Significant drop in blood pressure | One in every 50 women | Occasional |
Not working well enough to reduce labour pain so you need to use other ways of lessening the pain | One in every 8 women | Common |
Not working well enough for a caesarean section so you need to have a general anaesthetic | One in every 20 women | Sometimes |
Severe headache | One in every 100 women (epidural) One in every 100-200 women (spinal)* | Uncommon |
Nerve damage (numb patch on a leg or foot, or having a weak leg) | Temporary - one in every 1,000 women | Rare |
Effects lasting for more than 6 months | Permanent - one in every 13,000 women | Rare |
Epidural abscess (infection) | One in every 50,000 women | Very rare |
Meningitis | One in every 100,000 women | Very rare |
Epidural haematoma (blood clot) | One in every 170,000 women | Very rare |
Severe injury, including being paralysed | One in every 250,000 women | Extremely rare |