Reasons for a lumbar puncture?

Question

ok so i was reading some random stuff online and i read about lp... +i sometimes have head aches

so why is lp usually done and if i tell the doctor i head head aches, is he going to do lp?

Answer 1

I am with dantea on this.

LPs can be dangerous, can cause infection, paralysis, even coning and compression of C1-C2 if you have an Arnold Chiari malformation. You don't want to go there. Trust me.

Get some more research going you! If you think you have something, just read and read and read lots and lots about it. You will find out that there are incredibly scary things out there to have and that you are lucky enough to be able to count all your lucky stars! If you are walking, talking, typing on your laptop that you no doubt own or you have access to , you are SO much better off than 80 percent of the population on this earth. Sorry about my rant but there you go. It is not wise to spend your days looking for something to 'suffer' from, if you could be spending your time enjoying what you have, which is so much more than most .

There you go. Have a nice day.

Next headache: take some paracetamol (1 gram every four hours up to 4 grams per 24 hours if you are over 12 yrs of age) and lie down for half an hour in a dark room. You will feel better.

Answer 2

The most common reason for doing a lumbar puncture is to check for meningitis. A lumbar puncture takes a sample of cerebrospinal fluid. However, other disorders, such as hydrocephalus, and subarachnoid hemorraghing are also checked for via a lumbar puncture. I highly doubt that your doctor would recommend an LP if you're only complaining of headaches. Headaches can be caused by many things, not least of all stress, dehydration, fatigue, etc. etc. etc, and invasive procedures such as an LP are rarely, if ever, the first strategy in determining the cause of a relatively benign complaint.

Answer 3

There are several types of headache that may require a lumbar puncture for diagnosis, but for the vast majority a good history and physical is adequate for diagnosis.

With thunderclap headaches, a CT is not sufficiently sensitive to rule out a bleed, so LP is needed; but those are decidedly different, so that really doesn't apply to your "I have occasional headaches" scenario. Meningitis is normally associated with special symptoms and signs. Idiopathic intracranial hypertension is an occasional worry, especially in young, overweight women, but is not common and can generally be excluded to a reasonable degree of safety without LP.

It's also not as big a deal as some of the other answers would suggest. The risk of herniation is next to nil, and those people are grossly neurologically abnormal. A simple Arnold-Chiari isn't a problem, for instance. Paralysis is not a complication. It's hardly more dangerous than having a blood sample drawn, though it is a bit more uncomfortable.

Answer 4

Concur with Dr. de Witt, besides an infectious etiology, perhaps your physician may need spinal fluid analyzed for Oligoclonal bands, IgG to confirm/exclude MS, following an MR which may reveal White matter lesions, for example.

As Dr. de Witt pointed out, NEJM published an excellent article circa 1991 where it was clear that in the absence of neurologic findings that would suggest increased intracranial pressure, a pre-LP CT is really not indicated and the LP can be safefly performed.  If it's a difficult patient (e.g. body habitus), then it can be done easily under fluoro.

Answer 5

You should ask your doctor; I don't think a lumbar puncture would normally be done just for a headache.  It is a diagnostic procedure, so I don't believe he would give you one unless there was no other way to know what was wrong with you - or possibly, if you were a suspected case of meningitis.  It can be a painful thing, so it's not something doctors usually do unless they really need to.

You can read more about them here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumbar_punc...

Hope this helps.  :)