped me for the epidural. I remember him saying for me to sit as still as I could. Obviously this was a man who had never felt any type of pain near to what I was experiencing. I did my best and he got the epidural in place. I had never felt anything more uncomfortable then when he inserted the needle into my back. Once he had finished with the epidural he told me I should begin to feel relief from the pain within a few minutes. I waited and waited but the pain was getting worse. When they came back to see if the epidural had worked I made them aware it hadn’t helped at all .So the anesthesiologist came in again and said he must of not hit the exact spot he needed to and he would try again. Great now I had to sit still and have him poke me in the back some more. I agreed to this torture once more and hoped for the great pain relief they kept promising me. This time once the epidural was in place my right leg begin to feel numb, I thought Hallelujah it was going to work.
Comments
Jody
(Guest)
(Guest)
11/10/2009
To Steve.. I understand that healthcare is a two way street... however, physicians DO NOT inform pregnant women of the side effects of the epidural. With my first child I read every book and online article you can find and NEVER found anything about side effect warnings of the epidural.. My physician/midwives at a Catholic hospital, where they encourage everything natural DID NOT tell me about any side effects of an epidural. Because of an emergency C-section I had to have an it and I have the same side effects of every female who has responded to this article. We PAY thousands of dollars for our OB's advice.. we should be informed then about any long-term effects will change your life.. yes, CHANGE YOUR LIFE, try carrying your son around when you have sharp, excrutiating pain shooting up your spine. Or try being patient with your screaming newborn when you have a splitting headache. Or bending over the bathtub to bathe your child when your lower back aches horribly. I exercise daily,
Steve
(Guest)
(Guest)
10/23/2009
Please talk to your doctor and don't rely on an anecdote from a single person when it comes to medical advice. It's not responsible to make such a bold claim attributing new back pain an epidural done several years earlier.
Take responsibilty for your health. Healthcare is a two way street. It involves both a patient and a provider. It's just as much a patient's responsiblity to educate themself as it for the provider to educate them.
The reponses to this article highlight how uninformed so many people are.
It's an epidural. It's not going to just going to make your vagina and uterus numb. Everything from the site of injection down is going to be numb, including your legs. It's also not going to wear off the moment your child is delivered. It's medicine, not magic. Don't have unrealistic expectations.
Amber
(Guest)
(Guest)
06/12/2009
WOW...ok so I am a stay home mom of 5. I had natural births with 4. I dont know if its just the being over 30, or that I was just a baby with this last child. But I opted for an epidural with my now 5 week old son after 4 hours pitocin and nothing happening for labor to begin. Now I have a radiating pain in my back around the site where my epidural was done. Also during labor my right leg was completely numb and it took nearly 5 hours after birth for me to regain enough feeling in my leg to be able to walk to use the restroom or get into a wheelchair to be moved out of my birthing room! All I can say is THANK YOU for posting your story I will be bringing this to the attention of my doctor at my next appointment!
Kerry
(Guest)
(Guest)
03/22/2009
This comment is for Heather B.
Your comment for this post:-
Let me explain something to you firstly about:
1.Women need to know this.
?? come on i have had 2 epidurals please read my comment i posted before.. Doctors do explain all about the epidural before you have it.
2. Epidurals can have long-lasting side effects on the mother, and they increase the chances of a child having breathing problems at birth.
Doctors also axplain what it does to your baby...
3.I don't know why doctors still consider them safe to use at any woman's request, regardless of medical history.
They are safe... you and your baby are still here arnt you? you should be PROUD and NOT COMPLAINING. if it was not SAFE, DOCTORS WOULD NOT USE IT.
4. I personally feel women should be fully informed of the risks and encouraged to labor without one if possible, but not denied one if they truly want it. The doctors where i come from try to make you have your baby natural, with some pain reli
Kerry
(Guest)
(Guest)
03/22/2009
I had my 2nd son via c-section and epidural 2 years ago. after leaving the hospital and arriving home, I was experiencing a 'stabbing/grabbing sensation in my left leg. It would cramp and make me nearly cry from the pain i was experiencing. Also where the cathater was inserted i was having a great deal of pain. I suggested to go back and make a doctors appointment, they told me that it was all natural, when i know for certain its not meant to be... So i just walked away and knew something had to be wrong , but left it at that.. Now two years later i still get horrid backpain, my leg is still numb and i mean really numb you can pinch me or hit me in that spot and i cannot feel a thing.. i still get the cramps and so on.... I think something should be done, its not natural.
linda cobb
(Guest)
(Guest)
03/14/2009
I had my Daughter in 1990, I also opted for an epidural for the pain, as a result I had to have a c, section, now 19 years later, I am suffering the awful after effects, I was diagnosed with restless leg syndrome quite a few years ago, and have been on all sorts of medication from my G.P.all to no prevail, nothing helps, I was so glad when I read your article about what the side effects are of the epidural, I also suffered with panic attacks and depression after mine,Im glad at last to find I am not alone in this.
Thank you for writing this. Women need to know this. Epidurals can have long-lasting side effects on the mother, and they increase the chances of a child having breathing problems at birth. I don't know why doctors still consider them safe to use at any woman's request, regardless of medical history. I personally feel women should be fully informed of the risks and encouraged to labor without one if possible, but not denied one if they truly want it.
christie
(Guest)
(Guest)
01/30/2007
i have had 4 epidurals in a fifthteen years. i now and for the last several years have had the back pain. and also have the severe pain and cramping in my legs. the doctors are calling it restless leg sydrome but all the medicine they give does not work. i will bring this to my doctors attention. and see if this is what is causing my problems. thank you for sharing your story
just read this and it sounds a lot like what happened to me. They never reinserted mine, but kept giving me more and more of it because it was not working. My legs were numb but I could feel everything in my stomach. It finally did kick it after I threw up a bunch and at least I didn't feel the pushing part. If I have another child I will go natural. I had to feel all the pain anyway, so why have an epidural that I am still paying for financially and with back pain.
Thanks for sharing this with us. As for me, yes I did have an epidural with my daughter. Although it worked right away and lasted forever (hours after her birth), I am suffering from it now. I chose not to have an epidural with my boys, and thank God I didn't. Who knows what pain I would have to endure now by having the epidural.
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