Did anyone opt for "spinal anesthesia" during surgery?

I might not be using the right terminology. I'll know more when I meet with the anesthesiologist before surgery on Monday. (Monday!!! AAAAA!! ) It sounds similar to an epidural (or maybe exactly the same even). I guess the idea is that you get this injection in your back and this lessens the post-surgical pain when you wake up - for a day or two. He said about half of his patients opt to do this because a lot of people don't like taking pain meds.

Did anywhere here do this? Would you recommend it? Does anyone know the correct term for this because I'm not sure and it's making it more difficult to goggle.

I tend to have low back pain so I'm not sure if I would want it. I had three epidurals for three c-sections. First two were fine, the last one hurt horribly and I had pain down my leg for some time afterwards. So I'm to too excited about the idea of a spinal shot. I'm not a big fan of pain meds, but I might prefer pain meds to a shot in the back.

Thanks for sharing any info/opinions/experiences you have!!!

I did not. I had some pretty rough incision pain, and I have a high tolerance to pain. Apparently my doc does some extra stitches to prevent future hernia. Most say the pain is minimal, so I don?t recommend doing that. I would not have asked for that even if I would have known about my incision pain in advance. There are chances of complications which you do not need whi*****lude puncturing the spinal membrane and getting spinal headaches which I?ve had before (total nightmare). . They ended up having to do something called a ?blood patch?, but the pain was severe. I?m an RN as well and do not recommend it.

"Spinal anesthesia" as you describe it sounds more like an epidural catheter for pain control. I had spinal anesthesia for 3 of my previous operations as I was too large for general anesthesia, and you become numb and unable to feel from the nipples down. Not the same as a spinal injection for pain control. With spinal anesthesia you are bed bound until it wears off as you cannot feel your legs. Epidural for pain control you can feel your legs. I had previous serious open abdominal surgery in the past. They did give me an epidural catheter for pain control. They used morphine as the pain agent. it made me itch and gave me a miserable spinal headache. Opted to never do that again. Had my VSG 2017 under general anesthesia. For me I had only mild discomfort easily relieved with extra strength Tylenol. Very little incisional pain. Gas pain yes. Best relieved by walking and rocking. They tried to give me Gabapentin in the hospital. I refused it as I felt my pain was relieved with the Tylenol. Everyone is different. Ask lots of questions of the anesthesia doctor but for me the epidural cath was not needed and I am glad I avoided another spinal headache. Good Luck!

Thanks so much for the replies - that was really helpful input! I'm leaning pretty strongly to saying "no"... it seems like it could be inviting trouble and I'll probably do just fine with the standard pain meds.

I had a dual approach the first few days in the hospital. I had a morphine drip, but in addition to that, I had a pain ball that had medicine inside and tiny fibers inserted into my skin around the incision. I carried the pain ball in a fanny pack, and it lessened my need for the morphine. When I came home, I was only on the pain meds for a couple of days, then took it for bedtime for a few days, then I was down to Tylenol.

I had one. I am not sure if it helped or not. I have nothing to compare it to. They placed it before I was put under. It was supposed to help with the pain after surgery.