I have never heard of this procedure, although I have had lots of fluid drained during my lumbar punctures. Will you have a drain left in over the course of your hospital stay? Even if it's a large drain and several days of monitoring, I think staying in the hospital afterward is a great idea. It's hard to lay laying down when you are at home and so many people have had low pressure headaches after, it would be nice to have that recovery time in a hospital bed.

Before putting in the LP shunt there was a short debate as to whether or not put in an LP drain to help with the vision loss. I don't know a whole lot of the specifics but here's what I do know, and all of this is based as the way they did it at the hospital I was at - the procedure is usually done by an interventional radiologist (at least at the place I went to), you are awake during the procedure but they numb the area completely and some I was told were able to get meds to relax. You have to either lie on your side or stomach while the drain is in. I don't know about the chance of a low pressure headache, but I know before they do the procedure you will have time to ask questions. Also, your neurosurgeon and their office staff should be able to answer any questions you have if you call them.

Hope this helps,
Kristena

Yeah the drain stays in me for 3 to 4 days and they take fluid off every few hours for those days. I have had lumbar punctures and did not get ANY headache relief from them, so before just going in and putting in a shunt they want to do the drain and see if the fluid is even the cause of the headache. Right now my vision is for the most part managed by medications so the shunt would be mainly for headache relief.

I just know how bad I feel after lumbar punctures, I can't imagine how bad I will feel after having one for basically 4 days straight!

Hmm, well, I have never had a lumbar drain but on occasion I have cared for patients who have had them. I can't answer all of your questions though as my patients have had them in conjunction with a spinal surgery and had them in for a shorter period of time.

You will be able to move around with it somewhat - honestly I am not sure off hand how restricted you will be, but because there is a clamp on the drain the nurse can clamp it off so that you can change your position, etc. You would not want to make any big movements while the drain is "open to drain" as that would drain an uncontrolled amount of CSF. Those drains work by gravity, so when they are draining CSF they will want the drain collection part at a certain level in relation to your body. I would expect that you would be able to lie on your back, you should have a good dressing in place so that the line is well secured and the tube is pretty thin. Kind of like when women have an epidural.

A lot like with LPs - the hope is that you will not get a low pressure headache, and you may not - but you could. I'm sure they will do their best to figure out what the "right" amount of CSF to drain is. At least while you are in the hospital with the drain, if you DO get a low pressure headache, you will have a nurse available to give you lots of good pain meds if you need it. Also, if you start to have trouble with a low pressure headache, they can at least adjust how much CSF they are draining accordingly.

Not sure if that helps, but I wish you the best! Seeing how you respond to a lumbar drain before proceeding with a shunt sounds sensible to me.

Not everyone gets a low pressure headache. I had one once but it was a real botch job in the er. I was poked several times and bled all over the place and was told I didn't have to stay to flat. Huge mistakes all around.
The others I've had in the hospital by an interventional radiologist and I always felt great afterward.

Hi,
I had this procedure done before I got an lp shunt. I was in the hospital for a total of 4 days. The procedure starts like any old LP and then they insert a small cathether in. It doesn't hurt any more than an LP. The catheter is small and flexible so it's not painful. There is a clamp on it and they set the drainage to a certain amount. You cannot change positions while the clamp is open. The hospital I was at actually had alarms on the beds to alert nurses if you forgot and moved. The nurses can clamp it and allow you to move, but you need to get them before moving. They check on you pretty frequnetly though, so it wasn't too bad. I did not get a low pressure headache. In fact, I felt amazing afterwards for about a week.
I'm glad I had the procedure done first. It gave the impression that an LP shunt would be effective and it has been. :)
Good luck