Recovering from the spinal tap: Chronic Lyme

Thanks the emails and your prayers. I need all I can get right now. I did the spinal tap on Monday -4 days ago.

Spinal tap is fairly routine but the emotional aspect of it is what got me. It is a painful procedure even if you have someone who knows what they are doing. I had a similar procedure when I had my c-section so I knew what to expect a little bit. But this time - no baby to look forward to.

I have vasovagal syncope so I also dread the inevitable fainting too.

I tensed up terribly before the doctor gave me the "stick" and that left me with a "car wreck" type of soreness in my legs that will take about 6 weeks to heal from.

It was a champagne tap so I suppose I owe Ken a bottle of champagne.

Then there is the laying flat for 24 to 48 hours. I did 48 hours on purpose because I am slow healer. But I started sitting up for short periods of time after 24 hours. Worst side effect was fatigue. I never got the headache. But I get intracranial pressure anyway and the tap made it worse. So I can hear my own heart beat throbbing in my ears still today. I have sound and light sensitivity. The sharp sound of someone sniffling bothers my ears.

There was nothing like being bed ridden to really play with my mind. I don't take naps during the day because it can trigger depression and aggravates my sleep cycle which in turn aggravates the body pain of Lyme. I do sit down and rest during the day. So I got really squirrely in the head. I felt too exhausted and sore to even read magazines. Just laying down for too long makes my body ache too. I am glad to be on the other side of this.