The Many Benefits of Epidural

 

An epidural involves injecting a medication (a steroid or anaesthetic) into the epidural space that surrounds your spinal nerves. This helps in analgesia (pain relief) or anaesthesia (numbing of feelings) in a part of your body. For instance, an epidural is injected into the mother’s lower back to ensure a painless delivery.

Here is all about how an epidural works and its several benefits.

How Does an Epidural Work?

Epidural anaesthesia is injected to prevent pain signals from travelling to the brain from the spine. It is used to numb your spinal nerves. This checks brain signals in a specific part of the body based on where the epidural is injected along your spine. As a result, there can be a complete lack of feeling or pain relief temporarily.

An epidural steroid injection is administered to manage chronic pain. A corticosteroid or steroid medication is injected into the epidural space. It coats the nerves that are causing the pain and gives them time to heal. This helps reduce swelling. The process can provide permanent, long-term or temporary pain relief.

In Which Situations Are Epidurals Used?

• To help provide a painless delivery
• To act as an alternative to general anaesthesia for specific surgeries
• To relive pain after particular surgeries
• To manage various forms of chronic pain such as back pain (using epidural steroid injections)
  

Benefits of Getting an Epidural

There are various benefits of receiving an epidural based on why you need it. 

Here are the advantages of receiving epidural analgesia during labour and childbirth:  

• It is highly effective to provide a painless delivery.
• It is usually safe.
• Generally, you can not only move around in the bed but also push when required to.
• If you are undergoing prolonged labour, receiving an epidural can get you restful sleep and help you recover.
• If you are going through a C-section (caesarean delivery), you can remain awake during the process. Also, your partner can be beside you.
• Generally, you can receive an epidural anytime during labour.

The benefits of using an epidural anaesthetic for surgery are:

• You may have lower tendencies of vomiting and nausea than if you received general anaesthesia.
• You can recover faster after your surgery than if you had general anaesthesia.
• The risk of deep vein thrombosis, i.e., developing a blood clot in a leg vein may be lower than in the case of general anaesthesia.

The benefits of epidural steroid injections are:

• Generally, you can get temporary to long-term pain relief.
• The quality of your life may improve. Also, you can perform daily activities better without the previous limitations caused by pain.
• The injections can sometimes help confirm the root of your pain, especially if you have more than one possible origin of your pain.
• The injections may lower the requirement for more invasive procedures to manage your pain.

If you are pregnant and seek painless childbirth, consult the best gynaecologist in Hyderabad. The healthcare professional can recommend a reputed maternity hospital where you can have the best experience of a painless delivery.