Overcome pain after cesarean delivery with opioid drugs, is it okay?

Delivering by caesarean section is certainly not easy for mothers. Even after surgery, the pain is almost unavoidable and the feeling can be so overwhelming that it sometimes limits your chances of hugging your little one and caring for him wholeheartedly. As a solution, doctors will usually give opium medicine to help relieve pain after cesarean delivery.

However, this drug turned out to be addictive, so it was feared that it could make mothers and their babies addicted to drugs. Is that true?

Can you use opium medicine after giving birth to a cesarean section?

Opium or opiates or opioids are a type of high-dose pain reliever, specifically for treating pain that tends to be intense and of severe intensity. That is why opioid drugs are often used as a mainstay to relieve pain after cesarean delivery. This drug works to block pain receptors in the brain.

However, you may hesitate when your doctor wants to give you an opioid medication to help relieve postpartum pain. Its addictive nature makes you fearful of addiction if you receive the drug. Is that true?

In principle, the doctor certainly will not possibly give you opioid drugs if this will endanger the health of you and your little one. These pain relievers tend to be safe and effective at reducing pain after childbirth.

The easier it is for you to control the pain after giving birth, the faster the recovery will be. On this basis, you may take opioid drugs after cesarean delivery. Apart from making you feel more comfortable, these pain relievers can also help reduce the risk of complications that may occur to you.

Opiates are not addictive

Although it is addictive, opioid drugs used after cesarean delivery will not make you addicted. In most cases of cesarean section, this pain reliever will be injected through an epidural block or into your spine.

Due to this process, there will be very little medicine left and ends up in your bloodstream. So, this drug will not likely have a long effect on mother and baby, let alone cause addiction.

In addition, the effects of opioid drugs can only work for a maximum of 24 hours. If you don't feel dizzy after taking this medicine, you can even breastfeed your baby right away, you know!

After that time, then you will be given other types of pain relievers to relieve pain after giving birth until you are completely recovered.

Although it works to relieve pain after childbirth, be aware of the side effects

Just like other drugs, opioids also have side effects that you need to pay attention to. These include severe drowsiness, nausea, itching, constipation, and decreased heart rate. Therefore, opioids require a doctor's prescription and periodic monitoring to anticipate these side effects.

Once you have been discharged from the hospital, your doctor may still prescribe opioid medications such as hydrocodone (Vicodin®) or oxycodone (Percocet®) to take for a week after surgery. This was also agreed by Sarah Osmundson, M.D, and her team through her research published in the journal Obstetric and Gynecology in 2017.

After your health tends to be stable and recovered, you really don't need to take opioid drugs anymore. So instead, doctors will prescribe NSAIDs such as high doses of ibuprofen or over-the-counter pain relievers such as paracetamol or ibuprofen. The sooner you stop taking opioids, the less likely you are to have an addiction.