WOMENS-HEALTH Messages for February, 1999: Re: A question on epidurals

Re: A question on epidurals

From: Joseph Pastorek, MD (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Mon, 1 Feb 1999 07:45:06 -0600 (CST)

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At Sun, 31 Jan 1999, mary wrote:

>During the birth of my son I was given an epidural. At first it seemed

>as though it wasn't working, so it was turned up. It was then I

>realized it was only working on HALF (vertically) of my body. This is a

>concern to me because I may need a c-section with the next delivery. How

>common is this, and why does it happen?

Dear Mary:

It is not uncommon for epidurals not to distribute evenly. While having only half an epidural is a little weird, it is common to have a "hot spot" here and there, where the epidural apparently doesn't take effect on a particular small area of the body which is surrounded by "good epidural" anesthesia. It is possible that the fluid injected gets trapped in spaces and pockets in the epidural space and doesn't flow evenly around the whole spinal column.

I would not worry about your next pregnancy. If you get a weird epidural, they can always inject in a different place or use some alternative. You may not have a problem at all anyway.

Good luck,

Dr. Joe

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