Just a quickie, does having a l.p hurt? I have and have had sciatic pain for donkeys years and concerned that the needle will touch nerve and rattle it !! Ouch . Oh well if it hurts it hurts ,tough luck,just prefer it did’nt!!
It doesn’t hurt. The worst bit is the local anaesthetic… That stings a bit but it soon stops. You may have a bad headache after the procedure but drinking lots of coffee and coke after helps… daft but true Best of luck and try not to stress, it’s really not that bad 
Hiya
I didn’t feel anything but a bit of pressure. No pain.
Like Vinnygirl said you may get a headache afterwards. I didn’t but I know a lot of people do.
Try not to worry about it. You will be ok.
Take care.
Shazzie xx
It’s probably worth asking for a sprotte needle if you need an LP.
http://multiple-sclerosis-research.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/removing-headache-of-lumbar-punctures.html
This video from the Barts & London explains the benefits.
Annie Davis - Lumbar Punctures http://multiple-sclerosis-research.blogspot.co.uk/…/4th…
I didn’t feel a thing, but I wasn’t given enough fluids, I waited six hours as they were doing one an hour and had only one bed, I also wasn’t given long enough to lie still afterwards, this was what gave me the mother and father of a headache for a week after.
My lp itself didn’t hurt. As vinneygirl said, the anesthetic was the worst bit but that didn’t last long .
The headache really was the worst bit! I was was advised to stay lying totally flat for at least an hour after the procedure. However, typical me!, 20 mins after it was all over, I though “Hey, I’m OK” so got up and went home - I remember thinking at the time I could have driven myself home rather than asking my aunt to come with me!
Anyway, all was fine for 12 hours … then the headache decended like a black cloud! Ouch! I couldn’t stand up straight for 4 days! I was fine when horizontal but vertical was agony! But suddenly on afternoon the 5th day when I crawled out of bed to go to the loo, I suddenly realised I could stand up straighter, very tentatively, inch by inch! The pain had gone just like that! … a bit biblical really!
So my advice to you would be, if you are told to stay lying flat after, listen to good advice!
Emma x
Thankyou everyone for your comforting words regarding L.P. I will try drinking coffee if it helps to stop headache .
Looking forward to it in a strange kind of way,last test to be done before I see neuro again and find out whats going on with my diagnosis.
Thanks Emma x
Doesn’t hurt , as others said, drink liquids/caffine drinks and lie flat for as long as possible. I made the car seat flat as had an hour drive… I was a passenger.
Good luck.
Jen x
ps when I saw the consultant I thought he said I was going for a lung puncture! Had to look it up in books (per internet) ha
Just remembered. I was made to lie flat for an hour afterwards so that is probably why I didn’t get the headache.
xx
I got told to drink cola so I drank 2 small bottles didn’t have a headache maybe it was just luck I have a short body the junior couldn’t find the bit so had to wait half an hour after numerous botch attempts so if it’s a junior ask for someone else to be present. When she came up 2 mins and it was done X
My first one, or rather multiple attempts was, quite frankly, horrific. They were new at it and could not get it. I was screaming. In the end, after ~45 mins they gave up and said they’d try again tomorrow. (I was an in-patient. ) No way was I letting them near me again. I discharged myself immediately. I had my real lumbar puncture at a different hospital with a chap who was the complete opposite - knew exactly what he was doing and had a skilled hand. I was, understandably, nervous as hell, but it was fine. No pain but an increasing feeling of discomfort I wanted to be over very soon, and then it was. He showed me the fluid. I had to get home (couple of hours by buses with too much walking) and yes I got the headache from hell despite copious cola. I was in bed with it for 3 days. Horrible. Stock up with paracetamol and aspirin, take 2 of one drug and 2 hours later take 2 of the other, & continue alternating them up to the maximum per day.
My LP was no big deal - uncomfortable rather thsn painful, though my back felt a bruised the following day where the doctor had gone in. The doctor had to make two attemptd, on his first he discovered the needle wasn’t long enough. Once he got a longer needle it didn’t take log. And they let my husband stay with me throughout, so I had a hand to hold and someone to talk to me and try to distract me.
thankyou all, glad that it’s not a lung puncture goldrat!! ha ha ,now that does sound painful !!