Low CSF pressure headaches and lumbar puncture

[piggem]

My symptoms seem to match the intracranial hypotension headaches usually associated
with CSF leaks. My chiropractor pointed out that since so many people with his syndrome
have had some kind of spinal puncture or injury in the past, while I have never had one,
I ought to think twice before finding out if my CSF fluid is low by having a lumbar puncture,
which might make my condition worse if I already have a slow or interittent CSF leak --
(my orthostatic headache, frontal and to the left, has been persistent every day for almost
ten months now. Fine in bed, not bad in the morning, but the longer I am vertical, the worse
I get, till bending down to pick up the dog dish in the evening feels like my head will split
open. I almost always take an Excedrin migraine around 3-4 pm, unless I get to lie down
for half an hour or an hour in mid afternoon, which delays the peak headache some hours.

Question: is there any way to measure low CSF pressure without a spinal puncture?


This discussion is related to Orthostatic Headache connected to Blood Pressure.