Re: Feet And Legs Turning Blue (help)
Blood patches are used to stop leaks or tears in the dura. If you've noticed I've mentioned a number of times how anestheologists are frequently used to do spinal injections for general ortho and neuro's.
Well, sometimes during these procedures or even an epidural given during labor, the needle is withdrawn and a leak remains. Sometimes there can be a tear, and we can even develop spontaneous leaks as well. Either way, it changes the pressure in the spinal area, thus the migraines.
However, once there is a leak, the patient can suffer with horrific migraines and that is one thing that I can attest to. I had three leaks, and these came about from the early procedures when I was being treated by general ortho/neuro team which did not do their own injections. When I found my spine specialist, he did the blood patches.
Now, as I understand it, they draw a measured amount of the patient's blood (as they would for blood culture). They then attach the syringe to the epidural needle and inject very slowly. They stop when the patient complains of significant pressure.
Even though blood is fluid, it can cause a tiny clot in less than 30 seconds, helping seal tiny holes thus blocking the leak long enough that there can be healing or even the dura spontanenously closing the tiny hole. Now, before 1960, they used to use catgut to close or plus leaks, but that caused cauda equina syndrome in half of the patients. So, by using measured small amounts of blood and pressure they can now seal these leaks without causing additional problems. Sometimes the proceedures has to be done more than once, especially if there was a more significant hole or puncture, but still better to do that than have the syndrome.
I'm not a medical expert, just a patient, but that's pretty much how it was explained to me. Hope that helps.