Quote:
Originally Posted by dshue
I've had a diasatrous experience with the effects from a lumbar puncture, and wanted to know if anyone had any information that might illuminate things for me.
I had the LP done as the last diagnostic test before getting a ketamine infusion - I wanted to make sure I had every test done I could have before taking that plunge. My RSD symptoms had begun six months prior following a sugery, and I had some fears about ketamine. Anyway, three days after the LP, a terrible headache appeared, along with what felt like my spine being ripped out of my body.
After two and a half weeks of this, I had a blood patch done and felt about 80% better. But three days after that, it felt like a lightning bolt struck in my brain, resulting in extreme dizziness and nausea, with continuous muscle spasms in my right glut and a constant pressure on the top of my skull, along with a choking sensation in my throat.
I've been checked for a stroke, for a CSF leak. Apparently neither is present. Things have settled just small bit since they first appeared, and the symptoms get much worse with any physical activity.
Could my RSD-symptoms have spread from this, and in this way?
|
Hi
I'd hesitate to just assume that this is a CRPS spread although it is always possible. Sometimes (a third or more) blood patch is needed to repair the effects of the CSF leak/pressure drop that causes the horrific headache and after effects. It might just take time or it may be that there has been some other issue with the LP such as incorrect placement of the needle. It can take weeks for the LP complications to subside in some people.
Can you do heaps of LP research on the net while you are "recovering" to see if you can find any post LP symptoms that match yours and link them to possible causes? That way you can press your docs armed with knowledge and confidence rather than from a position of relative weakness? Either way I would be pushing your docs if you don't have a steady improvement.