I had endovascular surgery for an unruptured aneurysm about three weeks ago. I’m still kind of forgetful and tired. Is this normal?
If so, how long does it last?
Thanks for posting! And yes ma’am it is, fatigue often follows brain surgery. Can’t tell you how long it will last, that is an individual phenomenon. (Sorry, can’t think of the correct word this morning). What happens is our brain needs three things after any procedure- rest, hydration and protein. Make sure you’re getting enough of all three. Because of the anesthesia and dye, it’s very important you hydrate properly. Most Neurosurgeons don’t give the mantra Dr. Quintero-Wolfe does it seems which is hydrate, eat protein, hydrate some more, rest hydrate some more.
For me, I always had to drink three of the larger bottles of Gatorade and twice that amount of water for about three months. The dietician that came into NSICU said minimum 90 gms of protein a day, I think the WHO is suggesting 120 gms, and that’s for those that haven’t had any type of procedure on anything. So I would supplement with protein drinks and bars to make sure I was getting at least the 90 gms. I prefer the protein drinks that come in plastic as they are easier to shake up.
The anesthesia itself can cause some confusion and forgetfulness. It’s one of those things the anesthesiologists sort of fly through when they’re telling you all the risks that go with it in my experience. For each angiogram I had and I have had a bunch, it took my brain longer and would set me back. The younger folks seem to snap back faster than us older folks, even if we don’t feel older.
I would give it about three months and if you’re not back to your spry self, reach out to your Neurosurgeon and ask what’s going on. If you’re really concerned, get on your patient portal and send them a message. It’s very easy, Ms. Ryann taught me about it when she started working with Dr, Q-W, and helped me access it on my phone the first or second time I saw her. I still thinks it’s an amazing method of reaching out and instead of waiting for a return call, I just wait for the return message. If Ms. Ryann has some time off another NP will respond or one of the Neuro Triage RNs! Any one of them always staffs my question(s) with Dr. Q-W.
In addition to the important items already mentioned above, keep blood circulating to your brain. I get a LOT of fatigue after flow diversion. I try to rest as much as possible, but also exercise (but not excessively) to keep up blood flow. Meaning starting with 20 or 30 minutes walks at a very comfortable pace, increasing only when I sense subsequent levels of fatigue weren’t adversely affected. Eventually I work back up to my norm, which is about 45 minutes at a brisk pace. This helps with cognition as well. I have had negative cognitive effects, but I also have an autoimmune disease that is linked to brain fog, and both anesthesia and fatigue exacerbate the condition.
You may find the following interesting. It talks about cognition and recovery from multiple types of aneurysm procedures:
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Thank you so much for the help - everybody! I really need somebody to talk to. I messed up registering. Somehow, I registered four times, and now I don’t know which one to delete. I don’t want to delete the wrong one and lose my messages! This tiredness doesn’t help. I will certainly take your advice and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! And get Ensure, and take naps.
Debbie
I will definitely be asking @ModSupport as it’s beyond my understanding. I didn’t know one could register multiple times. I’ll send a pm to you and @ModSupport right now!
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Hey Deb,
I’ve had a check through our system and there doesn’t seem to be any system conflicts with your application that I can see, so it’s all OK. If our server picks up an issue we, on the modsupport team, will get a notification and we’ll sort it all out from there, but so far, all is fine.
If we get a notification, we’ll be sure to let you know.
Merl from the Modsupport Team
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