Holy cow! Geez, Antelope, sorry to hear about that and I'd be pretty not happy myself.

That sounds awful! I hope you at least get the answers you need after that experience!

Jeez! I wonder if we had the same neuro!

My one and only LP was an absolute disaster. It took the guy 5 tries, I was begging for the fluoroscopy, I had to sit on the table and lean forward, turned into a drawing board beforehand, etc! I could feel him digging around for the cord. It truly felt like someone had their fingers on my spinal cord and was tugging on it!

He finally got in and said" it's running very slow and I yelled "DO NOT TAKE IT OUT!!!!"

I very calmly asked if there was anything I could do to help speed it up and he nervously said " you could laugh"...and I lost it laughing. He was as nervous as I was! Spinal fluid shot all over the place and we got the sample, but I will NEVER have another one.

Sorry to hear yours was so bad! I certainly hope he got what he needed and that you never have to go through that again!

ahhh, Gazelle... sounds like you had a crony of the idjit that did my daughter's spinal tap.

she had hurt her lower back on school playground equipment at age 12.

later, at age 16, she was running a VERY high fever, and was having trouble moving her neck.

I take her to the ER, and they decide to test for Meningitis (a few cases locally at that time)

the doc has her lie on her side, knees to chest, and does the puncture.

he misses.

he does it again.

I'm holding her hand, and she's being very brave, but tears are leaking.

he misses again.

she's clutching my hand and moaning softly now.

he does it AGAIN, and AGAIN, and AGAIN!

I start to object, as I remember reading somewhere that if a nurse can't draw BLOOD in X number of tries (somebody remind me how many?) then they HAVE to get someone ELSE to do the draw!

they ask me to LEAVE the ER stall, and draw the CURTAINS tight.

I'm standing in the hall, and I'M crying by then!

the idjit doc manages to miss FIVE more times, before I RIP the curtains apart, GRAB my daughter, and start stuffing her into her coat, groggy and feverish though she is, poor beautiful girl!

I'm so angry by now I can barely BREATHE.

on my way out, I mention getting an attorney to sue for MALPRACTICE !!

"I'll take her to another hospital, thankyouverymuch... now GTF outta my WAY!"

his excuse was that she had scar tissue from her old school injury, and he just couldn't get the needle in.

fine, but isn't there some OTHER way to test? something NON-invasive?

and what ABOUT that rule that they have to get someone ELSE?

and what about parental consent?

I had RETRACTED my consent when I saw how much HARM they were doing to my child... I TOLD him to stop, and he DIDN'T.

*dead silence*

All I can say is OMG!!! I am so sorry for all of you. I've had two lp's and had none of these problems. I was laying on my side for both of them and had fluoroscopy for the latest one. The only trouble I had was lower back pain for a few days afterward. One stick both times. I guess I was very lucky!

Enough said.

Sorry (((((((Gazelle))))))))

Oh my gosh, Gazelle! That's just awful. So sorry you had to go through all that pain and agony. Hope you feel better soon and can get some clear cut results. take care and rest.

Mine was done without flouroscopy too. My neuro did it himself in an extended outpatient room at the hospital. I had to about beg to get the LP, so I didn't beg for the flouro. I got lucky and mine was a breeze.

He told me since my lumbar was in good shape and I'm thin, he really didn't need it. He could see my vertibra and knew where to go. If I had to do it again, I'd want flouro though. But I don't see me doing another anytime soon.

Gazelle - I'm with you... scar tissue? From a couple epis and an lp? I think that guy needs a tatoo of Ryan Secrest on his testes... a worse fate than castration.

Somebody might *have* a castrated guy.





Hope you feel better soon. And I say 2 O's and that seals it. I'll dx you myself, dagnabbit.

I would like to ask a question here. Why so many repeated LPs and MRIs? Unless you are undx, there is little reason to go through the pain and discomfort of additional LPs or MRIs for that matter.

If you are DX and there are no other unforseen problems, then what does the Doc tell you when he/she wants to do another invasive procedure? Just for kicks? Curiosity?

Just wondering.

Sorry you had such a rough time with your LP.

Even under Fluroscopy, it was the worst test out of them all. He kept telling me to relax. I told him that I hate needles and the idea of sticking one in my back scared the you know what out of me.

I'm also interested in the answer of Sally's question since I swore I would never go through that again.