I hope this is the right place for this thread. I had a c-section 2 1/2 weeks ago and have had numbness, a tingly feeling and some pain in my right hip/upper right thigh ever since.The pain gets worse if I lie on that side - it's like the numb/tingly areas begin to spread, causing the entire leg to ache and/or become tingly in an uncomfortable way. Hard to describe. The epidural worked great at the time (I got it at 27 hours of labor, after taking fentinol (sp?) briefly, and had the c-section at 42 hours) and seemed to go off just fine.
After the surgery I was on a morphine drip for post-op pain but it didn't work at all. The effects of the epi wore off after only about an hour and I was in a good deal of discomfort/pain until the drip was removed and I started taking oral ibuprofen and vicodin.
The two anesthesiologists who worked with me came to talk to me about the numbness, etc. while I was still in the hospital. Both said (in a disconcertingly vague manner) that the sensations I was feeling would "probably not be permanent." Anyway, it's been over two weeks and, though the other effects of the surgery are fading, my thigh does not feel any better. I was wondering if anyone else experienced anything like this with her c-section and what other people's experiences might be. Will my thigh stay numb/tingly/painful forever?
it sounds like sciatica. there is a long nerve that goes from your lower back to your foot, i bleieve, and if it gets pinched you will have tingling , etc...i had it during PG. maybe there is some swelling in your spine from the spinal needle??? is that what they thought it was? if so, i had all kinds of stiffness for like a month at least, after my c-section. i couldnt tilt my head back to wash my hair in the shower. i didnt have the thigh thing you describe, but my instinct says dont worry too much about it for another couple weeks, i thought my back was permanantly injured, but it is fine now. anyway i just wanted to give you my 2 cents, since no one answered you yet....if it is just swelling in your back, it will eventually go back to normal. however i would make sure this complaint gets recorded in your records *just in case* it is some sort of injury...
Thanks for answering. I'm going back to see the OB who performed the surgery next week, and I'll make sure she knows I still have the symptoms.
It doesn't hurt as much as I always imagined sciatica would - it's settled into more of an annoying tingliness that can verge on tingly/numb pain when I lie on that side - but I wouldn't really call it painful or compromising. I wonder - is sciatica ever not really that painful?
I had those symptoms after my C/S and the nurse told me 3 weeks later that it was totally normal and it would go away. It was my whole butt that went numb and tingled and hurt like heck.
It was about 3 months before it stopped hurting every day and 6 months before I stopped noticing it off and on. Even now 14 months later, my tailbone still gets that same feeling after about 10 mins of sitting anywhere.
I am soooooo sorry that you are in pain. It really sucks, and I am not much help. The nurse told me it had something to do with the way they gave me my spinal.
i actually was diagnosed with a mild case of sciatica in highschool also, and while it was painful it was more like an ache , that would sometimes be merely tingling. when i was pg it was the same kind of thing, although certain positions made it worse. just depends on how your nerve is getting pinched , and what position your body has to be in to aggrivate it. there was a guy in my poetry class last year that had it so bad he had to stand up all through class! i hope yours is temporoary and does not end up feeling worse. your doc will/or probably already told you this, but anti-inflammitory drugs like ibuprofen can help ease the swelling .
Thank you so much for your replies! I was starting to wonder if I was the only one to experience this, especially after my sister (an anaesthetist) told me that such post-surgery symptoms are exceedingly rare (effects from an epidural).
Update: When I went to see the OB who performed my surgery for the 6-week appt., she told me that it was a very good sign that the numbness was practically gone and I was only feeling tingliness. That meant the damaged nerves were healing, she said. My sister confirmed this.
I hardly think about the sensation now. If I check, I can confirm that, yes, the weird tingly feeling is still resident in my thigh. One big difference is that it doesn't get worse or uncomfortable from lying on it. Thank goodness. I really think it's going away - gradually.
All the experts - my OB, my midwife and my sister - agree that the problem should have cleared up completely at 6 months ppm.
Anyway. This was a scare for me especially considering that I went into labor intending to not have *any* drugs and to deliver naturally, at home. IN addition, I had never had surgery before and the whole thing was pretty traumatic from that standpoint (though my experience in the hospital, and with the L&D as well as the postpartum staff, was very positive). Still, the hospital and especially the c-section experience was a far cry from what I was planning and expecting. In light of that, the thigh pain really freaked me out. I am still amazed and grateful that my DS is the picture of health and does not (*cross fingers*) appear to have suffered adverse effects from the masses of drugs I was on!
have you seen the cesarian support circle thread? just thought you might want to check it out. you arent alone with all of your feelings of trauma and shock aobut the c-section. i , and alot of other mamas felt the same way about ours. i wasnt planning drugs or anything either....and i am no expert but dont worry about your babe being affected from the pain killers, etc, i truly think it is fine, even though that seems amazing! theonly times my ds has ever slept thru the night was when i had the c-section and when i had surgery last spring. so i know the drugs went in his system, but he is alert , active, develping totally normally. he is 19 mos now ....
Hey there!
I had something happen that wasn't quite the same, yet I consider it similar.
After my cesarean, the spot on my back where I had the epidural was "weird". I couldn't stretch all the way without it feeling like my back didn't bend any further than a certain point. Almost like there was something wedged there. It was also a bit sore.
So, three years later I'm at the chiropractor and mention it. He adjusts my back at that point and voila!!!
I would suggest a chiropractor to ANYONE, but especially to someone who is currently pregnant or has just delivered. All of that extra weight can wreak a lot of havoc on your back and you'd be amazed at how good you feel afterwards.
Take care,
Karen
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