No worries...good thing u saw that dr...please keep us posted on what else u find out.
Good luck
"selma"
Welcome to the neurology forum of medhelp. Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome is a condition of dysautonomia where there is postural hypotension and tachycardia in changing posture from supine to standing. There is light headedness, extreme fatigue, brain fog, gastrointestinal symptoms like bloating, nausea, diarrhea, constipation, dyspnea, tinnitus etc. The causes are growth spurts, following a viral or bacterial infection like mononucleosis and pneumonia. Reduced venous return is the main mechanism for many POTS symptoms, that’s why your neurologist is suspecting a CSF leak. Epidural patch uses one’s own blood to close one or more holes in the dura mater of the spinal cord usually due to previous lumbar punchure. A small amount of your blood would be injected into the epidural space near the original leaky site. The resultant clot seals the meningeal leak. I hope this information helps.
Thank you for answering back. I am not even sure that I have a leak. I have a lot of POTS symptoms(Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome) and my neurologist thinks that they might be cause d by a leak. She saw something on an old MRI of my brain, not on the new one that I just got done, but he says that if you have had a leak for a long time it does not show up anymore in the new MRI, and that if I have this blood patch and the symptoms go away they we would know what was causing it.
I am not to happy about getting something done just to see if this is the cause,
I just went to see a spine dr, yesterday and he advised me not to do it yet until I get an MRI of ny spine to see the pressure inside, He said that if I have too much pressure inside and they put more vol;ume , I might becone paralized (I was so happy to have gone to ta;lk to him)
Hi...I had a CSF leak and was told I may also need the blood patch, but mine sealed on it's own...there r things u can do to help it seal.
Lie flat for several days, drink plenty of water and caffeine bevs.......
The blood patch does not always work and may be tried a few times b4 ur dr may choose an alternative procedure.
May I ask how u got the leak?
"selma"
I have had several blood patches. Everytime I have a mylogram (which was several) I end up with a headache that puts me on my hands and knees. When I tried to get up I would get violently sick. The blood patch was a welcome relief for me. It instantly got rid of the headache and let me get on with my life. I was given versaid and the procedure was painless. Well worth it for me as the headache was gone from the spinal fluid that leaked out due the the puncture of the mylogram.
Hey there. I have not had a blood patch personally, but have seen it done many times. I am a nurse, and used to work on an orthopoedic ward. The preferred anaesthetic was a spinal, which punctures the meninges that surround the spinal cord. A CSF leak was not uncommon.
I have seen the headache associated with CSF leak stop almost immediately after treatment.
The doctor will take a small amount of your own blood from a vein. He/she will then inject this blood at the same site as the leak. This bit is painful, as the area is already bruised from the last needle. The blood then settles around the site of the hole causing the leak, and plugs it almost immediately.
Hope this helps.