I have a question for those of you who are involved with treating an aneurysm that hasn't ruptured. How id you get to the point of getting a diagnosis? What symptoms did you have? What made the Dr. pay attention and do the CT or MRI or whatever to find it?
My first one was found when I was being treated for an unruptured AVM. The second was found during the craniotomy to clip the first one.
I have had migraines for years. About 6 or 7 years ago, I went to the e.r. with one. I had taken a few Excedrin, 2 Maxalt (limit 2 in 24 hours), and a Fioricet and had no relief whatsoever. I don't remember what they gave me at the e.r., but some sort of pain killer & a heavy dose of Benadryl to knock me out & sleep it off. My husband had been pushing for me to see a neurologist, so I finally agreed to do so. He thought it was just stress & put me on Nortriptlyne, an antidepressant that is often used for chronic pain/migraine patients. It was to help with the stress & to help me sleep better (lack of sleep is a huge migraine trigger for me.) He felt no need to do any scans at that time.
I moved states 5 years ago...so new docs.
A little over a year ago, the migraines were really bad again--and I had another trip to the e.r. The e.r. doc basically treated me like a drug seeker. He told me that migraines are not an emergency. (I was on day 5 of a migraine, which I had been able to somewhat manage until that afternoon.) He did eventually give me something (I don't remember what). I went to my family doctor. He didn't really think I needed a CT. He said I looked stressed just sitting there in his office & prescribed Zoloft. My husband insisted on a CT. My doc finally agreed to order one & I had it that afternoon (Wednesday). They called the next day (Thursday), said they were concerned about what was on the CT & wanted me in for an MRI asap--& booked me for the following day (Friday). That MRI showed the AVM--it was approximately 6 cm. I had an angiogram 2 weeks later & my first Gamma Knife radiation treatment for my AVM was scheduled for a month later. I had another MRI & angiogram on GK day & that's when they found the first annie. The crani was 4 weeks after that, thank God, because when the found the 2nd annie, it was, in my surgeons words, "nasty," and he was able to clip it, too.
Hi Leni, I always had headaches, was tired and had severe vertigo when the Dr. admitted me to hospital. MRI and CAT Scans showed the aneurysm.
Good luck
Shauna
Hi Lleni ... this is a good post...~ I had many problems for about 4 years...told I had vertigo, anxiety, etc., told it was menopause...I knew something wasn't right...then right before I turned 46 years old...I woke in the middle of the night with a horrible headache...I was up the rest of the night...nauseated and sick...called my hubby out of work...and we took my Bp and it was 170/112...and my pulse was counting over the 100 mark...we went to ER .. 2 cat scans and they found nothing... told I suffer from high Bp and migraines...started me on Bp meds and sent me home the next day with meds for migraine...then about 1 week later I collapsed on my husband due to Doctor's made a mistake and gave me too much Bp meds, went back to ER and ER Doctor said I want her admitted and and MRI and MRA done...there was a women Doctor in ER for my Medical Facility who constantly kept saying...I am a women and most likely in menopause .... she was young and mean... The ER Doctor (man)...said..."no way....she is having tests done"...had tests done in the middle of the night....next day...no one came in to see me...told that I was allowed to go home, but a Nurse on the floor looked at me worried and said to me and my husband they found a 9mm aneurysm on your Basilar artery tip...she told us to please please go and have it checked...she saved my Life...funny part...me and hubby were upset for a couple of days that no Doctor came to see me and talk to me about aneurysm...instead of being upset about aneurysm...we really didn't know what a Brain aneurysm was ... when I called my mom, she was a nurse...she freaked...hahaha...looking back I can laugh...I go to a different Hospital, etc., since then another had been found behind my left eye...
That's my story....~ Colleen
Hello Lleni
I developed vertical double vision, headaches, had memory problems and stopped being able to do sudoku. I thought all my problems were on the right side. I saw my GP and was referred to an ophthamologist who initially made me a new patient eye movement clinic appointment for 2 months. I work in the hospital so phoned him and said I'd be off work sick before that and they needed to see me sooner. He arranged detailed tests of eye movements and for a colleague to see me while he was on holiday. It was thought it was a 4th nerve palsy on the left. I told them I thought it was the right side that was the problem! They arranged an MR scan or orbits and brain, probably mainly to reassure a medical professional they considered to be overly anxious!
The MRI team converted the scan to a MR angiogram when they saw something behind my right eye. It was a giant cavernous carotid aneurysm. Radiology referred me immediately to the Neurosurgical Unit. The ophthalmologist rang me when he saw the result with an apology for doubting me!
