Thank you for the response, monkeyman. My recovery such as it is seems to be following an up and down course with very slow forward progress. The siezures and myoclonus are all but gone. There was one stressful event (storm water damage to a rental property of mine) that caused a return of the hypnic jerks for a night or two. The nerve pain in my left leg comes and goes, but when I have it, it's pretty severe. The biggest quality of life issue I have now is lack of energy...that is an every day thing...not enough energy to really do the things I want to.

As for the spinal tap information, no, I do not personally know anyone with a spinal tap gone wrong. There was recently an article in the health section of our newspaper about a young mother whose spinal puncture did not seal, and it has ruined her life. She is basically bed bound, in constant pain, can only sit up or stand for very brief periods before having to lie down again, the family has had to hire child care, housekeeping and cooking help, and she can't go out to do anything. Several members of her family are physicians and even with resources like that they have not been able to find any solutions for her.