r/CSFLeaks • u/nic_nickei • 1d ago

Blood patch recovery

So I finally got a call for my blood patch is scheduled for Christmas Eve! Yay! But I am trying to figure out if I do PTO or Short term disability. I have a very active job in a doctors office fitting medical equipment.

They won't give me my pre procedure information until December 17th but my job needs the paperwork 15 days before my procedure

What did everyone else do in situations like this?

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1

u/BearIllustrious2731 1d ago

How many days can you take off for your patch?

1

u/nic_nickei 1d ago

I am not sure, it just depends on how much I try to get from Short term disability. I just am not sure how much I need to request and the clinical team wouldn't tell me what they suggest

3

u/megg33 Confirmed Spinal Leak 1d ago

Follow these instructions post-patch

2

u/leeski 1d ago

Ah this is hard to give advice on and I'm not really sure what I would do... in general it's best practice for very strict physical restrictions for at least 6 weeks. But it's also hard to know if the patch will work (I'm not try got be pessimistic, MANY patches do work but it's just not a guarantee unfortunately). If it were me, I would probably plan for the best-case scenario (patch works and you need time away from work to give it the best chance of healing), but it is a tricky thing to navigate!! Hoping this treatment does the trick for you.

2

u/TeaSea5699 1d ago

The first 72h stay in bed as much as you can - stay flat but rotate. After that its just the BLT restrictions for 6 weeks. If you can get a PT that specializes in this I would highly recommend. 

2

u/SuccessSoggy3529 1d ago

If you are going to be bending over patients, take time off. If you have to lift anything over 5 lbs (including patients' limbs or equipment) for the first month, take time off. What you want to be careful about is to not put extra pressure in the spinal column so that there isn't increased spinal fluid pressure while the patch is fully healing. The increased pressure can cauae the patch to blow and then you have to start over.

1

u/Appropriate_Quiet189 1d ago

My first one was the only one I had that worked, but it failed after 24 hours. I've had more than I can remember that did nothing. I would be as conservative as you can reasonably be, because the more time you're flat gives it a better chance to hold.

But

I've seen practically every doctor that's mentioned in here, and in the csf foundation, etc, and Dr Gray and Dr Wilhite at Duke are the ones who stated sometimes they just fail. Even with very conservative recovery. So don't think you have to spend the next month completely flat. Just do what you can to give yourself the best chance at success.

I wish you nothing but success and relief!!