It’s been almost exactly 6 months since my procedure (I go in for my follow up angiogram this week.)
I wanted to share a few things I experienced in the last 6 months:
My fatigue increased as the months when on. I felt a steady healing the first three months after my flow diverter procedure, but then as I started to get more active, looking at the computer screen more, seeing family more, etc. my healing seemed to plateau. My strength and energy did not seem to be improving. My sleep got worse, in fact.
My poor sleep was exacerbated by the earache I had (the one which triggered the MRI that detected the aneurysm in Sept. 2022.). My tinnitus and full feeling in my left ear have never disappeared. In fact, by Jan 1st or so, the earache increased, and got particularly bad when I lay down. Since my procedure 6 months ago, I have had a good night’s sleep only about 6 nights. Most nights I wake up at 2:30, 3:30, etc. and can’t get back to sleep. This lack of sleep really started to wear on me.
For about 1.5 months from Jan 1 to Feb 15th, it was the earache and low-grade headache which woke me up.
At one point, the pain was so bad I thought I might have an infection in my wisdom tooth, but my dentist took an x-ray which showed nothing.
Vitamins
As a result of the ear pain, about March 1, 2023 I started taking a boatload of vitamins. I mostly did this because I began to read about “Covid ear.” See the following:
- COVID-19 and Hearing Loss | Ear, Nose and Throat Services | University Hospitals | Cleveland, OH | University Hospitals and
- SARS-CoV-2 infection of the inner ear | National Institutes of Health (NIH)
So I started to take Quercetin: https://www.iherb.com/pr/now-foods-quercetin-500-mg-100-veg-capsules/774 as well s Elderberry Gummies, Vitamin C, B, D, Zinc, B-complex, etc.
Brain Foods
Also at the same time as the vitamins I also started to take some neurotransmitter supplements. These supplements might be of interest to many people in this forum and included:
Travagen: https://www.amazon.com/NeuroScience-TravaGen-Capsules-ingredients-important/dp/B00BTNFIEK?ref_=ast_sto_dp
GABA: https://www.amazon.com/NATURAL-STACKS-Supplement-L-Citrulline-Extract/dp/B071GM854Y?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1
Glucosamine Chondroitin: https://www.amazon.com/Doctors-Best-Glucosamine-Chondroitin-Cushioning/dp/B000I4DFAK/
Melatonin:
Lysine:
A few others.
After just a few days of taking about 17 different vitamins, the pain in my ear was almost eliminated.
My working theory is that I did, in fact, have some “Covid Ear” and the Quercitin helped it.
Worry, Anxiety
However, I still wake up with a strange kind of worry or anxiety. To tell the truth, I am usually thinking about old girlfriends and ex-wives; people I haven’t seen for years. I think some of this is having lived through the stress of Covid and being delayed from getting my life back on track because of the aneurysm.
Blood Thinners Cause of Headaches, Light Sensitivity?
I found a very interesting forum where people report that blood thinners are causing anxiety and fatigue:
Light Sensitivity
Muscle Weakness
With all these symptoms I ended up needed to take a week off from work last week. I was just getting too irritable to be of much use. On my week off I mostly slept and stayed away from the computer. I actually started to feel much better after the week off.
However, returned to work last week, and by the end of the week I was tired again. I am thinking of taking a couple of months off.
But I am hoping at this point that my upcoming angiogram will show “all good” and I can get off off the blood thinners. I am thinking that blood thinners might be responsible for some of the symptoms I/we attribute to the aneurysms, including the headaches and light sensitivity. I think this is something worth investigating.
My light sensitivity continued to be significant; crippling even, if I did not stay on top of it. To stay on top of it I purchased the following:
- A Baseball cap
- Night Driving Glasses. I use these particularly a quite a bit.
- Blue-blocking Glasses to wear indoors , but with clear lenses so I don’t look like a weirdo when I am inside.
- Extra Sunglasses
- ReaderRest Blue Light Blocking Readers – which are actually pretty good for 20 bucks and have an orange tint.
All of these glasses were very good purchases, and I recommend them to anyone suffering from headaches and light sensitivity (“photophobia”). They did make a dramatic difference when I went outside and into stores.
I also ask people wherever I go (library, chiropractor’s office, etc.) to turn out the overhead lights.
The grocery store continues to be a challenge, I habitually forget to bring my sunglasses when I walk up there.
I also have just order two blue-light blockers for my computers:
- https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083VWTCZG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1
- https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LEC2WLW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
If you read the some of the Amazon reviews for the blue light blockers, you can see that some MD’s order them for their concussion patients. See the review by CAROL Gioquindo here for instance:
So all in all, there have been a number of steps I have taken to help myself post-aneurysm procedure. None of this information, unfortunately, has been passed on to me by any medical professional. It has all been my own research.
To be fair, I consistently missed the in-person brain aneurysm support group put on by my hospital. I been to fatigued to make it!
I do wish everyone in this forum the best of luck. I will post information in the next week or so about the results of my follow up angiogram and the results of going off of the blood thinners.
If my doctor tells me I need to be on blood thinners another 6 months, I will leave my job. I’m just to irritable.
On the positive side, I do think my aneurysm procedure has been a success. There are some other physiological processes where I see a really significant improvement.
In the interest of medical science I will mention it here: I am having much stronger sexual responses than I used to. I.e., I got better boners! It’s really quite dramatic! I think this might be because my large aneurysm was pressing on parts of my cerebellum .
I want to write a little more about this in another post. So for now, signing off.