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So today at work, something was brought to my attention, and it's really intriguing to me.
It's the premise that women with lower back tattoos (tramp stamps) may not be able to get epidurals in Canada because the ink gets into the spinal cord/tissue, and due to the lack of medical research, anaethesiologists are reluctant to perform them. According to the report from the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia, they're not really sure either, although some cases of neuropathy and other conditions have been reported.
They intend to research this more since more and more women have these lower lumbar tattoos, and in the meantime, it's up to the anaesthesiologist to whether they want to give the epidural, not give them, or cut a section of skin out before giving them.
I'd totally count this as a major con when choosing a tattoo site.
It's the premise that women with lower back tattoos (tramp stamps) may not be able to get epidurals in Canada because the ink gets into the spinal cord/tissue, and due to the lack of medical research, anaethesiologists are reluctant to perform them. According to the report from the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia, they're not really sure either, although some cases of neuropathy and other conditions have been reported.
They intend to research this more since more and more women have these lower lumbar tattoos, and in the meantime, it's up to the anaesthesiologist to whether they want to give the epidural, not give them, or cut a section of skin out before giving them.
I'd totally count this as a major con when choosing a tattoo site.
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From:
no subject
"Based on the limited information available it is possible that inserting an epidural or spinal needle through a tattoo could cause long-term problems such as arachnoiditis or a neuropathy secondary to an inflammatory reaction, but we don’t know."
You know what's funny, I see so many parallels to my sisters surgery, where they said standard procedure is to take all of the colon. She had to search, but she found a doctor willing to do a local laposcopic surgery, and she's fine now. But she went through 3 surgeons and two GP's before she found someone who knew more than the usual out of the book advise.
In fact, it's laughable that a doctor would refuse to give one based on this report. The report is just bad science.
Interestingly the web sites i visited said something along the lines of "find a doctor who is willing"
It scared the crap out of my friend who was trying to decide if she wanted to get one, and i said "do the research" cause she had just heard on CTV News that it was risky. And they said about as much as "some doctors won't perform it, so beware if yer afraid of the pain of childbirth"
it's just such a bizarre way to look at things. Knowing the risk.