New to all this...........Lumbar puncture wait?

Hi i’m new to this but here goes… i suffered with optic neuritis in Aug 2023 i was referred to ophthalmology and MRI and CT. I’ve had my appointment in Jan with the ophthalmology team who informed several white matter / lesions shown on my brain. I was then seen by the consultant neurologist who suspects MS. He has requested i have a lumbar puncture and another MRI of my spine. Does anyone know how long this will usually take to get my appointment for the lumbar puncture as my anxiety is rising. I’m 33 and only 12 months free from skin cancer so this is all very worrying again.

Sorry, I don’t know and it probably varies from hospital to hospital and health board to health board. You could try contacting the consultants secretary and asking him/ her?

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Sorry to hear you went from one thing to another. Original my lumber puncture appointment was a little over a month and a half after I got out of hospital though was cancelled as was deemed not needed after my first 2 MRIs. Also my spine MRI was a couple of weeks after I got out. Hopefully wont take too long for you to know when you can get both.

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It’s so hard waiting for these results…sorry you’re facing yet another ordeal.

For me it took a couple of months, from memory, to get to the LP appointment. The results then took about 6 weeks to come through. And then took ages to get an answer out of consultant’s secretary and they refused to give me the results! Would not send me an email due to data protection, post didn’t arrive… I finally begged them to email their letter to my GP (NHS email) and found out that way. I know it’s an awful wait. Try to keep busy with anything else that will absorb all your attention…

If it’s any comfort, I found the LP procedure itself far easier than expected.

Hi @Pip2 ,

I have had exactly the same as you, started with ON and then MRI showed multiple lesions. Ive just had my LP this week. Just wondering how your results went?

Thanks,
Laura