Postpartum Headaches & Backpain… Sound Familiar?

Had a baby and now experiencing symptoms you’ve never felt before?

Believe me when I say there are a lot more women like you than you think!

In January 2017, I gave birth to my first child. I had been healthy for 25 years prior. My pregnancy was uncomplicated and full term. My labor and delivery were brief and easy. But I didn’t know until four days later that there had been an accident with the epidural.

While still in the hospital, I began experiencing headaches, something I had never dealt with much before. Upon arriving home, they were so excruciating, I couldn’t even think straight. My gynecologist instructed me to pay attention to the details of the headaches, specifically if they were relieved by lying flat and worsened by upright positions.

This was indeed the case, and I was informed that occasionally, an epidural needle can puncture too far. This causes spinal fluid to leak out from around the brain, leaving your brain to basically sit against your skull. People with low levels of spinal fluid are said to have Intracranial Hypotension.

While this condition can actually heal itself, it can also be repaired by medical professionals. Day four postpartum, I went to the ER for a “blood patch”, where my leak was sealed. It was as quick and simple as the epidural itself.

The headaches never stopped though. Instead, they changed their pattern. Over the next few months, more symptoms developed and progressed until eventually I was back in the ER. For months I was misdiagnosed until a spinal tap was finally performed that revealed my spinal fluid pressure was now too high, a condition called Intracranial Hypertension.

According to every doctor I’ve seen, I don’t fit the criteria for having this condition. Three spinal taps and countless symptoms later, there is no doubt that my spinal fluid levels are the cause behind all of the pain I have been through.