Suffering from pain to the tailbone area which began 2 days after a botched lumbar puncture on Feb. 8 to determine the cause of a severe headache. The doc tried 10-12 times to extract spinal fluid & ended up the sample was contaminated with blood! He says the bones in my back were unusually close together.
Headache is gone, but my tailbone area is in chronic pain & it hurts to sit. I take a lot advil & use a heating pad in bed. I have no history of back trouble & am otherwise healthy. My family doc says it's likely a soft tissue injury from the bruising caused by the procedure & it should heal quickly. I'm hope so!! Anyone experience this and if so how long did the pain take to go away. Thanks, CD
The tailbone area is a particularly sensitive area. When traumatized, such as in a fall or an assault such as you had, it can be difficult to get it to heal. You probably should be icing for pain and to keep any inflammation down. You want to try to avoid sitting as much as possible. When you do sit, try to avoid putting pressure on the sore area.
You might want to get one of those donut cushions that keeps the pressure of the "bottom" and then only sit briefly for a little bit at a time.
I would think that warm sitz baths might feel good, if the doctor is allowing you to get the area wet at this point.
Dear cdeshaw, OMG, your post about the traumatic, horrid actually experience was excrutiating to read much less being the one going through such a terrible experience, you poor thing! Well, thank God that the headache is gone & that bloody CSF was not really needed. I am glad that you are better!
The Following User Says Thank You to gmak For This Useful Post: cdeshaw (02-24-2013)
Thanks, I'm gradually feeling better, don't need as much tylenol & try to avoid sitting for very long
Hi cdeshaw, Thank you for the thank you. From february 8 to february 24 is 3.5 weeks & i was thinking that the spinal needle never went anywhere near your tailbone & even with the bruising from the trauma in my opinion, you should be getting better day by day. But if that assessment is too vague or the day by day improvement is not noticeable, can you see a definitive improvement from last Sunday to this Sunday & is the difference definitely noticeable to you? If so, great! If not, if i were you i would go ahead & make an appointment with a spine only NS or a spine orthopedic surgeon so that by the time the appt came around & i wasnt feeling better 100% I could go, get an MRI, maybe an EMG not for surgery of course but to have the most knowledgable spine specialist evaluate my trauma & get a diagnosis & treatment plan. Now, i would be watching for temp elevation, drainage, radiating nerve pain going down my leg, swelling, hot to the touch anywhere on spine etc to stay on the side of safety & i would call dr asap if i had any of these symptoms. Have you tried long, hot soaking baths? So hoping that this resolves, you have been through too much!
Last edited by gmak; 02-24-2013 at 06:50 PM.
Reason: typos
Thanks Gmak, it is much better than a week ago, thanks for asking. Just some minor pain in the tailbone area. Am hoping it will be just a bad memory in another week. I did complain to the hospital about the botched procedure.
Thanks Gmak, it is much better than a week ago, thanks for asking. Just some minor pain in the tailbone area. Am hoping it will be just a bad memory in another week. I did complain to the hospital about the botched procedure.
So glad cdeshaw! We always say teaching hospital, especially me when others contemplating back surgery. Maybe I just found a good thing about private hospitals!Lol
