I had a Lumbar Puncture Monday and it got messed up and I’ve been having debilitating pain since ☹️I get migraines and this procedure led to some of the worst headache pain I’ve ever had and it continued all day for 4 days…And I had light, sound and motion sensitivity so I just sat in the dark with no sound or movement around me (sadly this is something I’m very used to with my having migraines regularly as a residual side effect from Covid Long Haul) but that wasn’t even the worst of it … after the migraine kicked in I started having intense pain in my upper back, shoulders, neck and upper arms. Out of nowhere, something I’d never felt before? I barely slept that night!
Then Tuesday that pain became so excruciating that with the slightest movement I was screaming out of nowhere…to no one! Getting up was torture. My pain level was 10 out of 10. It was scary.
Fast forward from then and I continued to be in awful pain the next two days. So finally the Docs mentioned I could get relief with a procedure called a Blood Patch…so today I got a ride down to Hopkins that really hurt, every bump or turn, but I got the procedure done. It was a much bigger deal than I anticipated with 6 people in the room…numbing, monitoring, poking, teaching, inserting… It felt more like surgery than a procedure! And it ended up not being a blood patch, but instead of my blood they inserted saline (20 cc actually - like 4 average blood draw tubes size!!!) right in the same place the needle went in for the lumbar puncture but a smaller needle and injecting in, instead of drawing out.
So yes, just another health challenge, another procedure. Been there done that. Sadly prep time, needles, bright lights, poking and being surrounded in an Operating room are no big deal.for me these days. For now I lay flat in bed recovering, just like the last four days, because the only thing that relieved some of the pain all week is laying down! Now I have considerable other pain and was prescribed OxyCodone …but there is an insurance issue and I gave up after being on hold for over 30 minutes…and I can’t drive to the pharmacy to get it anyway . Oh well. This too shall pass …hopefully it’s worth it in the big picture!
#MentalHealth #Depression #Anxiety #Pain #PTSD #HIVAIDS #BipolarDisorder #BipolarDepression #Addiction #AddictionRecovery #Surgery #Grief #COVID19 #Migraine #LumbarPunctures #bloodpatch #salinepatch #TheMighty #MightyTogether #MightyMinute #Hope #Joy #happy #scared
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