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What is an Epidural and what are the side effects?
An Epidural refers to the process in which an anesthesia is injected into a part of the spine known as the epidural space. An epidural is often used during childbirth to block the transmission of pain signals to the brain.
There are a variety of side effects that can occur with an epidural. The three main side effects include:- A loss of muscle power-this does make pushing difficult because you cannot feel to push down.
- A loss of sensation in other areas of the body-you will typically not be able to feel anything below your sternum which, as mentioned previously, makes pushing difficult.
- A loss of function in the sympathetic nervous system, which can affect blood pressure-this will make some people faint. In which case they will roll you on your left side to raise your blood pressure and sometimes administer Ephedrine to get your heart pumping faster.
There are also a variety of safety risks that can occur with an epidural. You will notice that the extreme risks are rare. These include:- An accidental puncture of the dural space--If the dural space is punctured, this can lead to prolonged headache that lasts for days, weeks, or months. This puncture can generally be treated, although most will resolve by themselves. This occurs in around 1% of people who have an epidural.
- A bloody tap--This refers to an injury of a vein with the epidural needle. Generally speaking, the vein will clot and there will be no other problems.
- Failure of the block--In about 5% of cases, the pain relief will not be adequate. In these cases, another epidural is generally administered.
- Placement of the catheter in a vein--If the catheter that delivers the anesthetic is placed into a vein, the anesthetic may be injected intravenously, which can be toxic.
- Nervous system damage--In some cases, an epidural may damage the nervous system. This occurs in around 1 out of every 10,000 cases.
- Formation of an abscess--This occurs in about 1 out of every 50,000 cases.
- Paralysis or paraplegia--Occurs in about 1 out of 100,000 cases.
- Death--This is extremely rare, occurring less than 1 in 100,000 cases.
Because of these risks, many women have chosen to use either different medications or even non-medical pain management techniques to manage their pain during labor. This was not my choice and I am glad. I chose to have the epidural and I enjoyed the birth of both of my children because I was not clouded with pain.
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