Spinal leak due to spinal block - Now want General Ana.

[nicx3]

Hi
I had my DD via CS Nov 06. I had a spinal block and was ok in recovery, however 4 days later I collapsed with a spinal leak.
I NEVER :no: want to go through that again and am pregnant now with no 2. I will be having a CS again on 03/03/09 however I want to have a general ana rather than an epidural or spinal.
Has any mums out there had an GA??? If so did you have pain relief after as my dr has said the good thing with a spinal block or epidural is that you get 12-24rs of paain relief whereas with a GA as soon as it wears off you have nothing ang then need to take morphie or similar. I'm not worried about having to take that but just wondering about any other mums experiences.
Cheers!

[MandaMommy]

I had my DS via emergancy c-section under GA. I did have an epidural during my labour however it did not work and I still had feeling down the sides of my stomach and legs. They may have fixed the epidural and were talking about this but then things went bad and bub needed to come out ASAP. As for the GA and morphine, I woke up about 40 minutes after going under GA and I still had the epidural in and also a morphine drip. I believe during (before ???) birth I was given morphine but once I woke up I was told that if I want pain relief I needed to push the button on the drip. I never pressed the button. I did ask for panadol and in the first 48 hours after birth panadol worked fine. I know day 2-5 was the most painful but probably due to me doing things.

[delirium]

What a horrible experience for you :hugs: I had a GA with my first c/s. I was given a spinal, but I felt the surgery so they gave me a general. I found I was quite sick afterwards, but that's normal for me, I don't do GA's well. It took me about 45 min to wake up. I was also given morphine in the drip which I only used a few times (for some reason morphine doesn't do anything to me).

As for the spinal giving 12-14 hours pain relief, I personally didn't find that. I was sedated with my 2nd as I was so freaked out about the spinal going wrong again. I became lucid about 15 mins after the birth and within another 15 min or so I could feel my legs. I took panadol and nurofen. Hope that helps.

[Mamaduke]

I had a spinal block which ended up in a general because it didn't work (found that out the hard and painful way!) and then ended up with a spinal headache (spinal fluid leaking) afterwards.
Since that horrible experience I've had another c/section with a spinal block.
Personally, I would never choose a general over a spinal for a few reasons;


First and foremost you miss your baby's birth.
A general anaesthetic is putting your body in a drug induced coma. Heart rate slows and your body is paralysed from the drugs used.
Didn't want to risk not waking up. Small risk I know but to me a risk nonetheless.

I wanted to be awake for my last c/section so even though I had horror experiences in the past (with spinals, an epidural and a general) I chose the spinal. I spoke at length with my anaesthetist about my concerns and how terribly frightened I was and even though it was scary he was very good, took his time, gave me suggestions on how best to position myself so it wouldn't hurt and was very reassuring.

[sam's mum]

I don't have any advise about the general, but I just wanted to say that I have had 3 epidurals and have had 1 spinal leak. the anaesthetist that I had the leak with told me that he has only had two leaks in his entire career. Me and his wife 25 years before (small town, no other dr to do it).

I don't want to talk you into anything one way or the either, just wanted to say that just because you had it once, it doesn't mean that you will again.