epidural question?

Question

hello i was wondering dose anyone know what are some bad side affects with having an epidural? i always here the good things like no pain but i would like to here the bad

Answer 1

Well I have had headaches following an epidural. And after my first epidural, I have had occasional back spasms that run up the length of my spine.

I've had 5 children with 4 epidurals. The other child was born with an intrathecal. The intrathecal wore off and my son was born natural. I liked that method much more than the epidurals.

Choice is yours though. God Bless and Best wishes...

Answer 2

When I had induced labor with my 12 y/o daughter I had an epidural that I was told had not centered properly in my spine, so what ended up happening is that one side of my body-including my private area - was not affected and the other side was. It was very creepy because I felt severe pain only on one side and it was all new to me because with my eldest daughter I had by emergency C-Section and believe had a spinal tap that paralyzed me from the arm pits down.
I do recommend the epidural over the spinal tap because I had allergic reaction to the 'tap' and started having seizures after the surgery which I never experienced before that time.
Most doctors know what they are doing and I felt like it was a fluke and that the majority of the time epidurals ARE done properly.
With my third child (son), I had most of my labor at home and arrived at the hospital too late to be prepared for an epidural. It was intense, but I am glad that I was able to experience natural child-birth since with my fourth/last child (girl) had to be born by C-Section. The epidural wasn't as difficult I believe because I was more mature this time and knew what was going to happen even though I was more nervous for my daughter because I started bleeding after my water broke also I wasn't dilating and only cared about the doctors getting her out.

Answer 3

When I had my son 8 months ago I had a epidural. And when I finally had my epidural they explained to me that there was not alot of bad side effects of having an epidural. The doctor told me that if he busted a vein in my back, the worst that could result from that was bad headaches. And that could be fixed with placing blood into your back. But other than that I have not heard of too many things going wrong with recieving an epidural. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Is this for a vaginal birth or c-section?

I had an epidural for my c-section. My father is a physician and he said that he never had heard of anyone going through what I did. My ob/gyn and the anesthesiologist also agreed.

My epidural came out and stopped working right in the middle of the procedure. As soon as they got my daughter out, they had to put me under. In the midst of that ordeal, the medication from the epidural and the general anesthetic caused me to stop breathing. Everything turned out okay, but I am a little apprehensive about my c-section that I will be having in August.

My suggestion is that you have a VERY good anesthesiologist.

This is VERY VERY uncommon.

Headaches after can be a side affect.

Good luck.

Answer 5

The major one that scared me enough to have two naturally born children was getting a spinal headache. (I learned this from my birthing classes at my local hospital)

If the anesthesiologist missed and inserts the needle into your spine incorrectly, it can drain your spinal fluid so that your brain no longer floats correctly in your skull. It is supposedly pain so bad that you can't even function at basic levels (let alone care for a newborn baby). You would have to go back to the hospital so that they put a patch on your spinal leak to fix it. I want to say that the likelihood of it happening were 1 in 100. Those odds sounded too high for me, and after speaking to a co-worker who had it happen to her, I swore I wouldn't have an epidural.

Oh, two other things - Your baby will be born lethargic from the drugs used during the epidural (Pretty frustrating when you consider how you wondered if you should really take Tylenol all through your pregnancy). And, you will be bed ridden throughout your entire labor because your lower body will be numb. As any doctor will tell you, a "walking epidural" is a misnomer.

Besides, I figured that millions of women had given birth without the option. What was good enough for my mother and grandmother was good enough for me. It was one of those life experiences that you can check off your list. Be strong! Go natural. Good luck!

Answer 6

A work collegues daughter had an epidural and it left her parylaysed. It was havoc for the whole family, the mother had to give up work to look after her invalid daughter and new born son.

The daughter could not even hold the baby to breast feed. That happened 3 years ago.

I have given birth naturally twice. My friends who have gone epidural or c-section seem to have all fallen into a great depression that lasted for about 6 months after the birth. I am not sure why - this is just an observation.

Very few of my friends gave birth naturally, but those who did were sparky and on top of things within 24 hours.

(I was trying to get out of hospital within 4 hour of giving birth :))

Maybe it comes down to attitude?

Answer 7

With the ones that I had, I threw up once after having them. The nurse said that it was a normal side effect. Funny thing was that I only got sick once with each child that I delivered. I would get the epidural, then about an hour or so later I would get really sick, throw up, then I was fine. Other than that, nothing else ever happened.

Answer 8

Unfortunately, there can be permanent nerve damage(and VERY Rarely, a risk of paralysis). Perfect example: I have a friend who had an epidural and wound up with restless legs syndrome as a result of the needle slipping and messing up some nerve back there. And you can't sue if they mess up because they explain the dangers verbally first then make you sign a waiver saying you can't sue if anything bad happens. I had natural childbirth, and it didn't even hurt! Think about it 1st!

Answer 9

You can have paralysis if they do it wrong....don't worry about the bads though....I had several (had a c section), and I'm okay..if you worry too much, your labor will be worse. Also, I can almost guarantee that when you are in labor, you won't care. I wanted to be given everything available when I was only dialated 2 centimeters. Your fears for things like epidurals will probably cease at the moment of labor pains.

Answer 10

The anestheologist will give you every single negative side effect, including paralysis and death...only because they have to disclose EVERY single side effect. The only side effect I had (two epidurals) was a sore back for a couple of days after delivery. I could have taken Motrin (I think!) as a painkiller, but I refused because I didn't want to take any medications as I was breastfeeding...even though they told me it would be safe.