Re: Spinal Pressure

Posted By PLEASE RESPOND!!!!!!!!!! on February 24, 1998 at 20:29:25:

In Reply to: Spinal Pressure  posted by Dee on February 18, 1998 at 11:01:50:







: I have had 2 CAT scans and an MRI. The MRI showed enlarged vessels in my head and several venus pools.
The CAT scans came up negative. At first my doctor thought I had Psuedotumor Cerebri, but the second
spinal tap showed low pressure instead of high. This was when he had the second CAT scan done with a
die injection to look for a leak. He found nothing. He then admitted me to the hospital for DHE treatment
thinking once again I was having a migraine. Since we had tried 8 different medicines this seemed to be
the last resort. The DHE did nothing for my headache.
My history is three years ago I had a bone cyst removed from the right side of my skull. I was having
headaches and after numerous tested that showed nothing they took an x-ray which showed a large hole in my
skull. They biopsied the cysted and repaired the hole with some kind of plastic. The headaches continued
and for a long time I attributed the pain to recovery from the surgery. About 10 months ago the headaches
began to get much worse. Up to the point where now I can barely get out of bed without intense pain.
Due to the bizarre spinal pressure readings my doctor first treated me for low pressure which did not help.
He is now treating me for high pressure acetazolamide 500mg twice a day and duragesic patches for the pain.
The patches help a little but not much.
My first spinal tap the doctor tried 4 times but didn't think he got into the canal.  Afterwards, I got a
spinal headache that lasted for 6 days.  
The second spinal tap was a week later and showed a spinal pressure of zero.
The third spinal tap showed a spinal pressure of 8, then they added dye and did a CAT scan
to look for a leak.  They found nothing.
The fourth spinal tap they wanted a reading both supine and upright.  My supine
reading was 16 and upright (standing) was 57+ (the scale only went to 57)
The fifth spinal tap showed a supine pressure of 8 and a sitting pressure of 47.
My doctor said that the sitting pressure should have gone down not up.  This
confused me because I would think the pressure would go up when sitting or standing.
Can you explain why a pressure reading should go down when sitting.  Also,
would that be an indication that there is a clog or backup in my veins causing
the pressure to rise instead of fall.

I hope this gives you enough information.