Lumbar Puncture: Share Your Experience

Please do share. I'm supposed to get one at some point and I'm terrified. I'm already afraid of needles and invasive tests and having a big ass needle in my spine for 15 minutes sounds horrible, I would freak out. And then the risk of a bad headache later, when I already have suspected low cranial pressure and I have orthostatic headaches and other symptoms

uuuUUUUGH yes i have, but mine wasnt a scheduled procedure or anything, it was in the ER because i had what appeared to be meningitis and had a fever of 103f+... and because my body was all fucky my nerves were going haywire, so even moving my head on the pillow gave me an intense pins-and-needles-like pain. before the puncture i was cracking jokes, smiling through the pain, etc - because for some reason when i'm having my worst physical symptoms, my mental/emotional symptoms seem to disappear, at least for awhile. they had me get in position, still cheerful. got given instructions, including the "if you start to feel pain or numbness shoot down one of your legs, just sat 'right' or 'left' so i know how to readjust" that im sure you heard. (no matter that i also dont know left from right... think its something from my autism, its always been this way.) the guy kept missing somehow so it went on several times, i was sobbing and yelping left and right (literally) and close to blacking out, and it's the only time i've reached a 9 on the pain scale. i was trying my damnedest to communicate and be still through and the guy still treated me like i was being annoying, said something passive aggressive about "well i guess we can't get one". later they had me go in for a spinal tap with imaging, and everyone on that team was nothing but kind - one of the techs even offered to hold my hand while it was done (and i accepted). it was still at least a 7 and i still cried a lot but it was done right the first time and being treated it turned out that i didn't have any sort of infection detectable in my spinal fluid. none of the doctors could find a reason but they decided it was "most likely from ibuprofen" - which turned out to be correct, but they said that was usually only seen in cases of high dosage so my pcp at the time, my mother, and myself all thought they were full of shit. (i later found that it's significantly more common in sle and other autoimmune connective tissue diseases, and i have connective tissue issues and a positive ana and had recently been sent by my pcp to a rheumatologist for concerns about sle. go figure ::p ) i also had the reaction with a different nsaid with the same approximate duration of use. i did also have a new and weird back pain for at least a week after, but it went away with time. might have been related to being so still for so long. i also had balance issues afterward and they've only somewhat improved, but that may be from the meningitis, the failed attempts in the er, being bedridden in the hospital, or a number of other things, so i doubt that's too relevant for you. please feel free to share your experience as well