Non-Epidural Pain Relief Medications for Labor (experiences from BTDT moms)

vampirina · July 2016

So we have a thread on BTDT moms who had an epidural, and I'm curious if any moms have used other pain meds (analgesics, sedatives, etc) to cope with labor and delivery and what your experiences with those medications are.

A few things to think about/share: What specific medications did you use? Were they effective? How did they help? Would you use them again? Did you use them alone or in conjunction with another medication? Was there any noticeable effect on your child and if so what was it? What made you decide to go with that medication over an Epidural?

ansley0319 · July 2016

@PoodleDoodleOoo GREAT question. I have been wondering this myself. I also asked my midwife if they administer a low dose epidural and she was like no, period.

If I may add to your question- If BTDT moms tried to avoid the epidural did you ultimately get one (if time/dr permitted) or do you wish you had? I'm so scared of my pain tolerance or lack of..

Sarafuss · July 2016

I don't have experience with pain meds other than an epidural. But I do remember asking about it while in labor with my first baby. I wasn't opposed to the epidural but was nervous about getting it and wanted to delay getting it because I was concerned that it might slow down my labor. The OB didn't encourage it because she explained that it likely wouldn't give me the amount of pain relief that I wanted and if I planned on an epidural anyway, to just go ahead with the epidural. But I think if you are planning on avoiding the epi then it could be a good option. My concern with IV pain meds is that it would make me drowsy, "out-of-it", nauseous, etc. which is how I react to taking oral pain meds like percocet. I've heard women who have had IV pain meds during labor say it made them "loopy" and sleepy and that's not what I want when I'm going to be meeting my baby. Just personal preference though.

Hopefully someone can answer who has first-hand experience!

kosmo86 · July 2016

I had a convo with my doc a few weeks ago and I kinda want to try to nitrous oxide. I planned to get the epi too but I want to use the nitrous to help me hold off on epi as long as possible (too avoid slowing down labor)

Since the nitrous is out of your system in a minute you can do both. With the nitrous you can also walk around, shower, use the balls, etc and are not stuck in bed the whole time.

OBMommy · July 2016

I'm so jealous, I want to try nitrous but our hospital won't be getting it until next year.

I've had deliveries with just Stadol and a delivery with Dilaudid followed by an epidural. The first dose of Stadol was great, it didn't take away my pain but I certainly didn't care that I had any and let me doze for an hour or so. The second dose of Stadol did absolutely nothing.

With my last delivery I had one dose of Dilaudid which makes you feel like you've had one too many margaritas. It was helpful, but not something they can give you close to delivery because it also makes baby sleepy. If they do give it close to delivery, it can prevent baby from breathing on their own until they administer Narcan (which does work almost immediately but it's scary to have a newborn not breathing for any reason). For that reason alone I'll probably get an epidural this delivery as well.

AnnaS930 · July 2016

I had nubaine. It really helped but made me feel a tiny bit tipsy... like a glass of wine, not so much mentally but physically . Only downside for me was it made me nauseous, but it ended up being the only med I needed and it wore off long before pushing and had no lasting effect on me or my state of mind. The nurses did warn me that if I needed a second dose women typically don't find subsequent doses to offer nearly as much relief.

Emmett came out fully alert and happy, no effect on him either... soared through all newborn testing.

jensou · July 2016

I also had nubain w my first kiddo. It was taking forever (so it seemed) and my Midwife suggested it as an option to get some rest because I was far enough along to not be sent home but not close enough to deliver for quite some time. It was great and did the trick. I don't remember feeling anything other than sleepy but was it the Nubain or just laboring for almost 24h? it was a shot in the arm if I remember correctly but that was over 17 years ago!

It had worn off by the time I was transitioning. But I was able to make it through and deliver - I was 19 years old. Baby was great and alert and had good APGARs. I felt in control the whole time and was able to do what I wanted / needed. Having a good midwife was a huge part of the success, IMHO.

drmh22 · July 2016

I only have experience with an epi, but I would like to avoid or at least greatly delay that this time.
I just asked today about nitrous oxide because that option seems awesome, but they don't offer it.

homebird · July 2016

I had some kind of IV medicine (stadol?) with my first delivery. HATED it. It made me feel high. Like, floating above myself, out-of-body experience. I could feel all the pain I just ... didn't care. It was very strange, and I felt very out-of-control. I wouldn't use that particular drug again, and thankfully my midwife hates it too. haha.

homebird · July 2016

ansley0319 said:

If I may add to your question- If BTDT moms tried to avoid the epidural did you ultimately get one (if time/dr permitted) or do you wish you had? I'm so scared of my pain tolerance or lack of..

I I swore with my daughter I wasn't going to get an epidural. But my labor was really long (35+ hours) and I was exhausted. I gave in and got an epidural at 5 cm (this was 20ish hours into labor) and it really was wonderful. I tried the second time to go as long as possible and I made it to 8 cm. So who knows this time!

I have a friend who I consider super-hippy, crunchy, granola (whatever you want to call it). She's basically supermom and I totally look up to her. I just assumed she went all natural, but turns out she didn't. She told me that "No one gives out medals for going all natural."

That's not to say that it's not a good thing to try. On the contrary, I give mad props to mamas who make it through on their own! But don't beat yourself up about it if you decide to get some relief too.

vampirina · July 2016

@homebird - that is essentially the approach I'm taking!

AnnaS930 · July 2016

I went in planning to have one, but wanted to be upright and mobile for as much of labor as possible so I just kept going to see how far I could get. Never ended up getting it (but labor only got bad near end), no excuses but will still consider it an option this time. It's nbd to me

hey_clever_girl · August 2016

PoodleDoodleOoo said:

So we have a thread on BTDT moms who had an epidural, and I'm curious if any moms have used other pain meds (analgesics, sedatives, etc) to cope with labor and delivery and what your experiences with those medications are.

A few things to think about/share: What specific medications did you use? Were they effective? How did they help? Would you use them again? Did you use them alone or in conjunction with another medication? Was there any noticeable effect on your child and if so what was it? What made you decide to go with that medication over an Epidural?

I had IV pain meds (I do not remember the name anymore. Maybe Stadol?) and I do NOT recommend it. At ALL. It made me so loopy that I barely remember the first hour post-delivery. Also, with the one they used on me, the nurse mentioned that if baby came within so many hours of it being administered she would have to be monitored briefly in the NICU. That ended up not being the case, but I still remember she told me it was a possibility.

I also ended up with an epidural, which was fine, but I didn't like being stuck on the bed because of it.

If you want pain management, I would lean more toward epidural. I would NOT recommend any kind of sedative or other IV pain meds. I hate that I was so groggy.

hey_clever_girl · August 2016

homebird said:

I had some kind of IV medicine (stadol?) with my first delivery. HATED it. It made me feel high. Like, floating above myself, out-of-body experience. I could feel all the pain I just ... didn't care. It was very strange, and I felt very out-of-control. I wouldn't use that particular drug again, and thankfully my midwife hates it too. haha.

Same. Exact same.

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