Anyone had a Lumbar Puncture?

CT with and with and without dye was clear and neurologist mentioned doing a lumbar puncture next.

What for?!

Two weeks ago I heard a pop and had extreme piercing pain (worst I've ever had) about 1.5 inches above my right ear and am continuing to have pain there with tenderness. Feels like at times that someone is slicing into my head. I'm a migraine sufferer and this is totally different than anything I've had before. Meds are not helping.

You HEARD a pop? Was this pop right in your ear and the pain in the area you described?

I would recommend you have whatever the specialist says to have done, purely to exclude anything else

What made alarm bells ring for me is that you heard a pop, that is VERY typical of a jaw joint problem and will give pain around the ear area

No it wasn't right in my ear, which I've had before, it was above in my head. And I'm familiar with jaw joint problems / TMJ and wear a NTI at night.

So you don't have concern of blood vessel issues or aneurysm? My research found that not all CT's will show them and lumbar punctures will show infections and other antibodies...is this true?

I do have concerns, that's why I said you should go with the recommendation of your neurologist.

And yes lumbar punctures can give this additional information

That specific area above your ear is the large fan shaped muscle called the temporalis, it may also be a tendon tear which will certainly be very painful!

With things like this, exclusion of problems is as important as diagnosis. I would be interested in knowing the reason for the lumbar puncture, just to get a better picture of what they are looking for

What would cause the tendon tear? I was just sitting watching my daughter play volleyball? Hadn't even yelled or anything. I haven't been in any accidents or any whiplash.

Without seeing you I'm just guessing, trying to put the pieces together.

I've seen tendon tears rarely but it does happen. Tendons don't heal well, so even old injuries can still play a role

Additionally, long term trauma can cause the tendon to weaken over time. Trauma includes eating and chewing gum! Some people are prone to problems and chewing/eating can cause problems for some.

Imagine a rubber band which is slowly being stretched, it can give at any point. As I always say, it's important to exclude problems too and I'm wondering why the lumbar puncture, out of genuine interest!!

Mind if I ask if your stress levels have changed recently?

Yes! Major stress over past month. Would that effect the tendon?

I think puncture was part of work up when concern of aneurysm. Still waiting to hear back from dr on scheduling.

By the way, I am not a gum chewer never have been, plus been off gum for years due to aspartame being a migraine trigger.

Thanks so much for this it is really helping!

Yes stress has a major influence! It'll make you subconsciously clench your teeth harder which will put more stress on the entire system.

90% of the time when my patients return in pain, after I've made them pain free for a long time, stress is the precipitating factor

In the current global climate, the incidence of headaches and migraines has increased a LOT. Either that or I'm diagnosing more which may also be the case!

Some people get stressed and lose sleep, others get stomach ulcers, some end up with an emotional breakdown, others develop migraines and headaches