I've had two LPs. I was never told to lie flat for any length of time afterward, and I was up and around like nothing ever happened. That being said, the first one hurt like everything, but that was about six years ago. (During the meningitis scare on college campuses.) The second one was in March of this year. My neuro asked if I'd ever had an LP before, and since I had, he knew that I knew what was coming and gave me some Ativan before the procedure. ASK FOR ATIVAN!!!