Spinal Tap?

[lehrbach]

Anyone ever do a study involving spinal taps?  Any concerns, Issues, things I might want to know before getting involved? 

[travelingrat]

in the past 4 years, i have done 5 studies with spinal taps and had zero problems. two of the studies were healthy elderly alzheimer's studies, both in orlando FL, 3 weeks each. the first one had 2 taps and the second one had 3, one as part of the screen and one at the beginning and one at the end. the other studies were OP studies in NYC, each with one.

i asked a lot of questions each time: how many had the doctor performed before? etc. I also requested that the doctor talk to me as the procedure was done and let me know the progress. that helped me relax.

no one else in the long studies had any problems either. well, except for one woman said her back was sore the following day and she sat in a lounge chair with a heating pad, but was fine the day after that.

drink a lot of water so you will not be dehydrated. there were several persons in each group from whom no spinal fluid could be obtained.

i have a friend who did have a problem, however. she developed an intense headache. this was for one of the OP studies in NYC. unfortunately, it was a friday and on the weekend she was unable to contact anyone. they would have performed a procedure called a "blood patch" (weird name, but simple procedure) on her if she could have gotten in touch with them. instead, she had to suffer.

so if you are doing one OP, be sure to emphasize that you need 24-hour contact info! that university changed its procedures after what happened to my friend, but that wasn't much consolation to her!

hope this helps.

[lehrbach]

Yes You have been very helpful! thanks so much for sharing your experiences