Hi All, I have been reading your forum’s for a little while now and decided to take the plunge and ask for some advise as you all seem so friendly and knowledgable. On tuesday of this week I had a Lumbar Puncture of which i was told that day they were doing the test for MS. Im now 4 days on from having the lp and i still feel really poorly. I have headache, really bad neck pain and stiffness and upper back pain and feeling sick. I did not realise i would be so poorly after having the lp as no one mentioned I could feel this poorly. i have been more or less bed ridden since tuesday afternoon. Is this normal? Also is it normal for your neurology consultant to not be very informative and not give you any indication on what they are looking for. Thank you so much for your time reading this. Lisa xx
Hi Lisa
I had my LP on 14th February and was so ill for a week. I don’t think it helped that I had a 9 month old baby so lying flat was impossible. It did pass on it’s own in the end but it took a week. The neck pain was horrendous and made me feel so sick and like my neck couldn’t support my own head but when I mentioned it to the consultant he just told me to take painkillers. So yes, I would say it’s normal although I think we have both suffered with the side effects more than many seem to have.
It sounds like your neurologist could have been a bit more informative! I was told from Day 1 what they were looking for and I had a CT and MRI Scan immediately which set them on the trail.
Hope you feel better very soon but just stay as flat as possible and take some painkillers if needs be. x
Mine was fine Lisa but I was lucky and had some good advice from Snowleopard (full fat Coke and paracetamol) beforehand. Try to drink lots of fluids and have some painkillers, as Tricky advised. If it’s no better after the weekend it may be worth giving neuro’s secretary a call. Hope you feel better soon hun.
Mags xx
It’s not normal, no. Most people have no problems with the LP, but some can feel pretty lousy afterwards and some get the “headache from hell”. It’s important to lie down as much as possible and take lots of fluid (preferably with caffeine, although avoid that if it’s bad for you normally). You really should see your GP though.
I hope it gets better soon!
Karen x
i did as advised and drank lots of water and full fat coke, i felt fine that evening.
however, during the night i woke up vomiting and couldnt stop, even though i had had very little to eat.
my gp said it was a bad reaction to having cerobro spinal fluid taken. he prescribed diazepam as an “anaesthetic” so i slept it off over the next 3 days.
hope you feel better soon
carole x
Thank you all for you advice and comments, it is very much appreciated. I am on codeine for the pain but it doesnt seem to be working that well. I also forgot to mention that yesterday my hearing started to sound echo’ey and is still the same at present. I hope all these side effects will disappear soon. Enough of my moaning! HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE Lisa x
I had my LP on Christmas Eve 2008 and I was told to lie flat for the rest of the evening but the hospital did it just before teatime (I was an inpatient) and I was hungry so I propped myself up just a bit to eat my three courses (and spilt tomato soup on the blanket ;-)). I then had a thumper of a headache from then until New Year’s Eve. It was only after several alcoholic drinks that I realised that the headache had gone. Of course I had a hangover the next morning but after that cleared, my headache was cured.
Of course, I’m not recommending this as a cure, just sharing my experience !
Tracey x