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jessicalittler79
21-02-13, 14:39
I was woundering if anyone has had a spinal tap I was told by my neuro doc he would like to do a tap on me...he thinks I may have pserdotumour cerebrial ..and I am scared to death to do the tap please let me know if anyone has had one and how bad are they ..also if anyone ever heard of pseudotumour cerebrial

reddevil
21-02-13, 19:12
Hi,

I have had a spinal tap years back because I was having constant headaches.


Feel free to PM me.


Red

anxietygal
22-02-13, 08:14
When I was a teenager, I actually had two spinal taps for a pseudotumor cerebri. First, the spinal taps - I have a very low pain threshhold and they were painful. But the pain only lasts during the procedure (which wasn't very long - this was almost 20 years ago so I don't remember exactly). I was offered valium before the procedure, then they gave me several numbing injections around the spine. After they determined I was sufficiently numb which took more injections than normal - don't be afraid to ask for more if you need them - they began the spinal tap. I had a little bit of a headache and my back hurt but neither lasted long.

As for a diagnosis of pseudotumor cerebri...a spinal tap will tell the doctor two things: 1) what the pressure is in your head which is one of the diagnostic criteria and 2) can eliminate any other infection. My pseudotumor developed quickly because it was due to a tetracycline allergy. I developed symptoms (in my case, loss of control of one eye due to a swollen optic nerve) after a month on the medication. After an opthamalogist exam, MRI and spinal tap, I was taken off the medication and my body reabsorbed the excess cerebrospinal fluid (which is all a pseudotumor cerebri is) over the course of several weeks. I had a second spinal tap to drain some fluid to help speed my recovery but the only lasting side effect has been some floaters.

Your course of treatment will largely depend on why you have a pseudotumor (also known as benign intracranial hypertension). There are multiple possible causes including other medications, obesity or different medical conditions. I'm not a doctor, but I really don't think you should be worrying about going blind like you mentioned in another thread because you don't have any optic nerve swelling (and any doctor or med student would have seen this by looking in your eyes).

There's a great website from the Intracranial Hypertension Research Foundation that has more info - I wish I had had it as a resource when I went through this. I hope this helps!

jessicalittler79
22-02-13, 13:49
I've had this sense feb 2010 u would think if it was pst then 2 years later something buy now would of showed up ughh another thing what was ur symptoms ? Thank u for the reply .

---------- Post added at 07:49 ---------- Previous post was at 07:40 ----------

Another question . If it was due to an infection would it last this long ?

anxietygal
23-02-13, 01:35
I discovered my pseudotumor because I lost control of one of my eyes - when I tried to focus at middle distances, one eye would just move like crazy. I saw an opthamalogist right away who sent me for an MRI after seeing how swollen my optic nerve was. Once the MRI was clear, I saw a neurologist the next day for the spinal tap which confirmed the pseudotumor diagnosis. So my diagnosis was very fast since I had a more extreme sympton than you have.

In my completely non-medical opinion, I find it hard to believe you have an infection just because you've had symptoms for so long. Either way, the condition is treatable so I hope you get some answers and relief soon!