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Debbie, I used TENS for the birth of my third
child. I purchased the unit myself and asked a physio to show me the best
placement for the pads. My OB didn't voice an opinion and the midwife who
cared for me during my two hour labour said she had not seen TENS used
before. For me, TENS worked brilliantly. Annie
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2002 6:22 PM
Subject: Re: nitrous oxide
In a message dated 5/7/02 3:52:00 PM W. Australia Standard
Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
writes:
I know this is a little off topic, but I'm a BMid
student
originally from the US, where nitrous oxide is
not used in birth
presently & from what I know, has
not been historically. There
are obviously studies
that show that it can have a negative impact on
babies
later in life, but similar arguments can be made
for
Demerol/pethedine, epidural anethesia, etc & those are
all
widely used.
But specifically concerning nitrous oxide,
does
anybody know why it's used so widely in Oz & the UK,
but not
at all in the US?
To be honest - I don't know why
it used historically in the UK. Entenox is widely given when pain
management is needed, for example, after car accidents and the like -so I
suppose that it was an extension of that. It is perceived in the UK to
be "less risky" than pethidine and epidurals, and certainly most mothers
(apart from those who want an epidural asap :-)) would begin labour using
water or obstetric TENS machine for pain and then progress to Entenox for
extra help. Pethidine is very often discouraged these days (certainly in
the hospitals that I have knowledge of in the UK) because of its side
effects. In fact some hospitals do not offer it at all, and some offer
Meptid instead of pethidine. Epidurals are usually on offer, but are not
always immediately available as they require one-to-one midwifery care when a
mum has one, and, sometimes the lack of staff can mean that an epidural is not
available upon request. This was my experience ! ! in the part of the UK
where I worked.
I used Entenox for all of my three labours - and found
it very beneficial. I found it helped my breathing and just took the
edge off.
Can anyone tell me how widely used obstetric TENS are here in
Aus. I have a feeling that it is not widely used.
Debbie
Slater
CBE
Perth, WA
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