An emergency room doc asked me to undergo a spinal tap yesterday (details below) and since he made it very clear it wasn’t really necessary, I said no thanks. Part of the decision was based on how he presented the option, but a lot was watching my then six-month old go through one last year. My question to you - when you had a spinal tap, how did it feel and was it worth the effort?
DETAILS: Some light-headedness, funny tingling in the extremities and a massive headache centered on one of my eyes led to a trip to the Urgent Care Center yesterday. I was promptly shipped off to the nearby Emergency Room for a CAT scan, bloodwork and an EKG, all of which were normal, though my blood pressure peaked at 167/111 and ‘settled’ at 149/99 (and I have NO idea if those numbers are bad outside of my wife gasping a few times).
ANYWAY, after five hours of all this the doctor who was looking me over says this: ‘well, we aren’t sure whats wrong, and this probably won’t tell us anything and admittedly hurts like hell, but maybe you should do a spinal tap.’ Given that ‘endorsement’ I said thanks but no, despite my wife’s objections. Ultimately they let me go w/o a diagnosis but a suggestion to see my regular doc next week. I feel fine today.
I had a spinal tap a few years ago. The actual procedure wasn’t so bad - more just uncomfortable than anything. You do feel it when it hits your spine (they rely on you to tell them when you feel the needle ‘give’) but it’s not really that bad, just weird-feeling. In my case, the needle wasn’t long enough the first time, so that kind of sucked.
It was totally worth it for me, though, because I had too much fluid around my brain (pseudotumor cerebri) and I felt immediate relief. Funnily enough I didn’t realize how much darker my vision was and how much pressure I felt because it built up so slowly. I hadn’t even reported any problems - the problem was noticed during an eyeglass exam. All of a sudden, as they took the fluid out for testing, it was gone and I felt fantastic, as if a great weight had been lifted. Fortunately, after treating the symptoms with diuretics, the problem seemed to clear up on its own.
Unfortunately, my employers were less than understanding about my need for time off to recover, so I went back into work since I felt okay the next day - only to suffer a horrible spinal headache that was so bad I couldn’t even drive home. (This happens when the brain ‘sags’ in the skull from lack of fluid; in my case, because standing up caused the fluid to seep out of the hole from the tap and into my tissues.) I then had to spend several days totally flat on my back. I mean, I couldn’t even raise my neck at all, except to go to the bathroom, because that would put pressure on the hole so it wouldn’t close. It was boring as hell.
I had a spinal tap for the same reason fluiddruid did, for pseudotumor. It also helped me right away. I was 14 when I had it done.
I was sitting up on the edge of an exam table and I remember the doctor flirting with the nurse. They started letting some of the fluid out and I swear I felt my brain move (it was all smooshed up in all that fluid!) and nearly took a header off the table. The nurse caught me right on time, thank God. That coulda been a mess.
I also remember my dad not wanting to be with me in the room because he just found it to be too icky or scary or something. I think I thought about that more than the procedure itself.
I had a nasty backache after the local wore off and didn’t sleep that night (in the hospital) but I haven’t had a re-occurance of the headaches since.
I was afraid of needles before that, but once I realized I’d survived having a really long, thick needle in my spine I decided I wasn’t afraid of needles anymore. I went out and got my ears pierced three times and a few years later got a tattoo. Nothing like facing the big honkin’ needle to make other needles seem harmless.
I had an epidural for a hysterectomy which is basically the same thing, but the guy who did it was a moron, and put the needle in slanting the wrong way (diagonally down instead of up) which resulted in a spinal fluid leak and the headache from hell. I have had cancer surgery, degenerative arthritis, and 3 childbirths, and NEVER had anything that felt like the top of my skull was trying to detach itself like that. They tried to give me coffee, on the theory that caffeine will cure it, but I hate coffee, so they gave me a caffeine IV equal to six cups of coffee. I didn’t blink for three days. :eek:
Quite fine, thank you for asking
Actually, it was good enough that a Navy doctor was able to shove sharp instruments down my urethra without me feeling a thing. Of course, the loads of “happy” drugs they injected in the IV made it a non-event.
I did note a bit of concern as I was waiting for the effects to wear off: it was bizarre seeing my legs there but having absolutely no control over them or feeling.
I remember it hurt.
And the headache afterwards… but I think the doc told me to have a lot of caffeine afterwards to help with the headache. I was also on bedrest for the rest of the day, back to work the next.
I had one once, and it was one of the most horribly excruciating experiences of my life. For whatever reason, the doctor couldn’t find the opening between my vertebrae, and kept jabbing needles in there for about 45 minutes. She finally got it in, and I just wanted to scream my lungs out. And yeah, the headache afterwards was pure hell.
And after all that, the results were inconclusive.
Well, let’s see. When I was 12, I had mumps and viral encephalitis. My doctor put me in the hospital when my fever went to 105 and I became completely delerious. I remember almost nothing about those2 days or so, but I REMEMBER THAT GOD-DAMED NEEDLE GOING INTO MY SPINE!!!
When the Doc gave me the local, I almost hurled. It took all my concentration to keep the contents of my stomach, in my stomach. That lasted only a couple of minutes though. After that it was a breeze. For 2 days after, my lower back was stiff and felt sort of like I’d strained it, but nothing too bad.
I’ve heard plenty of horror stories of ones that didn’t go as well though, so I hope I never have to do another one.
I’m guessing they wanted to do the spinal to look for multiple sclerosis. Not saying if you should do it or not, but if you do have MS, the sooner you get on one of the medicines for it the better off you’ll be.
Thanks for the replies. I guess part of my hesitation arose from watching my then six-month old daughter go through one last year. Tough enough for a first-time parent, watching this huge orderly hold her perfectly still like a football for 35 minutes. Tougher still when the mother-in-law insists on being in the room and then makes god-awful noises the whole time until I had a nurse walk her out. Even tougher when the first person to attempt it is on her SECOND DAY at the hospital, midway through med school, and is trying her first spinal tap, and she’s shaking so bad she drops the needle twice.
After two misses I told the senior attending that he really needed to take over, my daughter was about to pass out from screaming so loud and my wife was about to either murder someone or snatch the baby away from the orderly (orderlie?) and run.
