Help! How long should I feel like this?
 

I have tinnitus and sporadic hearing problems, strength leaving my legs so I cant support my own weight, pain in abdomen and pain from nerves that were hit during the lumbar puncture. I also have neck pain and facial pain.
What is going on?!
I'm supposed to be at work tomorrow and I don not want more time off.
Is this supposed to happen after a lumbar puncture?

hopefully others with a lumbar puncture experience will chime in. I did not experience any of the things you are explaining when I had it done.
I ended up with a severe headache, which sometimes happens from the procedure and had to go back in for a lumbar patch.
Is there a neurologist on call today you can call to see if your new symptoms could be due to the lumbar puncture?

My experience was that I had no symptoms at all after the lumbar puncture. They did hit some nerves that made for a shocking experience, but I had no ill effects from it.

I've never had a LP but I'm concerned about your tinnitus and hearing problems. That is not typical and needs to be addressed immediately.

Here is a case study:

http://bja.oxfordjournals.org/content/91/5/762.full

A pubmed abstract:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9033682

In the case study, they proposed that CSF loss decreased the intracranial pressure, which created a pressure imbalance and traction on the cranial nerves (abducens, facial, and vestibulocochlear nerves). The onset of her tinnitus lagged 2 days behind the patient's headache.

In the pubmed abstract it reports 2 cases of LP with 2 patients. One had tinnitus and the other had hearing loss as a result.

In both of these papers, the epidural blood patch was an effective treatment for both headache and auditory symptoms.

If you haven't already, get in contact with the physician and tell him what is going on. I don't know all the back story about your LP and symptom onset, but if I were in your shoes, I would seek out treatment immediately to prevent further vestibular nerve damage. If your doctor is dismissive of your symptoms, print out the two articles I posted here and bring them into your appointment. I will try to find a few more articles.

And I know how terrible these symptoms can be. At the onset of my PN, I had months of tinnitus and even lost normal hearing for 2 days. I'm so sorry you are dealing with this.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16758841

Unfortunately the full article is in another language. Basically a case study where the patient has a lumbar myelography (contrast is injected into the spine), loses some hearing, and recovers after epidural blood patch.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20072012

This person did not have a LP prior to symptom onset, but an investigation revealed little to no CSF that was causing auditory and balance issues.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18404909

This patient had hearing loss and a headache 4 days after LP. He was treated with a epidural blood patch and his symptoms improved.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8534460

Here is a small study that showed that an epidural blood patch improved symptoms in patients that had hearing loss and headache after receiving a needle in their spine.

Thanks everyone
 

Getting neuro opinion tomorrow 8am.

Wishing you the best for tomorrows appointment.

Cliffman :)

Hard to seperate
 

what is Neuropathy and what is happening immediately after LP. I have tinnitus and my legs weakened to the point of using a walker, but I don't feel that they are related to the LP. The symptoms did not develop immediately. I had no immediate trouble after LP. Good Luck, Ken in Texas.

So sorry you're going through this.
 

Please let us know what happens tomorrow morning.:hug: