Lumbar puncture afterwards?

[Sezza123123]

Hi my daughter is 15 and had a lumbar puncture Weds to check opening pressure but since this yesterday her back was sore which is to be expected but her head didn't seem to bad but today she has a bad headache (she does get headaches all the time) but she said this is bad and has been sick not moved all day and not eating anything and barely drunk anything is this normal?

It could be severe lumbar puncture syndrome which is horribly painful. Poor girl. She needs to stay lying flat without raising her head except briefly to get to the loo, this is very important. It should pass in a few days or possibly a couple of weeks but hopefully ledd. I had it and recovered but it was bad.

She needs to drink water or whatever she can manage and a boiled sweet might help.

My dad used to have a double espresso shot to deal with the head pain post lumbar puncture - advised by his medical team - it helped him

Thank you all will tell her to stay lying down just wasn't sure if this was normal hospital didn't say there would be any side effects etc ive read of headache afterwards but wasn't expecting it to be this bad 😔

It depends one what the LP was for and how much volume they took for samples. You do need to get back in touch with the department that did the Lp so they know she needs following up if it is the characteristic post-dural puncture headache or if it might be due to a change in whatever the original problem was.

if it’s due to the LP it might get better with bed rest, fluids, and pain relief but it sometimes does need a procedure to fix it (more likely if there are other signs than ‘just’ the headache).

bottom line is you need to get in touch with the hospital.

Ok thank you the LP was to check opening pressure and they just toke a small amount to send off she just says she feels sick (and was actually sick once today) and really bad headache and her back really hurts where they did it 😞

Phone the hospital now

Thank you was trying to see if she perked up at all during day but she's still the same head hurts more when she gets up and she feels sick it's been 48 hours now since she's had LP aswell

I’d ring 111 op

A boiled sweet?!

I have had post LP leaks, after a while they figure out it’s not going to fix itself and will hopefully give her a blood patch to fix it. Low pressure headache from a leaking LP is grim.

I had lots of lumbar punctures as a child and was strictly told to lie still for a period of time afterwards (can’t remember how long). The last one I had at 16 resulted in about 5 days of migraine and vomiting, could barely keep water down.

It did pass on its own but don’t eff around with this sort of thing, call the hospital.

Thank you x

Obviously if you get really worried seek help. But she may well find that caffeine helps.

Sucking a boiled sweet reduced the nausea when I had mine.

Yes it’s normal. I had one a couple of years ago & the headache was so bad, I was vomiting & I was in bed for days because I could barely move my head. It was awful. That’s the only time I’ve ever been that ill after an LP (I’ve had several).