Spinal Headache

Atlasmom

Did any of you get a spinal headache after having an epidural? If so how long did it last and how bad was it?

I'm a FTM and I was pretty set on the epidural at the recommendation of my doc since early (for reasons other than labor pain) but after having my prenatal class I'm worried about the spinal headache. I had a spinal tap years ago and it gave me a spinal headache. It was the worst experience of my life and I very well wanted to die. I couldn't imagine going through that with a newborn or missing out on bonding with my baby because of it.

I don't know what to do now.

WDDCH

My SIL did and she had to go back and have them reinsert the epidural?! I'm not entirely sure about all the details. But hers screwed up a lot of things.

I've had two epidurals without an issue. But I hated them for personal reasons and chose to opt out my following three births. Just because two of them were problem-free doesn't mean another would be without risk.

paine0925

My friend said hers lasted 10 days and she has to be in the hospital the entire time and couldn't even hold her baby it was so bad. There are LOTS of other options than an epidural -- talk to your doc or read up online, you have so many choices!!

momofsweetps

I did with #2 and it was horrible. Not sure how long it lasted but it took awhile. I didn't get an epidural again with my next 3.

LaurenNewph

One of my friends had one and there's a very routine procedure to fix it from what I understand. I believe there is also only about a 1% chance of you getting one.

thinkpink101

No headache but I did get chronic hives from the epidural, and I had pain by the injection site for several years.

cjstats87

I had a horrible 2 week long (2 blood patches to fix which is why I won't ever get one again) 3 er visits in those 2 weeks and I couldn't sit up not stand with out fainting from pain, and the only thing I did do was nurse baby it was actually the only way I felt like I could "help" with the kids was to have my hub or mom bring me baby every 2-3 hours to feed him otherwise I didn't do ANYTHING...it was horrible!! from what I understand (the Cheif of anstesia explained it all) you have a 40% chance of getting one with any epidural, if you have other issues you can have a higher % of it happening..like scoliosis, which is what I have. I can say me and my sister delivered in the same hospital 2 times each and both of us had our first go perfect and 2nd we got horrible headaches.

jwebbbber45678

My friend had one, the women giving her epidural botched the procedure and leaked spinal fluid. The epidural only half worked while she was in labor for hours and then she ended up having a c section. She had two blood patches to fix the spinal headache that occurred after. She was in the hospital for a week and absolutely miserable and often too sick/weak to hold her baby. I know these instances are very rare, but I decided at that moment that I wouldn't get an epidural. That and I'm terrified of needles! I'd also hate to be paralyzed and have a catheter.

adtaylor2015

I did not get a headache from the epidural. The only issue I had was that it wore off before I started pushing.

Bspauldo

About 3 years ago I needed a spinal tap to test for meningitis (negative, thank god) because I had a migraine lasting almost 3 months straight! but I ended up getting the lumbar puncture migraine from the epidural spinal tap and needed a blood patch done. It's actually not as uncommon as you think, some peoples epidural spots just close and heal up faster than others.

A lumbar puncture migraine is awful cause your head is literally pounding if you're doing anything other than laying flat.

Getting the epidural spinal tap was super easy and didn't hurt as bad as I was expecting but the aftermath of my hospital stay was awful because my veins basically collapsed and when I had the blood patch, the poor nurses couldn't get any blood from anywhere except behind my knees and my ankles.

As soon as I had the blood patch, within hours, my migraine was gone. You are just advised not to lift anything too heavy and to be careful moving around as to not pop out the patch.

I'm hoping for an all natural birth, but if I opt for an epidural because I can't take the pain, I know what go expect if I have a leak again.

Atlasmom

Bspauldo that was very close to my spinal tap experience. I had a migraine for almost two weeks that wouldn't respond to treatment. They were worried about meningitis because of the severity and also because of the Nile virus outbreak that was going on at that time. The test was negative thank god but the spinal headache I got after was worse than anything I've experienced in my life. At first I just thought my migraine had gotten worse but then I lost feeling in my neck and couldn't lift my head at all. I lived alone at the time and this was pre-cell phone era and I couldn't move from my bed and call anyone. I was really just waiting to die. It was years ago and thinking about it makes me want to puke. The headache went away on it's own after 7 days!

Statistics mean nothing to me. Just because people say it's rare or only happens to 1% doesn't mean I won't be in that 1%. With that said I think I rather tough out one day of pain vs. 10 or more.