Epidural Side Effects


Hello Folks,

I have a question for any of you folks that may have had an epidural injection for lower back pain. The question id did you have any side effects, such as headache and irregular heart beat afterward. If you did, how long did it take for things to return to normal?

I had an injection Monday (6-1-09) and headaches and irregular heart rate have been something to behold since. The headache is a little better (maybe 25% less) today, but still enough to make life miserable and there has been no change in the irregular heart rate .

Thanks,

Smitty

3 Comments

Headaches

by bambi - 2009-06-05 09:06:51

I'm not sure if you can get a spinal headache from an epidural injection. I had a milogram about 6 years ago and developed the notorious spinal headache. It was some of the worse pain I've ever endured, hands down! Even today my headaches mimic that headaches. I hope you do not have this. Did your Dr. keep you flat and still after the injection? The irregular heart beat should probably be investigated don't you think?
Sorry you are under the weather!
Bambi

headaches

by Susan - 2009-06-06 04:06:18

I had an epidural injection a couple of weeks ago. My second. The first time I had no headache. This time I had a mild headache, enough to take Tylenol and it did hang around for a couple of days. They told me heaches were very common. I did not notice any irregular beats though I am asymptomatic a lot. I am schedule for an interrogation in two weeks and I will be interested to see if anything shows up. If it does, I'll let you know.
SusanD

Headache

by SMITTY - 2009-06-06 07:06:47

Hello Bambi and SusanD,

Thanks for the input. I gave up and saw a doctor this morning and he told me what I probably have is a headache from a dural puncture. Apparently the punctures are fairly common with epidural injections. I was given some pain relief meds and told to see the doctor that gave me the injection next week, if the headache is still a problem. It seems that there is another injection (whoopee) they can give to stop these headaches, but this one does not involve any medicines. They take some of the patients blood and inject it into somewhere and it stops whatever is leaking from someplace and stops the headache. The best thing I have found is to lie down.

I wonder if there is any medical procedure that does not carry the risk of the cure being as bad, or worse, as the illness.

Thanks again for your input.

Smitty

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