Spinal Tap leak

My neice 31 was diagnosed with MS 2 weeks ago, she had a spinal tap on Friday July 16. she has had all the sysmpton of a spinal leak, she had a blood patch this past Friday July 23, it showed some relief however today Monday she is back at the hospital with sever headache, throwing up and physically weak.   Due to the recent diagnoses of MS and now this problem we are very concerned about her treatment. Today they have order an MRI, hopefully this will give us some answers.  We are in NC, does anyone have a suggestion of where the best treatment for this is done?


This discussion is related to spinal tap leak??.

[Dr. A. Srivastava]

Hi, Thank you for your question. CSF leak or spinal headache usually resolves within few days or week as many of the causes of leak go away on their own after a few days. Complete bed rest or blood patches for several days are usually recommended. Therefore, I do not foresee your continuous headache even after three years is due to CSF leak. Other possibilities like migrainous, cluster and tension type headache that may occur after an injury and need to be evaluated thoroughly with the help of a neurologist here. Migraine like headache can be throbbing, one sided of face & head and preceded by aura (starts with blurred vision). Cluster headache may appear as burning, explosive in nature and tear appears from eyes. Therefore, it will be best to consult a neurologist to find out the nature of headache in order to start the appropriate treatment. Hope this helps.