pain from the spinal/epidural...?

[The Wife]

My husband had a BHR seven days ago. Immediately after the surgery his doc told me it took 30 minutes to.... get the spinal injection in place....now I have to admit I can't  remember any of the correct terminology here but what we want to know is can that area be in pain from the administration of the injection right before surgery?

Or maybe is lower back just hurts from laying around in positions he isnt used to?

His lower back is really giving him a hard time at night.

[Pat Walter]

Hi

I am not a medical expert, but I would guess that any kind of spinal injection can cause pain.  I have had steroid shots along each side of my back and they were sore the next day.

You husbands complete body will probably be hurting from the major surgery.  Back, knee and opposite hip pain is quite common.  Many people are sore from having their hip dislocated and moved around during surgery.

If he still has some pain meds, by all means use them if he has pain.  It just takes time to heal and get over the trama of major surgery.

Many people have a difficult time sleeping at night and can't sit for long periods in a chair for a few weeks.

Pat

[embcrna05]

Hi,
I am a nurse anesthetist and do spinals/epidurals on some of my patients.  We were taught in school that a lot of time, women who receive epidurals during labor will have low back pain in that general area for up to a year.  There really isn't an explanation as to why, other than some of the nerves may have been irritated from the local anesthetic injected there.  With an epidural, many nerves are located near the epidural space and are "bathed" in the local anesthetic.  With a spinal, the local anesthetic is injected directly into the space containing the spinal fluid, minimizing this phenomenon.  However, it is still possible that if the injection did not go entirely into that space, or became 'hungup' on some nerve roots, the same thing could happen.
So, to answer your question, this is not at all unusual, and will go away with time, but it can be up to a year for this time frame.
Hope this helps.
Eileen