Epidural & Pain Pump???.....

Hi Everyone,

I am scheduled for my TAH on 2-20-03. I went for my pre-op consultation & blood work today. They told me that I can have an Epidural & pain pump together for post op pain, is this normal? I would like to hear from everyone what they had and what their experiences were please. I Have been so scared as is was, now they pop this new decision on me that I have to make.

Thank you all very much for your support, I wouldn't have made it this far.

Shelley

(((Shelley))),

If you do a search on the site for "epidural", I know you will find many posts. I have read a number of posts by sisters who were very glad they had this type of anesthesia.

Personally, I had a general with a morphine pump, through my I.V., for pain after. I did get nauseous - but did not vomit. Learned after-the-fact that I could have requested anti-nausea meds which may have helped.

Otherwise, I liked it - felt like the surgery was done in a "blink of an eye"! It was my favorite part!

Best wishes to you!

Here's a link that discussed both the PCA pump and epidural for post op pain management. I wasn't sure if I could tolerate morphine as a PCA (patient pump), but morphine in an epidural/spinal doesn't have the same circulation--effects are limited to nerve-endings in lower portion of body and drug does not cross brain/blood barrier. I've never heard of them being used together.

https://www.hystersisters.com/vb2/sho...+pump+epidural

When I had my hysterectomy I had an epidural combined with general anesthesia for the surgery and the epidural combined with PCA for pain control. This worked for me. I recently had a hernia repair and my incision was opened again. This time I had the epidural and general for the operation but the epidural only for pain control after. It worked GREAT. I was told that having the epidural can 'fool' your body about the pain so that when they take it out your body doesn't feel as much pain as it woujld have if you hadn't had the epidural. Seemed to work that way here.

I know - making decisions is hard. I usually ask questions about how each option works and why one would choose it over the others. By the end of the discussion it usually seems pretty clear which way to go.

Joselle