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Chapters

0:00 Introduction
0:42 what causes epidural headaches
1:34 symptoms of epidural headaches
2:06 Treatment of epidural headaches

• An epidural headache occurs after you have received an epidural injection. It is also known as spinal headache or post-dural puncture headache (PDPH).
• Epidural injections are not just related to childbirth. Healthcare professionals may administer them for several reasons, such as pain management, anesthesia before surgery, spinal cord stimulator placement, and more.
• Although the headaches occur as a side effect of the injections, they are not usually serious and go away fairly quickly.
• Let’s look at epidural headaches in detail to see how you can deal with them:
What Causes Epidural Headaches?
• The spinal column of the body is a massive network of veins, nerves, arteries, and fat, all protected by the spinal bones.
• Because of this, healthcare professionals can only inject in either the epidural or subarachnoid spaces.
• A needle will have to pass through several layers of skin and muscle, with the epidural space containing mostly air, while the subarachnoid space holds the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).
• The goal behind epidural injections is to access the epidural space without puncturing the dura or the subarachnoid space.
• Coming into contact with the dura can lead to leakage of CSF into the spine.
• So, an epidural headache is caused by a healthcare professional accidentally puncturing the dura, causing leakage of CSF.
Symptoms of Epidural Headaches
• Not everyone gets a headache from an accidental dural puncture.
• However, the people that do usually experience:
1. A headache that becomes worse once they stand up
2. A dull, throbbing regular pain in the head
3. Headache symptoms that become intense while lying down
• The headache can severely limit your movement but become very difficult to deal with if you’re giving birth and require epidural injections to deal with pain.
Treating an Epidural Headache
• The most common treatment for an epidural headache involves transporting blood to the epidural space.
• While it may sound odd, an epidural blood patch (EBP) can help relieve pain by taking some blood from a vein and injecting it into the epidural space.
• Performing this second epidural injection helps relieve headache symptoms in 61 to 98% of cases, depending on which study you look at.
• Furthermore, the relief after an EBP is almost instant, with minimal chances of the headache coming back.
• Doctors don’t know why an EBP helps treat epidural headaches.
• The most recent theory on EBPs suggests that they increase CSF pressure, which helps heal the puncture faster.