Expert: Ronald Levy, M.D. - 4/27/2009

Question
Hello I recently gave birth a week ago to my daughter and recieved an epideral for the delivery.  The only thing is that I had to be punctured 6 times due to my vertabrae seperations so I was told.  Once I delivered my daughter I went in to the O.R. to have a tubal ligation and there I had to have a Spinal injection because my lower body was not numbing at the site of the epideral.  So there I recieved 7 more pricks in order to administer the medication.  Now that I have explained what happened, I am experiencing lower back pain and tremendous amount of shock waves up my spine to my head.  I just want to understand what is going on and what can I do to help the situation because I must go on and care for my newborn and family?  I would appreciate some kind of help.  Thank you for your time and consideration to my concerns.

Answer
I am sorry they had to stick you so many times. I am also surprised that when the epidural didn't work in the OR they didn't just go to sleep. But there is nothing to do about that now, more important are the problems you are having. The low back pain is not terribly surprising as many people complain about pain at the site of injection for days to several weeks. The pain could also be caused by the baby's head as it comes through the birth canal. What is more important are the shooting pains to your head. This is not normal and should be evaluated by a neurologist as soon as possible. I cannot think of a reason (from the anesthesia point of view) why you would get that but you should definitely have it checked out.


Ronald Levy, MD
Professor of Anesthesiology
UTMB-Galveston