Spinal Headache Woes

11-13-2005, 09:33 AM

Ack. Had a myelogram on Thursday morning (4 days ago) and was kept in the hospital on a "23 hour admit" until Friday morning. Had no headache issues at that time. I stayed reasonably still and flat, with my head elevated at about 30 degrees most of the time. I only got up to use the restroom.

I came home about 10 am on Friday and started getting a headache, mild at first. I thought that maybe I had inadvertently taken some caffeine in the past few days (I don't normally drink caffeine) so I bought a diet coke and drank about half of it -- no effect. I also took 2 tylenol -- no effect.

I just laid on the couch most of the rest of Friday and seemed better Saturday morning. I again didn't do much around the house, but I did have to go out in the afternoon to get my Rx filled (Lortabs). I was out about an hour, and in that time frame my mild headache turned into a roaring train through my head. I also started to sweat and feel naseous. It was all I could do to get back through the drive-through of the pharmacy to get my Rx and get home (about 3 miles away). I paged my neurosurgeon while I was waiting for the Rx. No call back. I called again when I got home and had rested a bit (which helped some), and the answering service told me he'd had several calls but that she had indeed given him my message.

I stayed in bed the rest of Saturday evening, and moved to the couch where I could get more support raising my legs (which helps the back pain) and slept there.

Now it's 11:30 on Sunday morning, no call from the doctor yet. I'm wondering if this headache is going to eventually go away on its own (if I keep drinking lots of water and laying flat) or do I need to go to the ER, or what? On a pain scale it's about a 5 when I'm lying down, a 7-8 when I'm standing, and goes to a 10 if I bend over to pick up something on the floor. I don't feel sweaty or nauseous today (yet... it's still early!), but maybe it just gets worse as the day progresses??? I'm wondering if the pressure normalizes at night when sleeping flat for so many hours, and then when you get up and start the day it takes several hours to get to full-on headache. Does that make sense?

I guess I'll call the doctor again.

Oh, and I'm in the middle of changing jobs -- the last day at the old one was Wednesday and the new one starts tomorrow. Thursday and Friday were supposed to be my "down days" between jobs, but then the myelogram got scheduled for then... oh well. Now I'm worried that I'm going to have this horrible headache tomorrow on my first day... or that I'll need to postpone my first day until Tuesday (and there's a big meeting schedule for Monday with people from out of town...). And my husband is an engineer at a paper mill and they are doing their annual maintenance shut down right now, so he is working 16+ hour days right now and can't take off to be with me unless its REALLY an emergency. So, you guys are it -- my faithful support group.

Thanks for listening.

11-13-2005, 10:19 AM

edited by me

11-13-2005, 11:34 AM

No advice since I haven't had my myelogram yet(and now I'm scared to death of it. LOL), but I wantd to give you a great big ((HUG)). I would get in touch with the hospital ASAP and find out what to do next.

11-13-2005, 01:15 PM

Thanks, guys. I've been taking it easy today, lying on the couch with my laptop propped up so I can see and type while still keeping my head flat (it probably looks really funny!). The headache has diminished somewhat. But I guess I'll call the doctor anyhow.

I'll let you all know if anything major happens.

11-13-2005, 01:27 PM

Well, I just paged the doctor and he called me back (yay!). He said that they only thing to do right now is to stay in bed and drink lots of fluids. (not so Yay!) He said that if it doesn't go away on its own tomorrow I should come in for a blood patch tomorrow. sigh. Do you think that maybe it could be he doesn't want to do something because it's Sunday afternoon? Oh well. I guess I'll wait until tomorrow (Monday).

11-14-2005, 11:27 AM

Are you feeling any better today? Hope your headache is gone now.

11-15-2005, 05:22 PM

Yesterday I went to my first day at work. After the doctor's office opened I called and left a message for the doctor that I was still having a bad headache. They called an hour later and told me to go to the emergency room and they would page an anesthesiologist to do a blood patch.

I went to the ER about an hour later, waited 4 hours (! -- and this was supposedly after the doctor's office had called to alert them I was coming in), and then was sent to the OR Recovery Room where another doc did the blood patch.

It was extremely horrible, but not for why you would think. The stupid nurses (who probably don't have to draw much blood in Recovery) had to stick me three times to get the blood from my arm so they could inject it into my back. Each time they dug around looking for the vein and trying to get blood flow. The last time it worked, but she also hit something else, because it was causing me to scream in pain (and it still smarts today). Anyway, they injected the drawn blood, told me to lie down for 15 minutes, checked my BP, and told me I could go home. My headache felt better at that point. The instructions (get this!) from the hospital said that:

"Diet: caffeine, sodium (coke, coffee, potato chips)"

That's gotta be the BEST diet I've EVER seen upon hospital discharge!!!

So I immediately followed the directions by heading to Wendy's and ordering a single burger, fries, and a diet coke.

Today I woke feeling fairly ok (2/10 on the pain scale as far as the headache goes), but as the day wore on it became and 8/10. I just came home and laid down, and it's back down to 4/10. Meanwhile, my back is now even more sore since the blood patch. And my leg, too.

I guess I'll have to call the doctor again tomorrow. And I guess the anesth. was wrong -- he said that he's NEVER had anyone not get better from the blood patch. I gave him a hard time about it when he said 100% get better -- maybe I was calling the demon gods when I said that... sigh.

So not only does my back hurt and my leg hurt, but now I have a horrible headache. (Caffeine and tylenol don't help at all.)

11-15-2005, 05:29 PM

edited by me

Spinal Headache Woes

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