Judith
I had vertigo, headaches, then double vision over the span of 3 months. I went to the ER and had problems with the balance tests. Thus the CT and MRA and the annie was discovered. I had liquid embolization just over a year ago. So far, all is stable.
Karen
This is so interesting. One clear thread is that Drs. don't want to do "unnecessary" tests. It is so easy to pass something off as mental or hormonal. I guess my ex-primary care Dr. who wanted me to get a mouth guard because I complained about pressure at my right temple after the right eye BRVO was right in there with her colleagues. I do recognize that it is very difficult to tell if a symptom is due to something minor or major and you don't want to test for everything. I had been tired, having memory problems and perhaps a touch of vertigo. I was just trying to take it in stride and didn't realize or insist that there was something that should be looked into. If I hadn't been away from home and work when it ruptured, I'm not sure I would have had the sense to go to the hospital either.
I always suffered from headaches, but after my brother passed away from a annie rupture in 2010, I finally after much prodding from my mother made an appointment with my primary Doc, and after a series of questions she turned out the lights, and looked at my pupils and he response was "I think we need and MRI, we scheduled it for the next morning and within 3 hrs of leaving m MRI she was on the phone telling me I need to be referred to a Neurosurgeon and she would prefer I go into Boston. I met with 2 different neurosurgeons (Dr. Ogilvy & Dr. Malik) for 2 opinions.... Dr. Ogilvy had me get a CAT scan with contrast and said he wasn't convinced it was an annie at all and was very dismissive that I had a serious family history (Great Grandfather, Grandfather and Brother - (all on same side of family) all passed away form ruptured annies). so a few days later I saw Dr. Malik who looked at the prior MRI, the CAT Scan and had his own MRA, and said that it was in fact an Annie and that I should get an angio done to really know what was going on, that was 2 years ago. Now after a lot of follow up they think I have a 2nd issue annie in my Right ICA along with the Left ICA - so now my 1st angio is fast approaching (Aug 9th). I'm scared to death! but have the utmost faith in Dr. Malik. and the staff at Tufts in Boston. They are so thorough that they had my see the hematology Doc (Dr. Heddy Smith) for a complete work up on my clotting factors and such... The most important thing to me was having trust and being comfortable with the neuro team that is going to root around in my brain :)
Best of Luck to you....
Hi there. I consider myself lucky (!) in that I had a traumatic head injury and the aneurysm was found during an MRI for that. I did have ONE episode a few months before, where I had the most terrible sudden onset headache (immediately knew that something was wrong), but as it only lasted a few minutes, disregarded it as something I had maybe eaten or similar. I have now had the aneurysm clipped and well on the road to recovery.
I went to the doctor after ten days of waking up with the same left sided throbbing debilitating headache, that subsided by days end but came back every morning. I had it for another week after the appointment too. Doc tried to insist it was a migraine and prescribed meds for that. I never filled the script. He offered an MRI more to make me feel better than anything else, although he mentioned later that he was mildly concerned as I had seen him a couple months earlier because of altered sense of taste - everything I ate or drank tasted milky, for about a week straight. It was like three weeks before I could get in for the MRI, and I got a call from the doc that evening with the news. It was a large/giant in the basilar artery 23mm in size, but those details weren’t revealed until an angio a few weeks later. It was two months of tests and red tape with my insurance company (that eventually led to them denying my treatment and me now suing them for such) before I received the PED to treat my wide necked anuerysm.
Hello Troy hope you're well. I went to my neurosurgeon for another reason told him that my left eye was constantly twitching and that my left side of my face was feeling numb. He then realized something wasn't right and he made me have an MRI. Then they found them the biggest one was on the right side of my brain and it had to be clipped as soon as possible. The other one was found at the same time, which is on the left side. This one is causing no symptoms but has to be clipped end of year. It's good i had those symptoms for the large one, other wise it could of burst.
