Epidural Pain Relief During Childbirth: Eligibility & Effectiveness

Question
Hello Dr. Safley,

My name is Sarajane. I am 23 weeks pregnant and thinking about opting for an epidural to ease labor pain. I heard that, however, epidural does not work for everyone and those who have had back problems cannot use epidural. I had a tailbone injury 15 years ago. I did NOT have any surgery but only took antibiotics and pain killers for relief. My questions are: can I use epidural and will it be effective for me? Under what circumstances when epidural will not be effective (example: the person won't be numb by the epidural) ? And who shouldn't use epidural?

Thank you very much, Dr. Safley.

Answer
Hi Sarajane,
first of all sorry for the delay, now I am not a Dr. but a RN who has extensive work in obgyn and sexology and diabetes. Now for your question, epidurals are the best in my opinion, it is rare that they don't work, sometimes it just takes more meds or different ones to work properly. People who have severe back problems such as problems with the vertebrae or paralysis or such would be something they would avoid doing them on. As far as you, I see no problems, but first ask your ob his opinion.