An epidural is usually given to pregnant women who are having an active labor. An anesthesiologist will be the one to give this medication. The anesthesiologist will also ensure that it is safe for you have the back pain epidural and there are no other medical conditions that can be affected by it.
Epidural Procedure
You will be assisted to a comfortable position either sitting or lying on your side. Your lower back will be wash with antiseptic and freezing the skin the special needle will be inserted. The epidural catheter which is a thin flexible tube is pass through the needle which is then removed. The local anesthetic then will be injected through the tube which is then secured with a tape.
Generally it takes about five to thirty minutes for the epidural to work. At this time you usually feel tingling in the legs and a warmth feeling which is followed by pain relief. For some women they may feel their legs starts to feel heavy.
The freezing may last up to two hours only and to prevent the pain from returning medication is continuously given through the catheter. Dose can be increase if the pain still returns in spite of continuous medication. When it is time to push then medication may be reduce or even stopped since the numbness produce by the epidural will make it hard to push.
Although epidural is quite safe for both baby and mother still possible complications can occur like back pain. Most back pain after birth is often associated to the epidural although it may be cause too with the birth itself. But epidural insertion sometimes may cause bruising between the bones of the spine thus resulting to back pain that can lasts several days.
However, there is one study that tackles epidural anesthesia and low back pain after delivery. The result showed that low back pain after delivery was common but goes away after a short time. The association of lower back pain and epidural anesthesia is inconsistent (BMJ 1995).
Other complications includes temporary lost of bladder control, low blood pressure, nerve damage, headache and shivering. In rare cases, severe drug reactions may occur but as mentioned it is rare since it can happen in every one out of 10,000 cases. Much even rare case is death, paralysis, coma or brain damage.