Good afternoon to all. I found this site last night and need some advice. Yesterday afternoon I haf experienced what I believe was a ruptured brain aneurysm. I was watching tv with my boyfriend when all of a sudden I felt a pop in the back of my neck. A few seconds after that I had experienced the most painful headache I have ever had. It was so debilitating that I couldnt open my eyes or move. I immediately started crying and grabbing the back of my head as if it was going to explode. My boyfriend insisted we go straight to the ER. I was reluctant because I was hoping that it would subside. When we got to the hospital I was nauseous and vomited. Within the hour the pain started to diminish. They took a CT of my brain. It came back normal. The ER doc didnt seem to listen and released me with a DX of sinusitis. Now, I know that this was not sinusitis. Im scared to death because I have a 10 yr old ansd a 8yr old. Im scared of letting this go if in fact it is an aneurysm. Do you guys think I should go to a different hospital and have them do more tests? Help…I need some advice please!
YES, I do---there have been countless people (here on this Site and beyond) , who've also experienced mis-diagnosed aneurysms, and being a woman in this predicament is many times handled with the standard: "oh its just a migraine, or: " you're periods are causing this " or its" pre- menopause" or tis 'all in your head'.
A CT scan is not the most definitive either. In 98 I had a rather large aneurysm on the left posterior communicating artery yet the CT didn't show anything but a little 'fullness' on the images...An MRA with contrast dye was done next which showed the aneurysm in all its glory. What you have explained regarding the onset of pain and the popping sound -- go to another ER. There is a stark difference depending upon where you land --each hospital has good/bad/indifferent in terms skill and care, but don't horse around with this. I hate to say it but sometimes one has to doctor the truth up a bit in order to acheive the required results and if I were in your shoes and had to talk my way into getting an AngioGram/MRA, then i'd surely go for it...tell the ER that you've got dizzyness, balance issues, sister and mother who've had brain aneurysms, whatever it takes to get the right test. Be your #1 advocate.
So please go to another ER today, don't mean to be so pushy but --(yeah, wait that isn't true..I DO mean to sound pushy !!) lol, let us know whats up, peace, Janet
Yes...go to ER and insist on either a CT scan with dye and/or MRA...I had a 9mm basilar aneurysm ... (back of neck, base of skull) never found on CT ... but it was found on my MRA...seek medical attention now...~ Colleen
Hi Poohbaby,
Yes - definitely definitely go to a hospital and make them aware of the events that have happened. Any good hospital ought to run a lumbar puncture/spinal tap on you to rule out a small bleed. A CT scan is only 90-95% sensitive in showing a ruptured aneurysm, and if your bleed was small it could easily be missed. A spinal tap will show with 100% effectiveness even a very minor bleed, because the chemical evidence of even a tiny bleed will be present in the cerebrospinal fluid that they remove and test.
Your symptoms are not really in any way likely to be sinusitis, at any rate! Sinusitis generally presents as a dull headache focused on the front side of the head/behind the eye sockets and I think that diagnosis is a total nonsense. If your symptoms have totally resolved, there is a solid chance that you just had some sort of strange migraine attack, but you must check to rule out a small bleed because the stakes are so high if that is what has happened to you. You exhibited a classic "thunderclap" type headache with extreme pain, nausea and vomiting - so you had the classic symptoms of a rupture and the medically responsible thing to do is to ensure that it hasn't happened. Definitely make sure they do a spinal tap to rule out a bleed, it's not a demanding or expensive procedure and they certainly should have offered it to you in the circumstances.
I hope it turns out to be a false alarm for you, but I think checking is the right thing to do! Good luck!
B.
Yes, I also agree..You should definitely get a second opinion! My aneurysm ruptured on the morning of June 7th, 2012, I was lucid enough to call my husband to come home & he called 911 & I was brought to my local hospital. They eventually did a CTscan, after my husband kept telling them that my brother had 2 aneurysms. They saw nothing in the scan & sent me home with Migraine meds. My husband brought me back up to the hospital the next day & finally had a spinal tap which showed my rupture & I was airlifted to Boston. My surgeon told my husband if it would have been one more day, that I wouldn't have been here..So yes, please get a second opinion, or a third..My surgeon says that you can rebleed up to two weeks after but the outcome may not be the same..Get a CTA w/dye or an MRA & insist on it! Tell them that you have such an unbearable headache, that you've been vomitting, whatever it takes but go now, don't wait whatever you do, time is of the essence..Just please go to a different hospital. Keep us posted..
Hugs,
~ Jane