Anyone ever had a spinal tap?

[cptbarkey]

My wife got an epidural for the first pregnancy. They screwed up and it only numbed half her body. They gave her a second one and that one worked. She had the shakes pretty badly.

Good luck.

 

[ecotourist]

This is a personal and not a medical professional opinion. And since I'm retired I don't offer medical opinions anyway.

As much as I like to support medical research, I wouldn't let someone do a spinal tap on me for purely research purposes. But then I'm kind of a wuss when I'm at the sharp end of a needle so maybe you shouldn't listen to me.

Interviews - sure, questionnaires - sure, non invasive tests - sure, but invasive procedures - anything beyond a simple blood test, and I'm out.

If I was seriously considering agreeing to the procedure, the questions I would ask are - "Is there any benefit to me? If yes, what is that benefit?" And go from there.

To clarify, its very unlikely there would be any long term adverse effects from a spinal tap. People do sometimes have headaches for a day or two after a spinal tap, but I'm not aware of it being a cause of long term headaches. [You sometimes lose a small amount of spinal fluid during a spinal tap and that is the supposed cause of headache. But that fluid is replaced very quickly so there is no long term issue.]

A spinal tap to prove whether I have had a subarachnoid hemorrhage, to establish and then identify the organism in possible meningitis, to determine whether I have MS, sure, I'd have a spinal tap for any of those reasons.

If there was some specific benefit for a group I belonged to, I would consider it. But I still doubt I would agree to it. I just don't like people coming at me with long needles for research purposes. As I said, I'm a wuss when I'm on the wrong end of a needle.

 

[JonesZ]

I've performed them and have had one on myself. AMA. Actually, nevermind, the last time I opined on something medical the mods deleted my post and berated me. Which is crazy since this forum is full of non petroleum engineers expressing their opinions on everything.

 

[Kira]

My wife got an epidural for the first pregnancy.

An epidural and a spinal tap differ in that the former doesn't go in as far.

 

[Panda87]

An epidural and a spinal tap differ in that the former doesn't go in as far.

I’ve watched my wife get 4 epidurals. The needle for those is already long! I couldn’t imagine an even larger one going into someone’s spine.

 

[alarmguy]

Thanks for the input Gents!

Sorry you had gone through this, your comments and experience do not align with what the DR briefed me on the phone.

I doubt I will do this.

I would listen to my doctor not to a few experiences on a forum.
Gosh, I remember as a teenager a close friend got one, no big deal. However I dont want one! *LOL* I hear the needle is long.

Seriously I am assuming you have also have had your blood glucose checked as well. I heard about links to migraines because of large swings in glucose levels. Not that I am a doctor but something to ask about
DO you eat a lot of carbs and sweet things?

I do wish you well. I cant imagine what some people go through.