Lumbar Puncture
I had a Lumbar Puncture by my Neurologist last year. First she hiit my sciatic nerve, she missed on second attempt, and third attempt went extremely slow. Two hours a excruciating pain. After all was said and done, I ended up with a severe spinal headache and such loud roaring sound in my ears I couldn’t hear. A trip to the ER and a blood patch allievated this immediately. No pain, no discomfort. Anesthesiologists are fantastic with this procedure.
Now a year later, she wants to do another. I asked about having it performed by someone else, using a mild sedation and X-ray guidance. But she refused.
It’s not as though i can go above her. She is the head of Neurology. What can I do?
Why another one? Didn't doc find what she needed to know from the first one? I thought the purpose was to determine if you have MS. At least that was why mine was done. You can choose to have it done by someone else and have results sent to your doctor. You don't have to have her do it!
I’ve had several throughout the years. First to confirm MS. Next to reconfirm MS after a new doctor had decided I had only had a CSI. I need a blood patch after that one. He was wrong. Next time was during a major attack after moving out of state. Next when I had a kidney infection with a fever of 106. They wanted to rule out meningitis. The last year, they needed to do one before placing me on Lemtrada (i’m In a study). That was the one my present neurologist botched, once again requiring a blood patch. Now to my frustration, she tells me that I need another this year as a follow up for comparison. I don’t want her performing this. While she heads up the MS Clinic, she is a Research Fellow, not a clinician. I am one of 8 patients that she sees. Not much experience with this procedure.
I'm sorry you have had such a bad experience with lumbar punctures in the past.
Procedures are a personal decision and you should always be comfortable both with the method and person performing it as it is your body. As a doctor, I do these procedures often and always use xray guidance as it makes it very simple. You may request that it be done by a radiologist or anesthesiologist, both of which often have a lot of experience doing these. This should be routine, relatively painless procedure in most patients. I have always had a radiologist do mine, and never had a problem...yet.
