Spinal Headache.....

Spinal Headache....otherwise known as the headache from hell.....

The epidural with Mason was perfect, no issues. With Brady, not so much. The doctor was young. As soon as he did it he went "umm you'll probably have a headache tomorrow". His explaination...the ligaments in my back are really soft. They do the epidural by feel and they usually can feel with they get through the ligament into the epidural space. If they go to far, they puncture the spinal column and it leaks spinal fluid causing a headache. It's a 1 in 100 chance of this happening. Well because my ligament was soft, he couldn't feel when he got through it and went to far.

I woke up the next morning in the hospital with a headache. They gave me Motrin, Perkaset and had me drink 4 Mt. Dews (caffeine to help constrict the blood vessels). That worked so I said "I'm fine send me home". Little did I know......

Friday morning I woke up with the worst headache I've ever had. A pounding, pulsating migraine headache. I couldn't get out of bed. Cure? Lay flat until it heals. REALLY??? You do know I have a 2 yr old and a newborn right? Thank God for my mom and mother n law. I would not have survived without their help. They pretty much came over every day and either took Mason home with them or entertained him here so that I could lay in bed. I was alternating Loratab and perscription Motrin every 4hrs on top of drinking 6 Mt. Dew's a day. Mt. Dews = caffeine = no sleep for the newborn. But at that point I didn't care b/c I HAD to get rid of the headache.

One week later and I was still in bed with an excrutiating headache. Poor Brady hadn't had a bath since birth.....oh and me either. I called my doc and she sent me to the hospital. They said I could have a blood patch. Doc said he thought I was almost over the headache though so he would wait. Blood patch = another epidural except instead of nubbing medicine they insert 20cc's of my blood into the space so that it clots and closes the hole, stopping the leak and relieving the headache. Of course the risk is that they could again go to far and cause another hole, leading to a longer headache. I opted to wait.

I waited the weekend and went back Monday for the blood patch. I just couldn't stand it anymore...and I have a high tolerance for pain. It took a total of 45 min but I was in the ER for 5 hours.

Tuesday the headache was almost gone when I sat up!! However, it was back with a vengence when I layed down....FAIL I thought! But Wednesday was even better and by Friday I was back to 100% 16 days after I gave birth!

I will think long and hard about an epidural if there is a third...