Lumbar Puncture update

Hi, Well I had my LP on thursday, and the advice you gave me (along with a lot of valium) made it a lot less grim that I thought it would be.
Thing is, I now have a horrible headache that does seem to be better when I lie down and worse when I stand up.  Any ideas how long this is likely to last?

[Sarahsmom46]

Its good to hear you got through it and found that it wasn't as bad as you expected.  The hard part now is waiting for the results and dealing with the headache.

The headache is a pretty common.  I had my second LP last month and once I hit 5 days with the headache I called my doctor.  It has been 2 days since you LP so try to take it easy this weekend.  I spent the weekend on my family room floor watching movies with my daughter.  How bad is the headache right now.  It will either start getting better and better every day or it will stay about the same.  See how you feel by Monday.  If you need to call the doctor, then don't hesitate to do that.  You may need to have the blood patch done, which in my case was taken care of in the ER (doctor instructed me to go there).  The headache was gone in less than an hour.  

I hope you get better.  Take it easy, drink lots of water, take tylenol (not ibuprophin just in case you do end up needing a blood patch) and try to lie down as often as you can.  

-Julie

[Noelwolf]

I had the same problem and ended up in the hosptial all week. It only gets worse, don't mess around.  I had my spinal tap on Monday and ended up in the hosptial on Tuesday and I  just got home last night.  I still feel horrible. But at least I can walk know. Good luck sweetie!

[meg321]

I am so sorry about the headaches, I have one very bad one for days but not from an LP, but i do hate them

not much help i know

go to the dr. !!

meg

[Heather3418]

There is no sense suffering with the headaches.  Call your doctor and see if they will do a "blood patch."  Hopefully this LP will be the last one that you will ever need.  When it comes to MS diagnosing, if they find "0" bands in the fluid, you will never need another LP for testing of MS.  Once the bands are there, they don't go away, as is my understanding.

I really don't see why doctors who do LP's don't do the blood patch right then and there, after the LP, so we can avoid the "after" headache in the majority of cases.  Doesn't that seem to make more sense?

Hope your headache resolves quickly.  Mine was about 4-5 days.  If I went to the bathroom, I hunched over like an old lady with my head kept down.  That seemed to prevent the headache when I had to get up.  Otherwise, I was flat in bed, drinking alot of fluids and caffiene.  That really helped.

Heather

[Ufrustrated2]

ask for the blood patch!! usually takes me 5 days before they start to subside. in the Navy they did the blood patch and viola, headache gone. probably due to budget issues these days, the VA asks you to wait as long as possible, of could just be my neuro here.

hang in there...

[HVAC]

How long did it take to schedule your LP?

[Sunnytoday]

hi there. I was told by my doctor that if you don't do the bloodpatch, you need to be very careful, any extra movement will make the head-ache last longer!!!!!

When they say lay flat they mean flat, so there isn't any extra pressure on that tiny hole that is supposed to be healing. Bascially, that means as flat as a board. No pillows. No couch. flat on the bed. Drinking from a straw and only getting up and walkin hunched over to the bathroom. We love you and all, but stay off this computer until you are better, ok???? :)

Drink lots of fluid that contains caffeine too, that helps I was told by my doctor.

Be sure to stay in touch with your doctor, they should either be calling in medicine that contains high dose caffeine/ and pain killers to help the healing process or be setting up a blood patch.

I hope you feel better soon!
~Sunnytoday~

[biowham]

Heather, I wonder the same thing. Why don't they do the patch at that time?

Bio

[toadaleh]

At last! I'm back on my feet (only took a week).
I ended up at A&E on sunday night, but blood patches don't seem to be the thing on the NHS.  Headache finished yesterday, but I was so weak and shaky, I ended up with yet another day on my back.
Thank you all so much for your support, it's really been great to hear your experiences.
To anyone who is awaiting an LP, I have to say that the proceedure itself really isn't as bad as you think.  The headaches only happen in about 25% of cases, so hopefully you'll be in the lucky 75%!
Just have to wait for the results now...

[sllowe]

So glad you are back on your feet. That is a nightmare to live through

The leak happens, unfortunately.  Least once it seals back up the headache goes away.

All results take some time, especially the o-bands.

Hope they are speedy. . .