The incidence of pruritus after epidural morphine ranges from 1% to 90%, nausea from 7% to 60%, and vomiting from 17% to 50%. Although there are several ways of managing these side effects, none has proved to be uniformly effective. These side effects can cause discomfort, which ranges from annoying to greatly troublesome. Pruritus, nausea, and vomiting are among its most common nonrespiratory side effects. Most patients are satisfied with its analgesic effect.

We found that IV droperidol reduced nausea and vomiting but did not prevent itching, and that epidural droperidol failed to prevent all side effects.Įpidural morphine has been used extensively to control postoperative pain. We performed a prospective, randomized, controlled trial in 97 such women to study whether droperidol could reduce these side effects. Implications: A single dose of epidural morphine provides long-lasting pain relief for women who have undergone cesarean section, but it has some troublesome side effects (itching, nausea, vomiting). These results suggest that droperidol acts systemically to counter the effects of epidural morphine but that it is not entirely effective. Thus, epidural droperidol failed to alleviate the side effects caused by epidural morphine, but IV droperidol reduced both the incidence and severity of nausea and vomiting.

Sedation was minimal throughout the study. The incidence, onset, duration, and severity of pruritus the onset and severity of pain and satisfaction were similar for each group, but the incidence and severity of nausea and vomiting was lower in the group that received IV droperidol (P < 0.01). After delivery, each received 5 mg of epidural morphine with either no droperidol injection, 2.5 mg of epidural droperidol, or 2.5 mg of IV droperidol. All received standard continuous epidural anesthesia. In a prospective, double-blind, randomized, controlled trial, 97 pregnant women undergoing cesarean section were randomly assigned to three groups. Epidural morphine produces analgesia with a high incidence of side effects that include pruritus, nausea, and vomiting.This study investigated whether epidural or IV droperidol could alleviate these symptoms.

Epidural after effects