Question:
Can an epidural cause injury to your spinen when they insert it? what can occur?

   — LAURA G. (posted on October 16, 2001)

October 16, 2001
I've had 2 w/ C-Sec. I did fine, I was told NOT TO MOVE at all and if I was going to have a contraction to tell him ASAP!!! I was told if inserted improperly/moved I could become paralyzed. This was enough to make me sit still!! I think it has to do w/your nerves/brain.
   — Cindee A.

October 16, 2001
I had an epidural for my surgery, and while I wasn't pleased when he was inserting it, it was great for being knocked out and wonderful during recovery. The anesthesiologist (sp??) will tell you all the possible problems that can happen with an epidural, but I believe they're rare. Mine was a special case because I have two herniated disks at L4 & L5 so he had to go higher in my back to place it. He went into L2, which was still difficult because there was some swelling there from the two lower disks. It was very painful going in, but once it was placed, it was great. A warning though.... when they put the anesthesia in for the surgery, you feel it going down your back. Its kinda cold.
   — Dee P.

October 20, 2001
For the epidural they insert a needle into your spinal column to get the med into the spinal fluid. IF they hit your spinal cord you can become paraplegic or worse. I once met a fellow whose wife had one during childbirth and spent the rest of her long life in a coma. Although this is very rare, it can and does occur, which is why I will opt out of this part. This has nothing to do with WLS; any epidural can cause this. From what I hear the epi helps pain tremendously, and I HATE pain. I'm a real wimp!! LOL But I'll still put up with it to avoid the epidural. This is one of things we must all decide for ourselves, but you rarely hear of the bad stuff from teh doctors, which is wrong! Chris
   — Chris T.

August 25, 2002
Although I did not have an epidural for my RNY, I did have one with childbirth. One common thing that can go wrong with a spinal epidural is a leak of spinal fluid that results in a spinal migraine. This happened to me with the birth of my daughter. The migraine lasted about 8 days and medications did nothing for the pain. I was never told about this prior to getting the epidural, but afterwards they tried to tell me that this is very common, but as of yet, I have not met anyone else that experienced this problem.
   — Stephanie W.