problems after getting epidural. Please help.?

Question

well its been almost 8 months since i gave birth to my beautiful daughter. But the problem is that i have been having really bad leg problems since right after my pregnancy. Right after my pregnancy it was so hard for me to walk. it was so hard to move my legs. but the doctors said it was because my body had to get back to normal from the stretching inside my body. Well, i guess meaning that when you give birth to a baby your body inside stretches. The doctors told me that the pain would go away, but it hasent. The pain is mostly in my right leg and sometimes its so hard for me to walk. I was gonna go to the doctor but i switched my medical insurance so i havent gone yet. I would like to get opinions. I had got an epidural but sometimes i think the pain came from being young when i gave birth to my daughter which i was 18 or that i didnt exercise birthing methods while i was pregnant. someone help me. serious answers please.

Answer 1

I am sorry you believe you may be having complications from the epidural. It is more common than most people think. You need to read the list of complications toward the bottom of the page here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidural

It does say that chronic back pain or nerve damage has not been proven to be a direct result of the epidural but I've heard this complaint from quite a few women. You really need to go see a specialist who can give you some answers.

More good threads here with a few people who said they have back or nerve pain as well:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060810114647AADGgdB
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060816004133AAtbJdc
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060704212237AAw1Fy7

Answer 2

I seem to have a very similar problem. Instead of my legs being affected its my back. When I had my epidural the anaethatist missed 3 times before finding the correct spot in my spine. I suffer constantly from a very bad back and am constantly in pain! The doctor has told me that I have to have chiropractic help. I haven't yet gone for this because you have to seem the chiropractor at least twice a week and they are very expensive and my medical aid does not cover this. I am convinced that the anaethatist caused this because with my first epidural I never suffered this badly!!!!

Answer 3

I had my epidural when I had to have a c section for twins. This was 3 yrs. ago Oct. I still have back pain that I never had before the epi., so painful sometimes that I can't stand from a sitting position. I've found the best thing I can do is sit on the floor and stretch my back out. Hope you find relief.

Answer 4

Depending on where they put in your epidural this could have hit a nerve that affects your leg. Chiropractic care may help, also Yoga - you need to rebalance. Not all in your mind - this has happened to friends' before and that's why I chose not to have epidural with my two. Hope you get some relief soon.

Answer 5

I'd say its the epidural but Im not a doctor..You really do need to go and get it looked out..Just to be on the safe side..
I know that some people get really bad headaches after an epidural..
Best of luck to you :)

Answer 6

The Side effects
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In addition to blocking the nerves which carry pain, local anaesthetic drugs in the epidural space will block other types of nerves as well, in a dose-dependent manner. Depending on the drug and dose used, the effects may last only a few minutes or up to several hours. This results in three main effects:

Loss of other modalities of sensation (including touch, and proprioception)

Loss of muscle power

Loss of function of the sympathetic nervous system, which controls blood pressure

Pain nerves are most sensitive to the effects of the epidural. This means that a good epidural can provide analgesia without affecting muscle power or other types of sensation. The larger the dose used, the more likely it is that the side-effects will be problematic.

For example, a labouring woman may have an epidural running during labour which is providing good analgesia without impairing her ability to move around in bed. She requires a Caesarean section, and is given a large dose of epidural bupivacaine. After a few minutes, she can no longer move her legs, or feel her abdomen. Her blood pressure is noted to be lower and she is given an intravenous infusion of ephedrine or phenylephrine to compensate. During the operation, she feels no pain.

Very large doses of epidural anaesthetic can cause paralysis of the intercostal muscles and diaphragm (which are responsible for breathing), and complete loss of sympathetic function, even to the heart itself, causing a profound drop in heart rate and blood pressure. This requires emergency treatment, and usually general anaesthesia. This happens because the block height is too high ("high block") and the epidural is blocking the heart's own sympathetic nerves, as well as the phrenic nerves, which supply the diaphragm.

It is considered safe practice for all patients with epidurals to be confined to bed to prevent the risk of falls.

The loss of the sensation of needing to urinate may require the placement of a urinary catheter for the duration of the epidural.

Opioid drugs in the epidural space are very safe (as well as effective). However, very large doses may cause troublesome itch, and rarely, delayed respiratory depression.


Other concerns
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Back pain is occasionally reported after epidural insertion, and the epidural may be blamed. However, there is no good evidence linking epidural insertion to back pain. In women who have recently given birth, the incidence of back pain in those who had epidurals is not different from those who did not.

Occasionally, spurious studies appear which suggest that epidural analgesia during childbirth is responsible for behavioural problems in the baby, such as delay in establishment of breast feeding. The evidence for such conclusions is extremely poor.

Answer 7

I have hips problem after giving birth to my son (hv epidural as well). I went for body message and do body stretching (no heavy execrise), it did help me to improve a lot. In Singapore, we practise post natal message and I find it very helpful for our tired body.

Answer 8

GUESS WHAT... MY DAUGTHER IS 7 AND I AM STILL HAVING BACK PAINS.