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Going home after an epidural or spinal anaesthetic

Introduction
This leaflet is to provide information for you if you had an epidural for labour or a spinal anaesthetic for a procedure in the
operating theatre around the time you had your baby. Both of these things involve having an injection in your lower back by
an anaesthetist and are for pain relief or to make you numb.
The anaesthetic team aims to visit you before you leave the hospital. This is to check you have recovered from your epidural
or spinal anaesthetic. Sometimes you may have been discharged before they can see you.
Complications following epidurals or spinal anaesthetics are uncommon but there are some things we would like to know
about as soon as possible if you experience them, so we can treat them quickly. Most complications happen when you are
still in hospital but very rarely they can occur up to 6 weeks after your baby is born.

Backache
Backache is really common after pregnancy and child birth. We would like to know if you have severe pain around the area
of your epidural or spinal injection and:
the area feels hot, is red or has any oozing coming from the injection site
you have a fever and feel unwell
you have any numbness or weakness as described below.

Headache
Please let us know if you develop a severe headache:
that gets worse when you stand up and better when you lie down and rest
that prevents you from looking after yourself or your baby
that has not gone away with rest, some hydrating drinks and simple pain killers
that is associated with neck stiffness, fevers or a dislike of bright lights.
The particular type of headache associated with epidural or spinal anaesthetics happens to between one in 100 to one in
200 people who have one of these injections.

Weakness or numbness in your lower body
Nerve damage during childbirth is common and happens because of pressure in your pelvis during labour and childbirth.
Nerve damage after epidural or spinal injections is rare (less than one in 10,000 people) but please contact us urgently if you
have:
- difficulty walking
- loss of control of weeing or pooing
- any areas of numbness or tingling, especially if these are getting worse or more widespread.

Contacting us
The urgency of help that you need will depend on how severe your symptoms are. Please use your own judgement on this.
If you are really worried or the symptoms are severe please go straight to our emergency department.
You can call through to labour ward at Salisbury District Hospital for advice or ask to speak to the duty anaesthetist.
You can ask your community midwife at your next appointment. They will contact us if they feel it is necessary or helpful.

Other sources of information
The website
has many patient information leaflets about
anaesthetics and childbirth including many translations.