Hi all,
I’m looking to collect objective data on all neurological symptoms that occur AFTER your ENDOVASCULAR intervention of a NON-RUPTURED aneurysm. This includes any cerebral angiography as well as any intervention done on your aneurysm (coil, flow diverter, stent, balloon, etc), but only for NON-RUPTURED please.
Symptoms can be anything—vertigo, word finding, general slowness of thoughts or speech, memory loss, etc.
I’m not doing a research study, I am a patient, but as a scientist I find comfort in data. Please appease me
Hope you get a lot of members that fit your criteria to respond, research is so very important in my book! What’s your field if you don’t mind me asking?
After about six years of being a behavioral specialist with sex abuse victims, I went into Child Protective Services. Had a client who was beaten really bad by SM and the agency did not do enough in my opinion. So I decided the only way to get them to change was to join them and be a thorn in their side. It’s an underpaid, overworked, unliked by many, wouldn’t do your job for anything position but when you get a family that can change and learn to keep children safe, it’s priceless.
Wow. I feel you! I started my career as a teacher in some rough areas. I felt like I was more of a social worker than a teacher—at least I cared more about the kids’ mental and physical health than their education. I first went back to school to become a guidance counselor, but ended up being pulled into administration, which I hated. After I had my children I went back for nursing and landed in mental health nursing—where I think I was meant all along. I now work with 2 different populations: adolescent psych, and adult substance use disorder. The two are incredibly connected… I know that if my adolescents don’t get the treatment they need to heal as children, they will end up being my patient with SUD as an adult. That is my area of research—relationship between ACEs and SUD. Also, looking at school-based interventions to identify and treat children while in school (since so often those who need treatment have caregivers who cannot provide this.)
Anyway… angio was a breeze. I asked for light sedation and manual pressure at my femoral, and I am completely fine. Yesterday the hardest part was laying down for 5 hours in the middle of the day. I’m taking it easy—no stairs or lifting, but other than that I’m completely normal.
You may get a wide variety of responses to this questions. I think the results really depend on size, location, and other general health. I had WEB implanted for an un-ruptured 3.8mm aneurysm in February of this year. I stayed one night in the hospital, stayed a second night in a hotel near the hospital (my choice) then flew home the day after that. I haven’t had any neurological issues post procedure that I didn’t have before. In fact, although most doctors will tell you that other symptoms you are having are not related to the aneurysm- some of the issues I had before the procedure (and they were minor - blurry vision and tingling sensation in my head) have actually improved post procedure. Could be coincidence but I just don’t know. Before I had the procedure done I read all the comments here I could find as well as some on a Facebook support group (unruptured aneurysm support) to understand potential post procedure issues. I read about headaches, stroke like symptoms, mood changes, and more - I had none of those. There was some initial tiredness the first couple days but that’s to be expected after any surgery. There was tenderness and bruising at the entry site in my groin - but that’s to be expected as well. I did have a hematoma in the recovery but they took care of that immediately and I had no other issues from that. Hope this helps.
Thank you so much! Sounds like after my angio, my dr may be leaning toward a web as well. I think it’s interesting how many people on here say they have neuro symptoms for unruptured aneurysms, but doctors and research seem to disagree (or they need updated data!) I think things like dizziness and headaches must come with the territory when you have something taking up space in your brain that shouldn’t be there. Anyway, thanks for sharing your experience. I am hoping to have an easy recovery! Thanks
Let us know how you do. it’s also helpful for those that come after us to be able to read experiences - including the name/location of the doctor chosen. This site and several key people on this site helped me a lot when I was trying to decide what to do.
I had my angio yesterday—very light sedation, manual pressure to close. Stayed in observation 5 hours, then discharged home. No issues at all. I didn’t realize that they don’t want you to drive not because of the leg bending (that’s fine after 5 hours), but because of the sedation… but I barely had any because I’m not a nervous person—I like to be aware of what is happening—so I could have driven myself home really. But I don’t think most people do it without the recommended level of anesthesia. I was walking around normally this morning until I started feeling a little achy in my groin—like someone was poking and prodding there a bit and felt just uncomfortable. I laid down and rested, took some Tylenol and I feel fine. I have ZERO neuro symptoms. I would say the only thing is that feeling in my groin like things were poked and prodded and it’s just a little bruised-like feeling on the inside (no actual bruising at the site). Overall, easy-peasy!
That’s really good ! It’s likely that will be the same result for your WEB procedure as well. It’s the exact same process. Only difference is that for an angiogram they stop at the neck and send the dye contrast for the images from the neck into the brain. With the WEB implantation you are under anesthesia so you are out and they’ll continue with the catheter into the brain and implant the WEB in the aneurysm. The whole process for me was less than an hour. There are always risks with any procedure which your doctor will go over with you, but I think the risks are less than 2%. Still very scary, but I’m glad I did it.