Take care
Nikki xx
Hey Troy--
After suffering terrible awful ungodly headaches since January, 2012, and seeing various doctors for different diagnoses and treatments (including 2 root canals, various sinus issues and antibiotics, migraine headaches and three migraine medications, a sinus CT scan, as well as a regular CT scan, a vascular surgeon (possible temporal arteritis), an opthamologist, and even a retina specialist), a neurologist finally administered a CTA scan with iodine contrast which revealed an unruptured 5 mm right ophthalmic artery aneurysm. A glitch in the office communication prevented the neurologist from notifying me promptly, however a TIA put me in the ER. Having been there two weeks prior for what I thought was a "bring-me-to-tears" migraine, they gave me yet another CT scan (sans contrast), said it was fine, and were ready to discharge me. This time I demanded that they check the results of the CTA scan with contrast which I had never received the results of. Hours later, the ER doctor hemmed and hawed and finally checked the results. He came back in the room obviously shocked with a flock of nurses and announced that I in fact had an aneurysm. Everyone worked quickly after that to transfer me to Johns Hopkins where I undertook an MRI with contrast, an angiogram, a Plavix/aspirin regiment for 10 days followed by the insertion of a Pipeline Embolization Device.
Symptoms were severe pain in the left side of my head in my temporal area (annie was found on the right opthalmic artery), pain in my teeth most likely TMJ from clenching and grinding due to the pain in my head, pain in my sinuses (again, most likely TMJ), stabbing pains in my left eye, decreased vision, & green flashes of light in my left field of vision. Loud noise really set my headaches off which was why they thought migraines. Most likely because I had two extensive root canals due to all of this, I'm left with some sort of neuralgia which they're still working to figure out... two doctors say trigeminal and one says occipital. Nerve blocks next week should hopefully get me out of pain (fingers crossed!).
I have to say it took me forever to get an appointment with a neurologist here. I think I had to wait three months. It was actually the ENT that was able to get me in, and that was after he tried antibiotics, allergy medication and three migraine medications that didn't work. It was when I told him that I was a sixth grade teacher who during the last week of school was standing in the front of her classroom. all lights off, crying in front of her students, begging them to please be quiet, that he finally forced the neurologist to get me in earlier, and that was late June.
Funny enough, I had my CTA scan on July 16th, was admitted to Hopkins on the 18th of July, scheduled for surgery on July 31st and finally my local neurologist called on July 27th to tell me he had the CTA scan results in and that I had an aneurysm. lol Better late than never? Taught me that you really have to be your own advocate today in the medical world. Also gave me a bit of perspective on faith...
Tara
How did you find my name as Lleni? I'm curious because I am trying to replace my original sign-up with my alternate name. I didn't know the old name showed up anywhere. I'm having issues with privacy since webcrawlers aren't told not to record this site.
I think these stories are really interesting. I know there is a push to get more brain aneurysm awareness and I think some sense of symptoms is nice. I think I probably had some symptoms, but they didn't get to the point that I got an MRI. If we know more about the potential symptoms of aneurysm, perhaps fewer will get to the point of rupture.
Troy, I have had an unruptured aneurysm in my cardioid artery for 5 years. Severe headaches, sensitivity to lights and smells. They watched mine for 4 years. Then one day I noticed my headaches had changed. Migraine medicine wasn't working. They did an MRI and my aneurysm had doubled in size. They believe the stress in my life and 3 surgeries for other things made it grow. I had a stent and coiled 3 weeks later.
I had been seeing a neurologist for a few years prior. They had noticed white spots in my CT scan, silent strokes in non-productive parts of my brain, and they sent me to a neuro-surgeon. Just talk to your primary doctor if you need a referral. if you don't call a neuro-surgeon in your area pronto!!!! You need peace of mind, the stress of not knowing could complicate your situation!! Good luck!
I was having what I thought were sinus infections and I had blurry vision but all my xrays kept showing up clear so they did a CT to get a better look and that was when they found it!
I was having a lot of pressure in my sinus and eyes. I kept noticing for half hour intervals my eyesight would get distorted and as soon as it stopped I would get a ton of pressure and then a bad headache. Went to my doc 3 different times until I insisted something is not right and I don’t want to return to work unfilled it is figured out! That’s when she ordered an mri and found my 10+mm. Further testing and a pre-op angiogram revealed a 5+ and a 2+mm.
Thanks, Margaret. I really asked the question because I wondered if there were symptoms that other people and Drs. could tie to annies and that way people would get treated before having a rupture. Mine just ruptured one morning when I was at an event in the mountains and blew my nose. I guess I didn't have much in the way of symptoms before--a couple of double vision episodes, the BRVO, some difficulties with memory, a bit of light-headedness now and again, etc. Everything went away and I would just forget it. There was the pressure at my temple that my primary Dr. took to be TMJ and suggested a bite guard. I am sympathetic to Drs., somewhat. A lot of vague symptoms that could be caused by a multitude of conditions don't give them much to go on. Maybe the right person could read all our posts and incorporate the information into a text book or diagnostic manual. ;)