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Debra: If you've been to the dentist you may have heard of laughing gas. Did you also know that it's used for labor pains? Today we'll be talking about nitrous oxide on The Scope.

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Debra: I'm Debra Penney and I'm talking today with Michelle Collins, PhD. She's also a certified nurse midwife and the director at Vanderbilt University of the Nurse-Midwifery Program. First of all Michelle, what is nitrous oxide?

Michelle: A lot of people think of nitrous oxide as laughing gas because that's what they know it from the dentist. It is similar to what they use at the dentist, but it's a different concentration. A lower concentration when we use it in labor.

Debra: And tell me, how is it given to women in labor?

Michelle: They inhale it either through a mask or a mouthpiece. The mask goes over their mouth and nose, where the mouthpiece they purse their lips around.

Debra: And can she be up and mobile while she's taking this gas or does she have to be in bed? How does that work?

Michelle: It does allow for a woman to maintain her mobility. So she can be on her birth ball, on her hands and knees on her bed, doing slow dance with her partner, in the rocking chair, any position really.

Debra: What kind of affect does it have on her and does it have any side effects?

Michelle: Probably the largest side effect is about 10% of women will feel nauseous or need to vomit. But that's only 1 out of 10 women. That's probably the most prevalent. Some women get a little bit dizzy when they use it as well.

Debra: What about the baby? How much of this gets to the baby?

Michelle: So there has not been a great deal of research done on nitrous oxide, although we have a large body of what we call anecdotal evidence, meaning it's been used for almost a century in other countries. So we have lots of babies born over lots of years in lots of countries to look at and we've not seen it affect the baby at all after birth. In other words, we don't see sleepy babies or drug affected babies from mom using the Nitrous.

Debra: Well it sounds like a pretty good thing then. If it's that good why aren't we using more of it here in the US? I understand there are only about 100 hospitals that have it available to laboring women.

Michelle: It was actually used in the '50s, and then with the advent of the epidural anesthetic it kind of went out of favor as epidurals rose in popularity. Now in other countries the epidural rate is not what it is, not as high as it is in the United States, so they continue to use nitrous oxide widely. For instance some countries, like Great Britain, 60% of all women in labor use it. Some countries like Norway 80% of women use it in labor.

Debra: So does this nitrous oxide work for every woman?

Michelle: Not every woman is going to take the nitrous oxide just like not every woman likes an epidural or not every woman likes a narcotic. Some women will try it and not like it at all, feel it's not helpful, and move on to something else.

Debra: When hospitals use it, do they have some kind of guideline in place for how it's given, or who gives it?

Michelle: In most places in the US the midwife or obstetrician or family practitioner, or whoever is taking care of the mother, gives an order to the nurse, and the nurse initiates the nitrous oxide. In some hospitals only an anesthesia person initiates it. So it's dependent on the hospital. In birth centers there are only midwives and nurses so they would be the ones doing it at a birth center.

Debra: So it sounds like a pretty good option. What other kinds of affects, other than taking the pain away, does it have any other affects on the mom?

Michelle: It is really good for anxiolytic properties. What that means is it decreases one's anxiety. So for some women it's not the pain of labor that is intolerable, but the anxiety. They're so afraid of the birth process. So it can decrease their anxiety and help their labor along.

Debra: So apart from labor pain, say she's waiting for an epidural that's really her drug of choice, can she still use this nitrous oxide while she's waiting?

Michelle: Yes, that's a good use of it, is for the woman to inhale it while we're having her epidural placed. Helps with the pain, helps with her anxiety and generally gets her through that transition period until the epidural is working well.

Debra: Have you ever seen it abused in the hospital? Or heard of stories with it abused?

Michelle: That's a common misconception and it doesn't appear in the literature as any problem in the European hospitals and we've been using it at Vanderbilt for four years and have not had one instance of that happening.

Debra: So what if a woman tries it and finds out she doesn't really like it?

Michelle: If she inhales a few breaths, part of the advantage of using nitrous oxide is it's a very quick onset. Within about 30 seconds she'll feel an affect, and it also has a rapid offset. Meaning if she doesn't like it, she stops breathing it, takes a couple breaths, and the effect is gone. And that is really one of the advantages of using nitrous oxide.

Debra: What are some of the other advantages?

Michelle: Besides not affecting the baby at all, that we have seen in use, women can also control it themselves, so it's not strapped to their face where somebody else is controlling it. They are empowered to breathe it when they want and not breathe it when they don't want. This makes it a really attractive advantage, and hopefully it will be widely available to women in the US soon.

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