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Pitocin makes it hurt worse?

4K views 50 replies 46 participants last post by  Magali 
#1 ·
Really? Why?
 
#3 ·
I've heard it's insanely more painful. The contraction are harder, faster, more intense, and interfere with your body's natural pain coping techniques. It can also cause fetal distress and I've seen data suggesting it leads to higher C-section rates (the slippery slope of intervention).
Pitocin is horribly overused in the hospital setting. It has some valid uses but it's become standard with little medical indication.
 
#4 ·
I have heard it is like 'transition' the entire time (depending on dose). I unfortunately was scared into being induced and found it very intense from about 20 minutes after they began the pitocin. I was already 4 cm when I checked into the hospital (had not felt any contractions up to that point). I would like to think the next time will not be quite so intense.
 
#7 ·
Part of the reason is that you are getting a continuous dose of the hormone that causes you to contract. When you don't have pitocin, the hormone comes in waves, and you get a break between contractions.
 
#8 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by *MamaJen* View Post
I've heard it's insanely more painful. The contraction are harder, faster, more intense, and interfere with your body's natural pain coping techniques. It can also cause fetal distress and I've seen data suggesting it leads to higher C-section rates (the slippery slope of intervention).
Pitocin is horribly overused in the hospital setting. It has some valid uses but it's become standard with little medical indication.
yes to all this. I found pitocin induced contractions much much more painful than 'natural' contractions and they had me begging for pain relief even after I had gone over 24 hrs in active labor without even considering drugs.

Pretty sure pitocin is the main reason for my DD's "distress" and thus the resulting c-section. The c-section that I wish more than anything could have been avoided because I've had a total of 4 now, at least 3 of which were likely not truly necessary.

eta: and yeah, it's artificial oxytocin and contractions can be unbearable because they are literally on top of each other, with no time to relax a single muscle in your body.
 
#9 ·
I only had a little pit to augment one of my labors and I had an epidural, so I can't speak to the pain of pit. But I did have more intense contractions in my most recent labor, without the epi, and it was like one giant contraction (5 cm to delivery in under 90 minutes). It is well known that pit makes the contractions faster, more intense, etc., which is the whole purpose of giving it. More intense contractions hurt more. It really is that simple.

Think of a charlie horse or other cramp. Now imagine a more intense one. More intense = more painful. Just like active labor contractions usually hurt a whole lot more than contractions earlier in the pregnancy.
 
#10 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by SeekingJoy View Post
Have there been studies about it? Does it increase the risk of certain complications? Why -- physiologically -- does it hurt worse?
It increases the risk of uterine rupture, over stimulated uterus, fetal distress, hemorrhage, etc. No drug is without side effects. Yes, there have been studies done and the package insert lists those complications.

It hurts worse because it creates stronger contractions. Mine were off the chart on the TOCO. Which just before they were registering in the 40s. It increased it 3xs what they were.
 
#11 ·
And when oxytocin is naturally created, it crosses your blood brain barrier, releasing the good endorphins in your brain (again naturally). Pitocin is artificial and doesn't release the endorphins. And as mentioned, your body is no longer in control of the contraction, breaks, or effects on baby. I'm having a homebirth in late August, so I'll be able to give my own anecdote - but my experience with and subsequent research into pitocin is one of my main reasons for a homebirth.
 
#13 ·
Pit made me feel out of my mind. I couldn't bear...it came too hard, too fast without the benefit of any natural hormones to help me bear it.
Natural birth is intense too...but it's different.
I described it this way to a friend right after my 2nd birth (natural, at home)....
Being on Pit felt like being in the teeth of a dragon....natural birth was like being on the back of a dragon : ) It was intense but I was still in control.
 
#14 ·
One of the most riduculous things I have ever heard was "We just broke her water, and hooked up the Pitocin now we just wait for nature to takes it's course" (guess which TLC show that was). There is a huge difference in Pit. contraction and the natural ones. Part of the problem I see as a doula is that mom's induced with pit have alot less mobility since they are hooked up to monitor continously. In the end there is nothing that mimics the body perfectly.
 
#15 ·
ITA with what PP have said. My contractions felt like they were overlaping when I was induced. There was no "rest period" between them. I went from almost nothing to transition in just under three hours. Way too fast for my body and very intense.
 
#16 ·
I've had a Pitocin-augmented labor and an all-natural one. I will take ten more all-natural labors before I would ever have Pitocin again! It was horrible! Like one big contraction that I couldn't escape from.

Another bad side effect of Pitocin is that it can cement a poorly aligned baby into the wrong position so it can't shift out of it for birth. It makes the uterus clamp down so tightly that there is no room for the baby to maneuver. I bet there have been a lot of C-sections done because baby was in a bad position and couldn't get out of it due to Pit.
 
#17 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by barefootpoetry View Post
Another bad side effect of Pitocin is that it can cement a poorly aligned baby into the wrong position so it can't shift out of it for birth. It makes the uterus clamp down so tightly that there is no room for the baby to maneuver. I bet there have been a lot of C-sections done because baby was in a bad position and couldn't get out of it due to Pit.

yes to this, too. I also think this contributed to my "failure to progress", definitely. To me, Pitocin = awful, awful, awful.
 
