after lumbar puncture!!!

so four days ago i had lumbar puncture about 10am and after two attempts everything went fine, i laid on my back for a couple hours and when i got up i had no pain but the day after i woke up with the worst throbbing headache i have ever experienced, worse than the migraines that brought me here in the first place. it’s only relieved when i lay flat on my back but i’m in extreme pain when i raise my head, sit or stand. i get pain killers every 4 hours but they don’t help at all. i told the nurses and doctors that did the procedure what i’m experiencing and they think it’s just a normal headache but after a quick google search i found out that this tends to happen after a lumbar puncture. the doctors have been pretty much no help at all so i’m wondering if anyone can tell me how long this headache will last and if there is anything i can do to get rid of it or help me feel better???

I also had the dreaded positional headache after my lumbar puncture which lasted 6 days. Unless I was flat on my back I felt like my head was going to explode. It was absolutely rancid and without doubt the worst headache I’ve ever had. It will go eventually though. Rest, stay hydrated and you will wake one morning (fingers crossed tomorrow) and it would have eased off!!!

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Hi. My late husband had to have a lumber puncture and he was screaming in pain by the next morning. He had the worst headache ever. I phoned the hospital because I was so worried about him and they told me to bring him back in. When we got back to the hospital, we were quite shocked as they just made him drink coke a cola. The full fat type and lots of it. We were there a few hours and lots of coke later and believe it or not, his headache was nearly gone. We went back home and he just had more coke as he’d been told to. That got rid of the headache that no tablets could shift. Try it and see for yourself. I hope it works for you, I don’t see why it shouldn’t though as it was what the hospital recommended. It can’t be diet coke though, has to be full fat. Something to do with caffeine apparently.

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Try full fat coke a cola, and lots of it too, not the diet one. Recommended and used on my husband at the hospital the day after he had a lumber puncture when he was writhing and groaning in agony with the worst headache he had ever had in his life. The hospital made him drink loads of it and it really worked. It shifted the pain that no tablets would, we were quite shocked. Try it and see if it works for you. Something to do with the caffeine apparently. Hope this is of some help to you.

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that’s weird, after i had the procedure done the doctor that did it told me to avoid caffeine for a while

Just out of intrest, many years ago I went on the Cary Loder drugs trial, she had found that her symptoms improved and was convinced that this was due to the fact she drank lots of traditional coke, took a certain anti depressant & vitamin D injections, evidently coka cola has/had an amino acid, can’t remember which one now, in it, sadly the trial didn’t prove anything & was discontinued, but it is very interesting that coke keeps being mentioned, for more reasons than cleaning rusty keys!

Hi,

This is my usual advice.

The actual procedure is not painful; in fact the only thing you feel is a scratch when the anaesthetic goes in. The actual removal of fluid is just a feeling of pressure if done properly. I must stress if done properly; do not let anyone practice on you insist on someone who is experienced.

It’s after you MAY get something called ‘the headache from hell.’ To cut down the chances of getting this you should lay flat for at least 3 hours do not even get up to go to the loo; use a pan. Drink at least 2 litres of classic Coke, not diet; it’s the caffeine that aids replenishment of your CNS fluid. Being your drinking a lot take one of those bendy straws otherwise the bed will get more Coke than you. If you want a change of drink very strong coffee.

These things will drastically reduce your chances of getting a headache that could last about 8 days. If you have a couple of days off work and rest if you do not get the headache, if you do 10 days off work.

If the headache last more than 10 days you could need a blood patch; especially if there’s a wet patch on the bed in the area of the spine after a nights sleep; this is rare.

Good luck.

George