Anesthesia in childbirth - its types, advantages and disadvantages

Childbirth is not only a meeting with a long-awaited baby, but also an unbearable pain for many pregnant women. Since the threshold of pain sensitivity is different for all, it means that the painful sensations of each woman will differ. Nobody can tell in advance whether anesthesia is necessary for you or not. But you still need to know that anesthesia during childbirth is the best way to help a woman with severe pain.

Let's consider what types of anesthesia exist, their advantages and disadvantages.

With inhalation anesthesia, the woman is conscious. At the moment when she starts another fight, she must inhale the inhaler or gas. For this anesthetic, isoflurane, nitrous oxide, methoxyflurane, trichlorethylene, a mixture of nitrous oxide and nitrogen are used. The main advantage of this method is a short time interval between gas absorption and its effective action.

Local anesthesia during childbirth is needed to anesthetize individual parts of the body. For example, when cutting or sewing the perineum. It is performed by injection of an anesthetic drug. Such anesthesia does not relieve the pain in bouts.

Regional anesthesia is by far the most common type of anesthesia. There are two types of such anesthesia: epidural and spinal.

Epidural anesthesia during childbirth involves the introduction of an anesthetic anesthetic into the lumbar region into the epidural space between the vertebrae. It has a number of advantages:

• The woman is conscious;
• Anesthesia occurs gradually, which does not affect the stable operation of the cardiovascular system;
• Does not cause respiratory tract irritation;
• The possibility of adding an anesthetic through a catheter left in the puncture of the intervertebral space. For example: in case an anesthesia was given at birth, but their natural process is impossible, then an additional dose of an anesthetic will be administered through the catheter to perform the operation (caesarean section);
• The relative motor ability is preserved.

Any anesthetic of childbirth necessarily has some or other consequences. Not an exception and epidural anesthesia. Complications after it can be different:

• Numbness and heaviness of the legs. Quite a normal reaction to the introduction of the drug;
• Trembling whole body, bringing great discomfort. There is no danger;
• Reaction to anesthetic. It can cause a lot of disorders in the body. If there is an allergy to drugs, you need to inform the anesthesiologist about it;
• Decrease in pressure, which the anesthesiologist can quickly eliminate by the introduction of saline and special preparations;
• The negative impact of anesthesia on the respiratory muscles causing air shortage. Eliminates by supplying oxygen through the mask;
• The introduction of an anesthetic into the venous bed. This can lead to loss of consciousness and, most importantly, to disrupting the work of the heart;
• Headache and pain in the lumbar region for several days after delivery;
• The most rare and dangerous complications are bleeding in the epidural space, nerve damage, leg paralysis.

The most commonly used anesthetic for cesarean section is spinal anesthesia. This is the introduction of an anesthetic in the subarachnoid space between the vertebrae. It requires a puncture of the membrane that surrounds the spinal cord. And this means that the needle will be introduced much deeper. Its advantages:

• Very well anesthetizes;
• Somewhere in 2 minutes you can start the operation;
• Easy to perform - there is a guide for the introduction of the needle;
• With an unintentional introduction into the vessel does not cause CNS damage.

Disadvantages:

• The analgesic effect lasts about 2 hours. With a possible cesarean section, a second injection will be necessary;
• Because of the rapid and sharp onset of the action of an anesthetic, blood pressure may drop;
• Headache after surgery for 2-3 days;
• The wrong position of the catheter can cause a prolonged blockage of the legs and lower back or spinal cord trauma.