#18 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by syd'smom View Post
And when oxytocin is naturally created, it crosses your blood brain barrier, releasing the good endorphins in your brain (again naturally). Pitocin is artificial and doesn't release the endorphins.
:
Exactly! Endorphins are a natural opiate - they both help relieve pain and elevate your mood. (Exercise releases them too - think "runner's high") But since pit doesn't cross the blood-brain barrier, it doesn't help release endorphins.

So it makes ctrx more powerful & painful simultaneously depriving you of your natural pain relief.

I don't think anyone yet mentioned that it makes the uterus contract in a different way. Pretty sure I read this in "Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth." It normally contracts in a wave from the top down, whereas pit makes it just squeeze in all at once - so the ctrx are more powerful & squeeze the fetus more - contributing to the fetal distress. That, in addition to the fact that the ctrx are often longer & closer together.

One analogy I read is that the squeezing can deprive the fetus of oxygen. So the pit contractions - being longer, stronger & closer together, contributes to fetal distress because it is like holding a baby underwater and just bringing him up out of the water briefly for a gasp of air before dunking him under again.
: I know, a horrible thought!
 
#19 ·
I was given pitocin to induce my labor, even though I was already 5cm upon arrival (hadn't felt anything though). About 20 minutes after they started the pitocin, the contractions came out of nowhere and were INTENSE. I didn't have any drugs, but like others described above - it was like transition the whole time. Luckily my whole labor was 2 hours - 45 min. of that was pushing, but the whole time was one horrible contraction on top of another. I'd never have pitocin again, it was not fun at all! I wish I had just waited & let my body continue what it was doing.
 
#20 ·
I had one pit birth, one drug-free. The pain was the SAME surprisingly. However, with my homebirth, I had more breaks, and my body actually stopped contractions for a while and they were 4 min apart allowing me to rest, whereas the pit ones just come one on top of the other. Thats what made it unbearable.
 
#21 ·
I get the sense that you are looking for evidence vs. anecdotes so here's some quickly (should be working):

Here is the best description I've read in lay terms of the downsides and physiological workings of pitocin:
http://www.pushedbirth.com/

click on "why not schedule it" at the top to see the section that describes how pitocin works. An excerpt:
"Pitocin replicates oxytocin's muscle, producing strong uterine contractions, but it does not pass to the brain. You don't get the warm and fuzzies with the pharmaceutical version. Furthermore, it shuts down your body's own oxytocin production. That means that when you get Pitocin in your IV - whether you're being induced or just "augmented" - you're missing out on the natural oxy-rush."

There's also some scientific-research-based discussion of pitocin induction here in the Millbank Report on Evidence Based maternity care:
http://www.milbank.org/reports/0809M...rnityCare.html

An excerpt, with citations of studies:
"Synthetic oxytocin, which is widely used to induce labor, interferes with the functioning of a woman's own oxytocin receptors (Phaneuf et al. 2000). This may adversely affect other important functions of a mother's natural oxytocin release, such as reducing postpartum hemorrhage and contributing to attachment and the establishment of breastfeeding (Buckley 2004)"

And there is Childbirth Connection's "Guide to Effective Maternity Care" - you can download the pdf here, but you will have to register (well worth it, if you have an interest in facts and research on childbirth)
http://www.childbirthconnection.org/...oad=gecpc3ch40

Here is an excerpt:
"Any agent that causes uterine contractions, whether it be a drug such as oxytocin or a prostaglandin...may also cause excessive uterine contractility. Excessively frequent or prolonged uterine contractions may affect blood flow from and to the placenta, which will in turn reduce fetal oxygenation. Uterine rupture is a further, though much rarer, consequence of excessive stimulation of uterine activity. The balance of evidence suggests that induction of labor with oxytocin increases the incidence of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia."
 
#24 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by ctdoula View Post
If you have to ask, you've never been on it.
...or never not been on it. I knew a woman who had three kids. Her third was the only one where she went into labour naturally. She told me afterwards that she had no idea labour didn't have to hurt that much, because she had no idea the pain she'd felt with her first two was augmented.
 
#25 ·
i was induced with DS and i never want that agian. I am going as far as i can with this one. I was not anywere near ready i dont think. I was only dialated 1 cm and had been that way for only a week so i think i wasnt ready even though i was 9 days "overdue". As soon as they broke my water the pitocin gave me horrible contractions and i went ahead with the epidural
which i felt bad about and i was in labor for 15 hours with pitocin. I just wished i could have been more informed. I was young and now i know i want to try natural for the next. Most of my friends did theres all natural and they all have 4 to 5 kids so i know it cannot be bad. I think if i had been better informed i would have decided agiants it but i felt as though it was a have to thing.I hated the fact of spending my whole labor experience in a bed at a hospital not able to enjoy any of it.
 
#26 ·
I noticed a HUGE difference in natural labor vs. pit-induced labor. I'm echoing many of the PP's thoughts on the differences. I hate to think that anyone having an induction would have to feel the ctx I had with my first labor which was the induction. Such a difference between the 2...having breaks between contractions and the normal crossing of the bloodbrain barrier, oxyrush,etc. made a huge difference! I was just so excited that my body went into labor on its own
: It works!!! On a sad note I don't really know anyone who went into labor on their own, just lots of inductions
just too bad....
 
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