Epidural Headaches

2008-04-17 15:05:13

( Pharmeceutical-Medical )



Causes of Epidural Headaches

Your central nervous system stores cerebrospinal fluid which surrounds the spinal cord and brain. The cerebrospinal fluid or CSF acts as a protective layer to shield your brain from your skull, and to drain blood from your brain. Some circumstances, such as hard impact, will cause the draining of CSF from your system, and stretches connective tissues around the cranium. This strain causes a painful sensation similar to migraine symptoms, and is known as an epidural headache.

Epidural headache can also be due to injection of spinal anesthesia since the needle can puncture fine membranes in your spine. Even though little CSF may be lost due to the injection, this may be enough to cause epidural headaches. This can happen in about 1% of all spinal anesthesia injections.

Frequency of Epidural Headaches

Pregnant women are the most likely to experience epidural headache as a result of spinal anesthesia injected into their spines before childbirth. Age seems to be closely correlated, as there are more incidences of epidural headaches in younger people under 40 years of age.

People who have a history of migraine headaches may also be more likely to suffer from epidural headaches as well, because migraine pain results from dilation or stretching of blood vessels in the brain. It may even be difficult to discern whether your headache was due to migraine symptoms or to epidural headache.

Treatment of Epidural Headaches

Simpler cases of epidural headaches, especially those due to administering of spinal anesthesia, often go away after a few days without treatment. You just need to rest in bed and take ibuprofen or other pain relievers. You should refrain from standing or sitting upright, as this will aggravate the pain.

In some epidural headache cases, especially those which are anesthesia-induced, your physician may advise you to take short walking periods which may help prevent recurrences of headaches.

If your epidural headache persists over four days, you may be advised to undergo an epidural blood patch procedure, which involved injecting a small amount of blood from your arm to your epidural space. This helps form blood clots which in turn can seal leaks in the membranes to relieve the headache, and is successful in treating 90% of epidural headache cases.


All rights Reserved © Tradenet Services srl
Do not duplicate or redistribute in any form.