I’m happy to read your angiogram went well and yes, it’s hard to stay down after a femoral entry. They always put a weighted bag on it. I had enough angiograms that I could tell when Dr. Quintero-Wolfe used a different plug . In my experience, some are more painful or irritating than others. My first diagnostic angiogram wasn’t a good experience. I ended up having a huge hematoma because the Resident didn’t put enough pressure on it and I was bleeding out. When they sent me to the cancer unit with my weighted bag I started having an allergic reaction. The RN was brilliant there and she called the same Resident to order the benedryl shot. He told her no one was allergic to the gadolinium. She tried three times in less than five minutes but he refused to give the order. She told me if he refused again, I was to ask to speak to Dr. Q-W. He transferred her to Dr. Q-W and she gave the order. The shot was ready and before they hung up, I was given the shot. I’ve had dye for every angiogram and my sensitivity kept getting stronger. The best one was when Dr. Q-W installed my stent. For the first time, a procedure didn’t set me back months and I felt great when I woke up in recovery. No allergic reaction because I received a shot before hand. My last one was not good, went into severe anaphylaxis and the RNA didn’t have the dexamethasone. She had to be told to give me the Benadryl and get the other. It’s a darn good thing I knew how to do relaxation breathing I don’t have to have another unless it’s to save my life.
It’s great when we fall into a career we are supposed to be in, isn’t it? When I was an High Risk Interventionist, one of the first things I’d do is to request a client be taken off all their meds. It was most difficult to determine if the unwanted behavior was due to the plethora of medications they were on or something else. I had been to enough team meetings and appointments with the Psychiatrist and caregivers to know that caregivers don’t always give accurate information. Once off the meds and a few weeks later, I could better tell what was the root cause and then could address the undesired behaviors. Only a handful had to have some medication, most did not. All the caregivers I worked with had to learn to properly address those behaviors, it was my rule or I wouldn’t work with them. I’d also teach the entire family to do relaxation breathing, we’d make a game of it. If the adults could learn it, they could better address the undesirable behavior. When I went into CPS, as a line CPS SW I had to work with a lot of schools. Be cautious with them as personalities and prejudices play a huge part in what they’re observing. I once had a School SW demand I remove the children from a home because the mother couldn’t afford them. We had a “Come to Jesus” talk as they say here in the South. I also would teach the family if a parent or whomever was in charge, started to lose their temper, the caregiver had to go into time out. The children thought great, they have to go to their room. Absolutely not the case, the children had to go into theirs. Since time out is 2 minutes for every year of age, it could be a long time😂. It stopped a lot of physical abuse.
I just realized I’ve gone way off topic, I do apologize. We can always PM each other.
Don’t apologize, I love it! I love hearing about others’ passion for doing what is right!
I’m so relieved about how I feel after this angio, I’m not so scared about the actual intervention now. Thanks for everything
Apparently, there’s something about where my aneurysm is and the direction it’s going that has my doctor bringing my case to his team to discuss before he determines an intervention. When we initially met in the office before my angiogram, he was thinking he would use a flow diverter. After my angiogram, it sounded more like he was going to use the Balloon mesh. I trust him. His name is Dr. Zoarski, and he’s at Christiana Care in Delaware.
thank you for sharing but I haven’t subscribed to this thread so I am confused why I received this notification, thank you, hope everyone is doing well.
The angiogram allows the neurosurgeon to see more precisely whay he is dealing with. After my angiogram he was able to see the unruptured aneurysm was not the “monster” he thought it was. After my angiogram he discussed my case with other neurosurgeons for their opinions. I personally feel it is reassuring the neurosurgeon discussed my case with other specialists. All aneurysms are not the same, they are all unique.
I have two small (~4 - 5 mm) unruptured brain aneurysms. One of them has another bubble on top of it. The only procedure I’ve had is an angiogram, which was terrifying to me.
I laid on that hard, stainless steel slab in a room full of doctors, nurses, interns, and I don’t even know who else, the room was just full of people, and the entire room was set up just for me. I was very scared, laying there on that cold silver slab with a giant screen next to my head, and I cried nearly the entire time. It didn’t hurt, except for some discomfort across my cheek (?) for a minute… it was just the feeling of how invasive it is and how sad it is that I even have to have an angiogram.
Thankfully, I didn’t have any adverse side effects and my vascular surgeon made no mistakes, thank God🙏.
it’s also helpful for those that come after us to be able to read experiences - including the name/location of the doctor chosen. This site and several key people on this site helped me a lot when I was trying to decide what to do.
. In my experience, some are more painful or irritating than others. My first diagnostic angiogram wasn’t a good experience. I ended up having a huge hematoma because the Resident didn’t put enough pressure on it and I was bleeding out. When they sent me to the cancer unit with my weighted bag I started having an allergic reaction. The RN was brilliant there and she called the same Resident to order the benedryl shot. He told her no one was allergic to the gadolinium. She tried three times in less than five minutes but he refused to give the order. She told me if he refused again, I was to ask to speak to Dr. Q-W. He transferred her to Dr. Q-W and she gave the order. The shot was ready and before they hung up, I was given the shot. I’ve had dye for every angiogram and my sensitivity kept getting stronger. The best one was when Dr. Q-W installed my stent. For the first time, a procedure didn’t set me back months and I felt great when I woke up in recovery. No allergic reaction because I received a shot before hand. My last one was not good, went into severe anaphylaxis and the RNA didn’t have the dexamethasone. She had to be told to give me the Benadryl and get the other. It’s a darn good thing I knew how to do relaxation breathing I don’t have to have another unless it’s to save my life. 
