lumbar puncture

[dannig]

I am scheduled for a lumbar puncture and was very suprised that the neuro dept scheduled it for 3pm on a Friday.  I thought patients had to lay flat for a certain number of hours after this procedure.  The scheduling dept said "Everyone is different if you feel fine you can leave right away if not you can lay down for a while".  I've read you are to lay flat to prevent a spinal headache.  Please let me know if you are still supposed to lay flat after this procedure.

[Abhijeet Deshmukh, MD]

Hello.

After an LP, you should have 2-4 hours of rest lying down supine. This itself reduces the chances of further complications. The second best option is to lie down while you are traveling back home. You should avoid sitting up. It has been observed that those who can manage to take a 204 hours rest after the LP have minimum side effects.

Regards

[libragrl72]

While I'm no medical expert, I've also heard that lying flat after this procedure will help prevent a headache.  If you can have someone drive you to the procedure and then home, you can lie in the car and then obviously lie down when you get home.  I'm sure this all seems obvious to you.  Good luck.