Ask her doctor if there is a possibility of boosting her GSH (glutathione) as a means to treat the infection.

The doctor will probably indicate being unfamiliar with doing this.

Acknowledge how busy the doctor is but would it be possible to consider doing a med search on this?

If asking doesn't work and your in the US or Canada, I can see if it would be possible to get a doc to do a telephone consult. Contact me only after you ask him to do the research.

Best Wishes,

JS

There is a technique for keeping the blood that is drawn for the patch in a closed circuit. Perhaps this option would be acceptable for your mother? It would need to be discussed with the doctor. This link will take you to an article that mentions this option: http://wiki.noblood.org/Epidural_Blood_Patch

If you like, you can try and ask the hospital admistator if they have someone there that can work with the doctor for a no blood soloution, I heard of many hospitals has someone acting as a liason between paitants and doctors and they work out all the angles all together and come up with a plan. It is far more effective then anything I have heard of and maybe you can search the net for answer, yahoo.com has a answers section you can sign up for and post a question and people from everywhere will try and answer you question, this gives you more odds to nip this in the butt.

thank you everyone for your answers. jonathan steele i will ask the doctor about the gsh and keep you posted about what he says. and mrnipper since the closest blood center is 3 hours away from our town i will see about that as well if someone can work with the doctor for a no blood soultion.

Hello!
Is the spinal tap for the purpose of getting CSF for examination and pressure measurements? The blood patch is a form of management for intractable post-spinal headache.Nowadays, we use a small-gauged spinal needle like g.24 or 23 for the spinal tap and seldom do I see post-spinal headache (PSH) with smaller needles. If. however, PSH occurs, and your Mom really refuses a blood patch, the following may help: liberal amts of water (if she can take it), pain relievers, abdominal binder and maintaining a supine (flat on bed) position most of the time. As you know, PSH occurs when the patient assumes an upright position and is relieved when he lies down.

I hope your Mom's doctor will be convinced. By the way, I am an anesthesiologist.
Thanks and regards,

__________________
Angelina A. Gapay, MD

Forgot to comment on the brain infection.
The brain infection can be a bacterial, viral, or fungal. It usually starts from an infection somewhere in the body, say, ear, eyeball, throat, lungs, etc and spreads through the bloodstream ending up in the brain. Yes, it is dangerous so it should be treated with the appropriate antimicrobial agent. The diagnosis can be strengthened by a cerebrospinal fluid examination. A CT scan may also help.

Regards,

__________________
Angelina A. Gapay, MD