I am 4 weeks post clipping surgery and I walk so slow and get tired easily. I was warned that I would feel like I ran a marathon by the afternoon, but I wasn’t expecting it to be still like it this far out. 4 months ago I had a coiling for one of my aneurism, and then had to wait 3 months for the clipping of the 2nd as I was on blood thinners . I went back to work after a week for the coiling. I had planned to be out for a month for the clipping and I had to extend as I am not ready. I attempted a grocery trip with my husband and it was so hard that when we made it back to the car I broke down crying. Any advice on how to improve your endurance?
Hello Victoria- I am sorry that you are feeling tired. I am not a doctor but from my experience I think that being tired one month after the surgery, is to be expected. I had my clipping surgery 25 months ago. My goal was to walk 20 minutes a day and I increased that slowly day by day. Today I walked 17 km …you will be there soon.
I had days when I would feel exhausted and could hardly drag my feet and I felt the same frustration that you are experiencing these days. Have you checked your iron? My iron has been always low and that didn’t help.
Please be patient with yourself. Things will get better.
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Hi Victoria, keep at it and eat well. I walked everyday about a week after surgery. I too was surprised and frustrated when I went to the market and was fatigued from carrying one bag of groceries. I have always been active. I think it was about three months before my neighbor commented that my walking was back to normal.
Hello Victoria and Merry Christmas. While my experience is different having had emergency surgery, I think that the recovery can be similar. I will tell you that it took me far longer than a month to get back to my former physical capabilities. I would say that it was more like five months before I could do twenty minutes of cardio exercise. As for the grocery store, there is a lot of stimuli there, so I remember the first time I went by myself, I turned around and left it was so overwhelming.
A month out is really not much time. My OT therapist told me that having had invasive surgery on your brain means that it can take five times longer to recover than when the surgery is on other parts of the body. So I know its easy for me to say be patient and its difficult to hear be patient. But as someone that heard it, I wish that I had been able to be more patient. I honestly believe that having pushed the envelop too far too fast during recovery actually made recovery take longer, because sometimes there is a setback from going too fast.
So be patient and be thankful and have a Happy, healthy and safe New Year.
Welcome vrichards! As others have shared, patience is the key. Just set small goals for yourself. When I was released from hospital the first time, I couldn’t walk our short driveway. I went to my parents home and walked a portion of theirs as it’s not as steep an incline. Grocery stores are overwhelming dependent on any issues you have developed, just stay in the produce area and not walk back to the back of the store. Please try to increase your protein intake and stay hydrated, both will aid your brain in recovery. If you are able, take walks in your neighborhood bringing someone with you, perhaps increase by 5-10% every day. If you’re exhausted, you’ve probably done too much so stay on the number of steps for the next day. You also need to figure in any housework or cooking you’re doing as all part of exercise.
I tried walking to our mailbox 2-3 days after my last procedure. I didn’t make it that day. It’s frustrating! But today, 12 days later, I walked twice to the mailbox and policed the front yard picking up trash folks like to throw out their vehicles. I’m exhausted, but happy with what I’ve accomplished. So remember to look at where your at now as compared to when you were released from your last procedure.
Best of luck and do keep in touch!
Happy New Year to you and yours,
Moltroub
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Hi Victoria
I am over 3 months post clipping surgery and finally I am almost back to walking my normal speed, distances and steep slopes. “Almost” means that my daily walk is now 2.5miles of hills instead of 3 mi. I’m not there yet but slowly it improves.
At 3 weeks post surgery, I was still having trouble getting to my mail box. I could get there, but it was in slow motion! (We had a short but steep driveway). That was disappointing and I wondered how long it would take to be my normal self. I couldn’t twist the cap off a water bottle for about a month. Some movements hurt my head or I just didn’t have the strength. I didn’t actively try to walk at first but started by doing housework - lots of movement and lots of pauses. I could sit or lie down whenever I needed to. I cleaned windows and blinds, bathrooms, polished furniture, vacuumed. I couldn’t lift the bucket to mop though. At that point my recovery was fairly sensible. Like I said, lots of movement but with pauses. I did only what I could and used my arms more than than my legs. I’m not sure if it’s common but whenever I put too much pressure on my legs (walked up a hill or squatting down) my head hurt more and I hit a wall in terms of energy. Using my arms seemed to build up some stamina without the head pain. I went to a shopping centre and was exhausted because it’s hard to take a break when you need to, it’s continuous and you’re on your feet for too long in one stretch. It was 6-8 weeks before I could do a proper shopping effort and I still couldn’t carry the heavy groceries like I used to.
My head started to hurt less at the eight week mark and whilst I hadn’t started regular walking for exercise, I felt I was getting back to normal. In November we sold our house and started moving house, I think I overdid it with the heavy boxes, very stupid (!)
My head started to hurt again and it felt like there was movement of my skull as it seemed to develop new bumps and ridges as if the skull plate had moved. (Xrays came back clear).
It’s taken another month to get back to where I was. So, even if you think you’re normal, don’t push it like I did. I only started regular walking at the start of December (almost 3 months post surgery) and the first week of walks were only a mile of flat.
Sorry, I’m rambling- in a nut shell: I started with doing work around the house to slowly build up stamina and have the option of being able to rest frequently. At first, 10 minutes of cleaning resulted in half an hour of resting. Lots of resting for the first 4-6weeks.
I only started walking after I’d already built some stamina/fitness from working around the house and packing and unpacking from the house move. It’s only now at the 3 month mark that I’m heading towards normal in terms of walking and energy. I’m not there yet!
Good luck with finding the right amount and type of activity to do it slowly and sensibly. Each month will be your new normal.
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