While I appreciate that doctors, take time to really research and do the best they can be, they don’t know everything.
I know several people on here have struggled with them as wel. IlMamy of us talked about headaches, and how they were told that they are not related to their aneurysm. Although, I find it interesting that there’s so many people that have suffered with him.
My doctor thought at one point I had a small leak because I had a sudden headache and threw up. Last night I got a severe headache and I had to take the Tylenol and ibuprofen cocktail. It was very severe and made me very nauseous, it frightened me. Finally, after about four hours I was able to fall back asleep for a while. I got up this morning and had some tea and toast, and sometimes a shot of caffeine will help. Which makes me think maybe it was migraine and nature? but now, as I sit here this morning, I couldn’t go to work, I am starting to get a headache again. Perhaps I will go lay down for a while and close my eyes. But like many of you, if so, many of us say that this is something that happens frequently, maybe the medical field should start to look into that.
I thank my neurosurgeon for saving my life and he did tell my GP that I should have speech therapy. I am not sure they know what other rehab is needed as they don’t see what’s happening after you leave the hospital. Even with the follow up, unless you write everything down and let them know repeatedly what’s working and what’s not, they won’t recommend anything. I had my follow up appointment a month after over the phone, because of COVID. I was still recovering and not doing any activity because head was swelling, headaches, and dizziness. I did not find out about the focus, the limb apraxia and balance and coordination until I started actually trying to be active. Like I said before there needs to be rehab set up in the hospitals and carried on after discharge.
Remember there is a difference between those who rupture and those who don’t. Many who rupture will have migraines for a good long time, especially when coiled. Some who haven’t ruptured often share that they’ve been plagued with migraines prior to discovery of an aneurysm. It’s very easy for all of us to point to our aneurysms and see a correlation, maybe too easy, I don’t know. We are a special group with everyone having an aneurysm or a family/friend of someone.
But I recall reading something in a neurologist’s office I think it was or online under the Journal of Neurology maybe that suggested there was well over 100 different types and causes for headaches. When you try to research them, the internet is all over the place with the typical causes be it from three to seven, etc. they’re umbrellas for headaches under them I think.
I used to get headaches prior to rupture, but nothing I’d call a migraine. Maybe they were and I didn’t know it. They were usually due to lack of sleep, not hydrating, (it’s difficult to find a bathroom late at night in the country and stores aren’t open at those times either so I rarely drank enough when I was on call), improper diet and stress. I also got allergy headaches, ones that I called draw bore headaches that radiated from my neck up into the back of my skull (caused by some dislocated vertebrae) and then those nasty ones that happen sometimes after an adrenaline rush.
I know quite a few teachers in our area and they seem to get more headaches this time of year. It’s the push for EOGs and how they’re rated by those results, I think as this is their primary focus. Do you see those at the school you work at? Our schools end June 9th so right around the corner. It’s also allergy time here in the South, though the tree pollen seems to be slowing down (we have more deciduous trees than conifers.) but the grass pollen is up and the rain has supplied us with mold pollens going up.
I can through my experience tell you there’s nothing like a thunderclap headache and it doesn’t ease up on one, it comes extremely fast and hard. My Neurosurgeon only gets a bit concerned depending where the odd headache is now and if it’s in one certain area and type.
Also remember Neurosurgeons are not Neurologists for the most part. I think one member had a surgeon who was also a Neurologist which is quite rare. If you want to do some research on headaches, go to the Neurology field as this is one of the things they study.
I hope you get some relief today.
When I first discovered this the neurology department told me that I needed to see them. And that was wrong. When I tried to make a appointment, neurology said nope, not us.
Yes, it is the end of the year and after school gets out then five days later I’m having my surgery. So I’m sure there’s a headache with that as well. I don’t enjoy vertigo. I had that again this morning and I was trying really hard to get rid of it so that I could drive to work. Mine is from that menierse thing.
My dad had it as well. It’s terrible. When it decides to sit in it’s like there’s nothing you can do but wait it out.
I sometimes snicker when I see some of these potential side effects. Such as, loss of balance, well, I have no balance now. Luckily, I do have a walker from when I broke my foot so I can still use that to help me with balance for a while. I guess I’m getting more afraid of cognitive impairment than anything else. I can’t really be a teacher if my brains are rattled. Four weeks may be enough or six wweks… but I am not going to push my health.
Yes, I’ve had two thunderclap headaches. The first one I had, I had no idea what it was. I just sat straight up in bed in the middle of the night and felt like somebody had walked me over the head with a baseball bat. And then when I had the Casino episode, the same thing happened.
