Epidural or Morphine Pump

I had a Spinal once before and ended up with back problems for 7 months after-never again for me. Obviously, everyone is different. Whatever choice you make will be the right one for you. I will be having a dilaudid pump after my surgery.

I would ask my doctor if it is a spinal being injected directly into the spine or an epidural which is a small catheter that is placed in more or less the same location as a spinal, but it does not go directly into the spine. I have had in 4 surgeries the following: 2 spinals, an epidural, and then for my hyster a pouch and the morphine pump.The epidural I had two surgeries ago was just fine and wore off quickly. Unlike the spinal only my mid section was numb. I would ask about something that you didn't mention that I had and I think made a tremendous difference...that is a little pouch with a catheter that goes directly to the area of the incision. For my hysterectomy I had this along with the morphine pump. This little pouch was there for the first 24 hours and does not hurt to be removed. The morphine made me naseous and itchy and I had trouble regulating it...i.e. I would forget to push it and the nurse kept coming in to tell me to push it more often, but I was so groggy and really not in pain. I asked to have the pump removed the next day because it made me feel too weird and I really was not in too much pain. I agree with the other ladies that a spinal is not something I would like to have. I got the headache and it lasted three days. The administration of the injection while not as painful as some other things I have had (I've had the dreaded kidney stone as well) is something I would rather not do again. Talk to your doctor about what your comfort levels are with these various methods and talk about your fears. I had a really thorough conversation with my surgeon and the anesthesiologist before hand about what I wanted. Good luck!
Heather

Justdeb...I was cracking up laughing when Iread your response about the kidney stone... You are funny..... I agree, I would not even consider the spinal as opposed to the morphine..I am too afraid of needles going into spine etc...... I never had morpine either so we will see how that goes.. I will find out tomorrow.

I didn't have the option but I did have the morphine pump and let me tell you it was lovely. There are too many things that can go wrong with a spinal if you ask me and it would not be willing to risk it to me. The morphine pump put ma in another world and also helped me to sleep. I would diffinitely opt fot the morphine pump if I had a choice.

My vote is for the morphine pump with the anti nausea stuff. It was lovely... It did take a short while to get the level right after surgery but pain was not unbearable.
I too had back probs after epidural as you can move your back in a bad way without realising.
Sorry about the unscientific language!