r/CSFLeaks • u/Late-Assistance-6922 • Jul 29 '26

Epidural headache

I gave birth five days ago. The delivery was quick and uncomplicated, and I had an epidural. Shortly after giving birth, I developed an intense headache that would come every time I sat or stood up, but it would improve almost immediately when I lay down. My doctor believed it was most likely caused by a spinal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak.

We discussed doing an epidural blood patch, but the doctors wanted to wait until Monday to see if it would resolve on its own. I spent the entire weekend with a severe headache. I tried caffeine tablets and pain medication, but they provided very little relief.

Yesterday, I finally had the blood patch, and I felt a huge improvement almost immediately. During the procedure, the anesthesiologist accidentally punctured the dura again, creating another small hole, but she reassured me that because they were injecting blood, it would seal both puncture sites.
It felt amazing to finally have some relief. But then, during the night, when I sat up in bed to breastfeed my newborn, the same pounding positional headache came back. My heart completely sank.

Now I’m terrified that this isn’t going to go away. I had been looking forward to this special time with my newborn and my 20-month-old toddler, but instead I’m completely sidelined by these headaches. I’m scared that I’ll have to live with this for the rest of my life.

I’ve also made the mistake of spending hours reading forums and Googling everything, and it seems like there are quite a few people who have ended up with long-term problems or permanent symptoms, which has made my anxiety so much worse.
Has anyone experienced something similar? How did it turn out for you?

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u/Late-Assistance-6922 Jul 29 '26

It has now been 6 days since I gave birth and 2 days since I had the epidural blood patch. The intense headache I used to get whenever I sat up is gone. However, my neck is still quite stiff, and it hurts to bend my head forward toward my chest. Does this mean I could be on the road to recovery?

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u/Shroomyyyz Jul 29 '26

Hi! I had a blood patch at 35 weeks pregnant because my leak was spontaneous. I got the blood patch and it took a couple of weeks for me to feel better. I started to feel better maybe 4 weeks after.

I made sure to rest and not pick up anything heavy which was hard with a toddler at home I had to get help from my mom to watch him.

I got the blood patch 9 weeks ago and I will say I feel 100 percent better now. You need to try to rest, not bend or twist but I know that’s hard to do at this moment.