But soon….blobbo will be gone
I certainly don’t envy teachers this time of year, Actually, I rarely envy teachers now with all the hoopla y’all have to go through. Had a lively discussion with some guy at the auto parts store who thought it was the teachers job to teach his children manners with a lot of other people agreeing. Apparently one of his kids was suspended for a few days. I asked him who taught him respect and he said it was his Grandmother. I asked why he wanted to shirk his duties as a parent and pass the buck, no one had any argument to bring back to that question 
I really think you will be fine cognitively speaking. You’ve caught it early and that’s a great thing.
I thought since you already have migraines, you would have a Neurologist…
Hey Abbycat, I didn’t find any great cognitive impairment, the information was still in there, it was more a recall issue for me. It took time for me to process information and formulate a response. This was very frustrating, before hand it all seemed to come naturally without me even thinking about it. I felt the time it took me to answer made me seem slow. At times some would press me for a response when I was still processing the question and I’d respond with venom. Thankfully, after a while I got a bit more of my normal recall/processing back, but it took time. Some days I still have those ‘short fuse’ days. I know those days, I can ‘feel’ it. I stay home and hibernate. I can’t offend anybody if I don’t interact with anybody.
My advice: You are going to come out the other side and feel fantastic. Best case scenario and it’s what we all hope/wish/pray for. BUT what if that’s not the case? Setup your environment, your life, your home for the worst case scenario. Plan for being bedbound for, let’s say, 2 weeks. What would you need? It is highly unlikely you’d be bedbound for 2 weeks at home. Firstly, if you weren’t well enough, the hospital would not have discharged you, but if you plan for the worst and the ‘worst’ doesn’t occur, that’s a bonus.
BUT
The very last thing you want is to leave hospital and then try to set things up whilst trying to manage your recovery. That doesn’t just double your load… …it multiplies it, 10 fold.
I also want to add another word of warning in regard to symptom prior vs symptoms after. I’d had headaches prior, so when they said about headaches I wrote it off. “Yea, I know about headaches” Then they operated, OMG, that gave me a whole new understanding of headaches. All of my senses went, hyper sensitive, sound, touch, taste, light. It was like my whole system had to find a ‘new normal’. Someone would touch me and I’d recoil like they’d touched a burn. Loud noise could easily overwhelm me. Light was a big problem for me. Bright light flashing through the trees when travelling in a vehicle, POW, instant headache. But over time most things have settled to a manageable level.
You’ll have good days and bad days, but the days between the bad days will get further and further apart.
I think the old boys scout motto works here, "Be Prepared’. Like I say, you may find you don’t need any of it. But if you’re prepared, you’re semi ready for anything.
Merl from the Modsupport Team
We were driving down the freeway yesterday and we read something that made me do some searching on my phone…so here’s a bit of hope for you…regardless of political views…
What if a man survived a ruptured brain aneurysm, have a craniotomy to repair and then go back in a few months later for another aneurysm on the other side of his brain back in 1988? Would he ever dream he would be elected to run a country decades later?
I know who that is, too, and I am just not going to put political opinions in here. So without any political comments, I don’t want to look at him and judge where I should or will be in recovery.
What?
It’s the possibility I was referring to, there is hope for all of us when one person can do something so unthinkable after a rupture. You are correct that we can’t compare but it’s still the possibility. I couldn’t work after I ruptured but that didn’t stop me from doing what I could do, like learning to speak or walk correctly again.
Also, medical knowledge has far surpassed what was done in the 80’s as compared to now days. BH’s Granny had a craniotomy back in the early 60’s for what we now think was a ruptured aneurysm. According to the family, they used a metal plate to seal her skull and she had her full faculties until her 80’s when she developed Alzheimer’s unless of course that metal plate heated up. Then she’d talk differently, the family would say “Granny’s talking crazy again”. It was a cue for quick action to get her back inside or into the shade and a cool cloth on her forehead and neck.
I am in awe of anyone who can survive a rupture and return to life as they knew it, even Granny who worked in a cotton mill until she retired and then packed bearings at home until her Alzheimer’s became bad enough she had to go to a facility. They are all inspirations to me.
I too have sufferered some pain in the head and side of my face off and on over the last seven years since my clipping. My Doctor told me it was probably Neualgia (I looked it up and “doctor google” tells me this is quite common after stroke). My Doctor prescribed some medication to be used “when nessessary” and it really helps. I have some neuralgia most days, but every three or four months I have a bad bout, so I take the medication. So you are not alone, I wold suggest having a chat with your Doctor, it is not my place to tell you the name of the medication that helps me, but your doctor should know