(Yikes, this turned out more lengthy than I'd planned. My apologies.)

First off, I have great news to all of you who may have an approaching appointment for a lumbar puncture/spinal tap. I finally had mine done today (after two months of delays and rescheduling), and it went very smoothly. Turns out my anxiety was for naught! To be blunt, the most uncomfortable part of the whole ordeal was the male doctor catching a glimpse of my fanny while he was sterilizing the puncture site. Otherwise, the lidocaine (numbing injection) stung like a hot bumble bee for about fifteen seconds, but the pain was very minimal. Though if you do not take too kindly to needles, IVs, or any pricking things of the sort, you may get a little panicked.

After being carefully sterilized and numbed, the doctor will have already adjusted the X-ray image screen (or he/she may just lay you in the fetal position; each clinic is different), so she/he'll have a VERY high chance of penetrating the right spot to enter the spinal canal on the first try. No failed attempts and retrying, hooray!

But be wary of the pressure that you will feel when the needle is pressed into the spine; it doesn't hurt, per se, if you are properly numbed, but you can definitely feel where the point is. I can't say this for everyone, since all doctors are different in their techniques, but my MD pushed the needle in deeper three times, with ten-second intervals. (My point here is that the doctor doesn't just RAM the needle down into your spine, which I thought he would do. This doctor was very gentle.)

But I admit, at one point I was rather nervous after he said "Okay, the needle is going to be near a bunch of nerves that connect to your legs, and I may accidentally brush them. You might feel an electrical shock and flinch." Fortunately, there was no shooting pain in my case, but as is obvious, it could still occur with anyone. Finally, after the cerebrospinal fluid has drained into several tubes, the doctor will remove the needle and perhaps share his thoughts at a glance on your CSF (whether it's clear or cloudy, the pressure, etc.) Then you will be led back to a flat bed, and will lie there for at LEAST thirty minutes to reduce the chance of a headache. I lay flat for an hour, and even now, eight hours after the tap, I am lying at a 30 degree angle with my head propped on some pillows. Because of this, I have had no spinal headache.

Oh, and before I stop with this overstocked journal thing, DO NOT STRAIN YOURSELF (bending over, lifting things, running, etc.) FOR AT LEAST SEVERAL DAYS OR THE PUNCTURE SITE MAY TEAR AND CAUSE A LEAK. You don't want that, now do you?

BUT, if this does happen... My nurse told me that if I ever have a headache that feels extraordinarily painful and different from my normal migraines, to call the hospital as soon as possible so a blood patch can be made. This is just a fancy term for where they take blood from your arm and inject it into the puncture site on your back to clot the leak.