Quote: RubyMae - Glamourous Snowdrop at Large @ October 2 2009, 3:08 PM BSTBlood tests are evil but not as evil as a spinal tap or lumber punch
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Quote: Dolly Dagger @ October 2 2009, 3:09 PM BSTI don't mind blood tests at all. Mr Dagger had a lumber puncture and said it was one of the most awful things.
Quote: zooo @ October 2 2009, 3:18 PM BSTHa, oops. Yes, epidural. Probably doesn't hurt as much as a lumbar puncture thingy. Ouch.
Spinal taps/lumbar punctures can be pretty nasty when one is awake and it is not performed by an anaesthetist (we're most practiced at them). If they're being used to diagnose meningitis/encephalitis then you're not going to be feeling great in the first place. If they are painful it is usually down to poor technique +/- insufficient local anaesthetic. With experience they shouldn't even be uncomfortable. (Inexperienced operators often spend a lot of time digging the needle into your vertebrae trying to find a space between them.)
Spinal taps can be used as spinal blocks, where an anaesthetic cocktail in injected. This are very quick acting and completely numbs and weakens the leg. For example, in very medically poor patients, I've sometimes had to give a patient just a spinal block and some very mild i.v. sedation to have their leg amputated. They don't feel a thing (the i.v. sedation is just to take the mental stress away). Similarily you can perform hip or knee replacements under just a spinal block.
Epidurals are a bit different. They're always put in by experienced anaesthetists and therefore they're not usually painful procedures. 
