3 1/2 years ago I had my coiling done. I just wanted to give those of you who are recently diagnosed a dose of "you can do this"! I was scared beyond belief when I set out on this journey. My annie was found by accident after having a MRI for Trigeminal Neurolgia. At the same time my mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer. I was under a lot of stress at the time and this was the last news I wanted to hear or deal with.
I found myself a great doctor a 100 miles from home and proceeded with the coiling in Aug 2010. I spent one night in the ICU (awake the whole night with a roomate in a semi-coma who they came in an yelled at every 30 minutes). The hardest part for me was having to lay flat for 6 hours. I have low back pain and I remember being miserable. My sister rubbeb my back for what seemed like hours. I got released the next day and went home to recover. I was off work for about a week and the worst was the dizzyness and the one bad headache I had. It took me a couple of weeks to get back to feeling 100% normal.
I've just had my last MRI for 2 years and then it's a 3 year follow up and then every 5 years.
I'm so glad I went the coiling route at age 50 I was on the cusp of clipping/coiling.
I wish everyone out there who is dealing with this that they know that it is scary but with a good doctor and support system you can do it!
Thanks for your positive comments, Kimberly. I am slowly moving forward and will have a diagnostic angiogram on 1/15. I've read of so many people having post-procedure ongoing headaches, dizziness.
I truly TRULY appreciate you posting this, Kimberley! I haven’t done my coiling yet – like you, I have a parent with terminal cancer at the same time. So I am waiting to have my procedure done. I feel positive about it, but every now and then someone’s horror story puts me on edge. So I love reading stories like yours. Thank you. Karen
Kimberley, I'm having my unruptured brain aneurysm coiled on weds. I admit I'm terrified. Did you suffer any short term memory loss? I think your case is the first one I've read about that went exactly how my doctor says it will.
I understand how nervous you may be. You're going to be fine. It is scary, there's no doubt about it but I woke up from surgery and was actually a happy little camper due to all the nice drugs they had me on. I don't remember a lot of that, but that's normal when you come out of anesthesia. The hardest part is the laying flat. I wanted pudding and jello and not much else until the next morning, then I was starving.
Best to you! It won't be that bad, you're not going to feel anything and you'll wake up knowing that you don't have to worry about your annie anymore!
I'm sorry to hear about your mom. It is truly the hardest thing one has to deal with. Don't read all of the horror stories! I tend to think of it as looking at hotel reviews on Trip Advisor- yes, there are some bad but you don't always hear about the positive experiences.
I appreciate you sharing this information, as my 5 mm aneurysm was found 2 months ago by accident.]
I was home in the early AM and out of no where had a bad dizzy spell. The room was spinning like crazy around me and I fell to the floor. I did not know what was happening. Went to the ER and after CAT scan and MRI, chest xray, EKG, etc. was told it was vertigo that caused the dizziness and then told me the MRI showed a small aneurysm. I was referred to an ENT for vertigo and was told she could not diagnose it for certain as vertigo. Was also referred to a neurosurgeon for aneurysm. He advised that I was fortunate that it was found and gave me 3 options.... watch it for awhile, coil it or clip it. I thought about it and just decided to have it coiled. I am anxious, but have my faith and good family to help me through this. I worry more about what happens afterwards. I hope I don't start having bad headaches and hope this will help the dizziness I still have occasionally. The Neuro says the aneurysm has nothing to do with my dizzy spells.
Best to you Sam! Sounds like we both got aneurysm diagnosis due to another reason. A blessing in disguise. I hope they figure out what caused your bad dizzy spell. The dizziness I had wasn’t that bad, it was kind of head-rush dizziness.
There was no way I was going to have mine clipped! It just scared the bejesus out of me.
Please let me know how everything turns out for you.
I did have to take Plavix from diagnosis until surgery. The only side effect I had was bruising. I already bruise easily so I was pretty black & blue in my groin area. Now I just take a baby aspirin everyday. He even said if I had to stop it for a short time I could, like if I needed to have surgery again for something.
Thanks. That eases my mind. One side effect was pretty bad for short term user.
That is the part that worried me. They have me on 325 aspirin and Plavix ,
I think because I had some symptoms a few weeks before surgery, they
could not find anything wrong, so I think it might be precautionary. I've been healthy up until now and am not overweight and no high blood pressure. Guess all of that is in my favor.
I don’t know Sam. I just know it’s super easy to bruise as it thins your blood. I had bruises all over and didn’t know how I even got them! You could have a bump if you hit something.
Karen