Reply To: Spinal Tap

actually if they perform the lp in the lumbar 1-3 area, either between L-1 and L-2 or L-2 and L-3, it is below the important cord function area. they can and often do hit the nerves-which causes a severe burning, stabbing, searring pain to radiate down to the feet. when that nerve is hit you know it right away. the best way for lps are with the scope, not as much of a chance to hit the nerves. with the scope the lp feels like a finger poke in the middle of your back-no pain for me, and they did use the injections to numb it-worked within 2 mins and the needle was inserted, immediately, the tap was after that and it felt like a poke-like someone wanting your attention-not painful at all. it even made a pop when it went in, mainly because there was soo much scare tissue to go through, weird hearing a pop from my cord sheath like that. with a few of my lps they had to tilt the table to get the fluid into the tap-felt like one of those ocean type lava lamps-first the head went up then the feet went up, in a gentle rocking motion. and to help put mom’s mind at ease, at least with my procedures, i was monitored at all times, bp, oxy stats and talked to and comforted, the dr also told me what he was doing every step of the way. i actually fell asleep during a couple of them-only to be awakened by them telling me its done. the most important thing for the patient to do is stay relaxed during the whole procedure-it helps the dr and it helps the patient in recovery. don’t stress out about the lp, it isn’t worth the energy to stress over it. Big Hugs to your daughter, she’ll do Great.:)