Epidurals - info on what's in them?

[rachie]

I've been able to find a few "ingredients" here and there but I'm trying to find out exactly what's contained in the epidurals. A friend of mine is of the belief that there is thimerosal or something to that affect in them.

I'd just love to get my hands on an article that shows the full list of stuff in them and also the range of risks and effects they (can) have on mother and baby.

I know SO MANY moms who either have drugs, epidural or/and end up with unnecessary c-sections.

I'm also very suspicious about what the long-term and short term affects on children are whose mothers had epidurals during labor/birth.... any studies, articles, threads here???

[Dmitrizmom]

my understanding is the exact mix of narcotics in the epidural depends entirely on your anaesthesiologist.

"Epidural medications fall into a class of drugs called local anesthetics, such as bupivacaine, chloroprocaine, or lidocaine. They are often delivered in combination with opioids or narcotics, such as fentanyl and sufentanil, to decrease the required dose of local anesthetic." and "These medications may be used in combination with epinephrine, fentanyl, morphine, or clonidine to prolong the epidural’s effect or stabilize the mother’s blood pressure." http://www.americanpregnancy.org/lab.../epidural.html

[mediumcrunch]

What Dimitrizmom said.

[AlexisT]

Yep. Epidural is a technique for delivering local anesthesia, not a particular mix of drugs. They also use different mixes for different purposes. A woman in labor wants a lower dose/less block than a woman in surgery. I'm sure that the epi they gave me for my CS had a lot more anaesthetic than I would have had in labor!

I CAN tell you that the most popular mix for the low dose or mobile epidural is bupivacaine + fentanyl. Or at least it is on the NHS.

[princesspower]

I recently listened to this podcast on Epidurals and in it the doctor describes what generally is in them among other things. Here is the link http://www.pregtastic.com/everything-epidurals/

[rachie]

epi

I know what they are and how they are administered (as I had one with my first birth). What I was more looking for and FINALLY found something similar to what I'm looking for: http://www.naturalchildbirth.org/nat...ventions23.htm is an article that says what type of drugs are used the RISKS involved with them, their use - to the mother and baby and the possible affects on labor, birth, baby, etc... This one seems pretty thorough but I'd still like something more in-depth and I wish there were even more up to date studies I could find and I REALLY wish they'd study the short and long term affects on babies whose mothers had epidurals (if they were more or less likely to develop conditions such as asthma, eczema, hyperactivity, learning disabilities, allergies, etc....).

[briome]

Some links that might have info for you.

http://ican-online.org/pregnancy/epi...other-and-baby

http://www.healing-arts.org/mehl-mad...ral.htm#study1
http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/episdrgs.html

[briome]

more-

http://www.midwiferytoday.com/articl...gsinlabour.asp
"In the developed world there is an epidemic of dyslexia, drug addiction and behavioural problems. I suggest that one of the reasons for this is the overuse of powerful drugs in labour.

I find the hypocrisy about drug use quite astonishing. In the United States, it appears that women who smoke or drink alcohol in pregnancy can be publicly chastised; if they take heroin, or other street drugs, they can find themselves in jail or threatened with removal of the baby and their other children. But no one raises even a murmur about the far more powerful addictive drugs that are used on the labour ward, and no one appears concerned about the effects these drugs can have on a still-developing fetal brain.

There are plenty of studies examining the immediate effects of drugs in labour, but where are the studies examining the long-term effects? By that I mean effects that can emerge, 5, 10, 20 or even 50 years later?"

"

[AcuMom]

another epidural webcast http://connectpro63983247.acrobat.com/p37511474/