Meg: hospital or not? Spinal tap Question

[Guest guest]

--- megl2001 megl2001@...> wrote:

>

> Hi everyone,

>

> thanks to all of you for your thoughts, it is more

> of a help than you

> will ever know. So here is whats happened so far...

Please forgive this question! I have seen several

people refer to spinal taps. Why do they do them? I

am TERRIFIED of spinal taps. I have no idea why other

than the name scares me. I was in the ER three years

ago with what they suspected was meningitis and I

refused the spinal tap. They gave me some drugs to

calm me down but I was still coherent enough to

continue refusing. The ER Dr finally said that I

could go home because he figured I had viral

meningitis instead of bacterial so there was nothing

they could do but make me confortable with pain meds.

I know that is ridicluous for a grown woman to act

like such a baby but I just have this fear....

Thanks!

Nikki

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Nikki, I know how you feel, honey, but as uncomfortable or squeamish as some medical tests make

us feel, they are necessary to our continuing to live with this disease. Sometimes, like with me, this

disease will masquerade as many different things, and it takes a multitude of tests to figure out

what is happening. Of course, we can look BACK, and say, "Well, that was so obvious, why didn't they find it earlier on?" Well, the truth is, they might have done an excellent job of looking, but it

took that one last, extreme test to pin the answer down, and save a life.

In my case, I was getting weaker and weaker, more and more anemic, and what began as a search

for an elusive pain in my left side, turned into tests on my heart, discovery of congestive heart

failure, kidney problems, and, finally, the last available tests of an endoscopy and colonoscopy to find

a "significant" ulcer which was the size of a half dollar, raw and bleeding. No wonder I was anemic,

and no wonder they couldn't find it with more conventional tests, the pain was not anywhere near my

stomach. I seem to always have referred pain, as they call it, and it confuses the hell out of the

doctors and labs.

I have always avoided more painful tests, just as you are doing, because I was afraid of them. Now,

I know what to expect and there is really little to fear, except the loss of dignity, and only YOU can

allow yourself to feel like you have lost it. No one else can take your dignity away from you without

your emotional consent. That is what you gave them in the hospital when you had menginitis.

So, screw your courage to the sticking place, and get the tests that are being recommended. If you

distrust the doctor, get a second opinion independent of the first, then get the tests. Please, keep

us posted on progress. Loving hugs, MM

[Guest guest]

Nikki, I know how you feel, honey, but as uncomfortable or squeamish as some medical tests make

us feel, they are necessary to our continuing to live with this disease. Sometimes, like with me, this

disease will masquerade as many different things, and it takes a multitude of tests to figure out

what is happening. Of course, we can look BACK, and say, "Well, that was so obvious, why didn't they find it earlier on?" Well, the truth is, they might have done an excellent job of looking, but it

took that one last, extreme test to pin the answer down, and save a life.

In my case, I was getting weaker and weaker, more and more anemic, and what began as a search

for an elusive pain in my left side, turned into tests on my heart, discovery of congestive heart

failure, kidney problems, and, finally, the last available tests of an endoscopy and colonoscopy to find

a "significant" ulcer which was the size of a half dollar, raw and bleeding. No wonder I was anemic,

and no wonder they couldn't find it with more conventional tests, the pain was not anywhere near my

stomach. I seem to always have referred pain, as they call it, and it confuses the hell out of the

doctors and labs.

I have always avoided more painful tests, just as you are doing, because I was afraid of them. Now,

I know what to expect and there is really little to fear, except the loss of dignity, and only YOU can

allow yourself to feel like you have lost it. No one else can take your dignity away from you without

your emotional consent. That is what you gave them in the hospital when you had menginitis.

So, screw your courage to the sticking place, and get the tests that are being recommended. If you

distrust the doctor, get a second opinion independent of the first, then get the tests. Please, keep

us posted on progress. Loving hugs, MM