WHAT IN THE WORLD IS A BLOOD PATCH?

Saturday night Kristin called and I could tell by the sound of her voice she was not doing so well. She had been studying and when she got up the nagging headache, which has plaqued her for the last nine days, went straight to a 9 on a scale of 1-10. I told her to call Salt Lake. Long story short she had a procedure for an epidural blood patch mid morning Sunday. Aside from being groggy from whatever it was they gave her and some discomfort, her headache is gone. It was difficult for us to not be there to say the least. I knew she would be scared and she was. Many thank yous to the Sumbot family for a blessing,comforting her, and evidently, a fabulous dinner.

An epidural blood patch is an injection of your own blood into the epidural space. The epidural space is not an injection into the spinal cord itself. The spinal cord and spinal nerves are in a “sack” containing clear fluid (cerebrospinal fluid). The area outside this “sack” is called the epidural space. An injection of the freshly drawn blood into the space "plugs the leak"and VOILA, the headache goes away! (Yes, Kathy, you nailed that one!)A small number of patients will experience a severe headache after an LP like Kristin had. The headache is usually worse with standing and better when lying down. This is due to a persistent leak of spinal fluid into the epidural space. Although the headache itself is harmless, it can be very severe and very debilitating and this was how it was for her. It was a very difficult week at school to say the least. She went to urgent care earlier in the week and talked to Connie. The consensus was that she had the flu. For relief, she took pain meds and tried to lay down as much as possible. Tylenol and Excedrin just didn't cut it. Kristin has avoided taking pain meds as she does not like how they make her feel. For her to be taking narcotics tells us this was more than the flu. At the end of the day, the headache has vanished and all seems to be well. Isn't modern medicine amazing!

Comments

Kelli Douglas said…
Leslie, I am so happy that Kristin is doing better. I've raised almost 6K from my marathon run. Please share this with Kristin, I hope that it will make her smile. In other news, I am pregnant! Turns out we didn't waste anytime as according to doctor's estimate we conceived on our wedding night! Whoo hoo! I'm so excited for this next adventure of life. My best to the Katich family and I really do hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Cheers! Kelli
November 24, 2009 at 7:39 AM
Kathy Hawley said…
Hip hip hooray!!!!! I am so happy the headache was resolved! I only wish all medical interventions could yield such dramatic and instantaneous results :) Happy Thanksgiving to all. Kathy
November 26, 2009 at 10:41 AM
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