A lot of the time you feel crappy after an epidural (wherever placed) due to the catheter hole not closing up correctly, it can cause severe headaches and nausea. Having a blood patch fixes the problem, but that's another procedure in its own. They withdraw blood normally and then inject it into the Epidural space to seal the hole. I have to have one done every time I have an Epidural and it's a pain in the ass...

That makes sense. The doctor swears that this problem did not come from having the epidural. He insists on my hubby having the other side done to fix the problem. Time for a new doctor.

Ouch I'm not into feeling like doctor is rolling the dice and I'm the bet on the table. I agree time for a new doctor and olderCPer that sounds logical to help it clot. Not the most hygienic but spider web will also work as a patch to encourage clotting. It's silk which is more natural than the Dacron patch used to plug a nickel sized hole in sons heart when he was born. Our own cells see the patch as foreign and invasive so they have tissue cover it up.

Thanks Ghosty

Ghosty, unfortunately they don't keep much of a stock of spider web in the hospitals when I've had epidurals so we've had to do the blood patches. lol You wouldn't think a tiny little needle hole could cause so much pain and trouble, but an epidural headache can rival some of my worst migraines. Meds don't touch it, but they lower the bed flat with your head down a certain number of degrees below your feet and the gravity of the fluid in your spinal column shifts and stops coming out the tiny hole and the pain magically stops. So you lay that way until they get the Blood Patch procedure done. Unfortunately for most of us CP'ers we don't do well laying flat on our backs, that's a whole different kind of pain.

The human body is so complicated and weird.....well my human body is anyways!

OlderCPer his was done 14 wks ago and he still has headaches, pain in his arms, and doesn't feel well.

Opps I meant 7. Sorry just woke up. lol

Hey girl,

What does his Dr. say? He shouldn't still be having those kind of symptoms from a failed epidural, are those symptoms in any way related to his medical conditions?

OlderCPerson. The pain doc says it is not from that procedure. His primary has put him off from work another month. He is trying to figure out what is going on. Hubby just thinks it stirred up his stenosis big time.

Country, I've heard of CSF (cerebral spinal fluid) leaks lasting that long. Personally the worst one I had continued for almost three weeks. The biggest indication to rule out whether it's still a leak or something else is how the pain reacts when a person goes from laying down to sitting up. If the pain (headaches and nausea) increases exponentially, then it is most likely still a leak. It's due to the fluid settling while laying down and then escaping due to gravity through the hole when sitting up. Not sure if this is an option to try, but Fioricet is a medication I'm prescribed by my neurosurgeon when I have CSF leaks. Really helps with the headaches.

Ty PorcupineTurtle