Symptoms after clipping

Symptoms and Treatments
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Hey everyone

What an amazing community it is to have stumbled across.

I had a clipping a couple of months ago for an unruptured aneurysm that was found by accident (could not be more thankful it was found). My aneurysm was next to my left optic nerve on the carotid artery and it was so close to my optic nerve there was a chance the clipping would leave me (either temporarily or always) blind in that eye. Thankfully that never happened.

I’m still not myself and have found I have the following issues now that I’m eleven weeks after surgery:

  • Pretty hectic dizziness and lightheadedness that comes and goes;
  • Random problems with my left eye, for example when I’m tired I’ll get double vision in my left eye when looking at small text from a distance. Also some pulsing in my left eye;
  • Sharp pains in my head that come and go, sometimes behind my eye on the side of the clip and sometimes in my forehead on the side of the clip. This is more of a sharp pain than an ache;
  • General feeling of not being as switched on mentally as usual, sometimes struggling to find the words and keep up if there’s multiple conversations going on;
  • Random trouble swallowing if I swallow without food or drink (i.e. just swallow for the sake of it);
  • Lack of sexual drive and enjoyment.

Really interested to hear if anyone else has had the same experience??

Can’t say how nice it is to have found a community like this; I’ve had some great support from my family and friends but it’s very powerful to read the experiences of people in the same boat :slight_smile:

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Your brain is still in the early process of healing. Make sure you stay hydrated, eat protein and rest as needed. I would also suggest you reach out to your surgeon via patient portal and let them know what’s going on. Some of what you’re experiencing seems to be a common theme, I can’t remember anyone saying they had trouble swallowing though, it may just be from the trachea tube, but I’m unsure. Hoping members who have had a craniotomy reply.

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Thanks! Really appreciate the response.

I’m not so worried by the swallowing as I reckon it’s an anxiety thing and it comes and goes.

I am really interested to hear if other people have that sharp pain behind their eye (on aneurysm side) at 11 weeks post op? Also sometimes it feels like my left eye has a pulse!

Scary stuff

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Hey Curious1,
Welcome to Ben’s Friends
My name is Merl, I’m a member of the Modsupport Team here on Ben’s Friends.

Firstly, I must agree with @Moltroub “Your brain is still in the early process of healing…” The healing processes from a craniotomy (or any neurosurgery for that matter) is a slowly, slowly thing. I tried to keep that 6-8week timeline the medicos told me. I was at 12 weeks mark at the time and pushed myself, something went ‘pop’ and I woke up back on the neurosurgeon’s table. I have found (reluctantly) that the slower you take the recovery, the better the longer term outcome.

I too have had a craniotomy and I have to say at 11weeks it is still early on in your recovery. Often the medico’s like to give us a 6-8week recovery time and for the external wound healing that’s about right. But as for the internal healing, that can take longer, much longer and it is not a straight line of progression. Some days I can manage OK (with medications), and some days it all manages me.

I have endured 6 neurosurgeries and I have to say I too have needed to manage all of those same post surgical side effects. My last intracranial procedure was in '13 and some days I still battle with lingering symptoms. I cannot remember the last time I had a day completely symptom free. Even today, I go to stand up too quickly, get dizzy and have to brace myself against a wall so as not to find myself on the floor (I’ve found the floor with a thud on a few occasions).

My eyes are one of my ‘key indicators’. In it’s BAD stages, I often compare it to someone shooting a steel bolt from the back of my head out through my eyeball, with an intensity, like OMG, each pulse feels like my eyeball is going to explode from my skull. My eye closes up, my face droops, I get these fuzzy lines in my vision and my mind is foggy. Some days that word ‘foggy’ just doesn’t cover it. And speaking of ‘foggy’, I also find the weather having an impact, I can feel a storm coming better than our barometer. As for the heat, I’m in rural South Australia and we get some ripper 40+C days and my temperature regulation is all over the place. The heat just zaps me. Anything much over 35C is too much for me.

My sex drive didn’t just reduce, it plummeted. It’s not that it’s not enjoyed, not at all, but it certainly ain’t at the frequency it was. I’ve spoken to the wife about it all and she’s told me she’s pleased it’s dropped :astonished: :rofl: seems (in her words) “Before I was hornier than a billy goat…”

Curious1, you state “…I’ve had some great support from my family and friends but it’s very powerful to read the experiences of people in the same boat…” And that’s exactly why we’re here. Not everybody (Thankfully) ever goes through all of this. It can be scary as all hell and VERY isolating. We know this because we lived it too. So come talk to us.

Merl from the Modsupport Team

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