Role of epidural anesthesia

Added: 10/01/2006
Every woman has unpredictable labor. But this process is always painful and unpleasant for the majority of women. But sometimes pain might be manageable without any pain-relief options (such as epidural anesthesia). In 70% of cases pain becomes very exhausting and severe. It goes without saying that unmanageable pain usually increases the woman's muscle tension and anxiety which is likely to prolong labor and baby delivery.
In spite of the fact relieving childbirth pain can speed labor, you should be aware that feeding with excessive anesthesia and numbing all the pain can slow labor. So, it is very important to be able to achieve balance so that woman can walk, change positions and push when it is necessary (during contractions). Before making a decision regarding what pain-relief method to choose we recommend you taking into account several key points. If you'd like to manage your childbirth without any medication, you will have to prepare a particular plan for handling labor pain. Today, many women prefer to use various epidural anesthesia types because they are most commonly offered for pain during childbirth and baby delivery. What do we know about this pain-relief method? What advantages and disadvantages does it have? It is a common knowledge that epidural anesthesia is considered to be the most efficient and easily adjustable method of pain-relief for labor. It is worthy admitting that light dose of epidural anesthesia does not usually fully numb the woman below the waist and make it possible for her to push during the contractions. It is likely to reduce the standard-epidural risks including stalled or slowed labor and necessity of cesarean or other assisted baby delivery. One of the considerable epidural anesthesia advantages is that it is unlikely to affect the baby's health. However, after use of the epidural anesthesia health care provider always makes constant fetal heart monitoring to make sure that baby's doing well during the labor. Speaking about the way epidural anesthesia is given to the woman, it is important to say that this medication is introduced through the very thin tube (called epidural catheter) into the certain area surrounding the spinal cord within the epidural space. From the mentioned space the medication goes directly to the spinal nerves and causes specific feeling in the lower body. Meanwhile, the woman remains alert because it takes time for the medication to travel through the blood to the brain and then to the central nervous system. So, it is believed that because epidural anesthesia doesn't go directly into the woman's bloodstream her baby is likely to be unaffected. However research data is not clear enough to be sure in this statement. Very often (for better result) a combination of spinal-epidural anesthesia is used to relieve labor pain. Before the installation of the epidural line, certain medication is injected into the spinal fluid (around the spinal cord). This type of spinal injection is known to produce a quicker effect than the epidural one. Later the epidural anesthesia is placed and then used for ongoing pain-relief needs. It is impossible to speak about the epidural anesthesia and to make a brief overview of possible side effects of this pain-relief method. Every woman should be aware that if epidural anesthesia disadvantages: if it isn't injected into the correct spot only one body side is likely to be made numb (so, this may require subsequent injection). Some woman may experience lack of sensation in the lower body. This condition may necessitate urinary catheter has to be inserted. On the whole, epidural anesthesia often means longer labor duration.
This artilce has been viewed: 0 times this month, and 35 times in total since published.
 

Random articles

Popular articles