Hi, I’m new here and am still a little confused, not really scared though. What is it like living with an aneurysm with a stent, what am I to expect from living with this? Need some words of encouragement, someone help?
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Good Morning and welcome Ebony! Thank you for posting! I had my stent installed Dec 2020 from the moment I woke up fully in NSICU, I felt a lot better. Much more so than after my rupture and the two other tries. Every year it seems I am making more progress. I have the same rules I was given with each procedure don’t strain when having a bowel movement, don’t blow your nose hard, and my weight limit of 40 pounds, take 81 mg aspirin for the rest of my life. To avoid straining when having a bowel movement I take a probiotic as recommended to me by the GI doctor and make sure to eat foods with fiber. Truth be told, it’s not 100% effective but it helps a lot. Since I have a lot of allergies, not blowing my nose hard is accomplished by using a neti pot with saline solution. I live in a high allergy area and the trees are going to be dumping pollen soon. It’s not 100% effective but that’s usually because I forget to use it or maybe because our new house is really dusty, I need to have the HVAC company check our ductwork. As for the weight limit, it’s often ignored as I have stuff to move and do in the yard. I also don’t know what the weight is of things. When Dr. Q-W decided to install my stent it’s because I was moving cinder block. It’s much easier to carry two than one but I’ve had to promise her to just do one at a time. Other than those rules and the improvement in my cognitive abilities, I rarely give my stent much thought.
How do you feel different?
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Hi @ENes!
I had my stent (pipeline flow diverter) placed in October, and on Thursday, I hope to officially hear how it is working!
As such, I can only offer 6 months of experience, but honestly, I really don’t notice it all.
What I do notice, of course, are the blood thinners, so the random bruise that appears anywhere for no apparent reason. Plus, in winter, I have had many more nosebleeds for sure. As @Moltroub does, I have been using a saline spray and that has done just wonders to minimize the nosebleeds - they are much more manageable now. I hope that I will be able to drop the Plavix soon, though, and just stick with the baby aspirin for life.
The biggest impact for me was relief once it was placed! Even though I know it is still there, time is on my side, and that this annie is likely in his last days. Even if Thursday shows he is being stubborn and hanging around, all signs point to me winning this fight, and it will take either some more time, or worst case another stent. All that is a piece of cake versus going through another rupture, so I will gladly take those odds!
We are happy to answer whatever questions you might have, or listen to your concerns. Let us know how we can best support you!
Fin Whale Fan 
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Hi ENes,
I have my Pipeline stent inserted in January 2010 after annie ropture in February 2009, so it is quite a long time.
Every 2 years in december I have my CT Scan and all seems ok.
Take your time and good luck.
Giovanni
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@ENes
My aneurysm ruptured 4 1/2 years ago, in October 2020, and I got platinum coils inserted to stop the bleeding. Six months later I had my second surgery when the platinum stent was placed and more coils packed into the remaining aneurysm. I have no side effects from this. The only thing that is different is what @FinWhaleFan said.
The anti platelet medications that are necessary to take, first we need two different types of medication, usually Plavix and a high dose of Aspirin. This is to prevent blood clots in the artery where the stent is placed.
Six months later they usually follow up with an angiogram to check that everything looks fine and that the aneurysm is excluded from the circulation. At that time we usually can stop the Plavix and have a lower dose of Aspirin. In my case, 375mg daily instead of 500 mg daily.
At the next checkup after an MRI, I was told that only a Baby Aspirin was needed, 81 mg Aspirin daily, for life.
I was also told that if I ever needed another surgery of some kind, I could stop the Aspirin and resume it when the doctor told me that it was safe to take.
So, in other words, I have no side effects of the stent or the coils. It’s only the “blood thinner “ medication that gives me bruises if I bump into things. I am also a “noose bleeder “ and have been so for many years, but I am also using nasal saline spray every morning and sometimes during the day and “fingers crossed “ that has been a game changer for me, I haven’t had any nosebleeds in a long time.
To be able to get a stent before it rupture is a blessing. I know that it is not an easy decision to make. But I can promise you that you don’t want to be in the same situation as I was, with a ruptured aneurysm that could have ended my life.
I wish you all the best, you will be fine 
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So for me, I feel like my brain is going through some fuzzies or cloudiness. I often feel confused and I can’t seem to get my thoughts together and forgetfulness is beyond rude, memory is non existent sometimes and most of all I have these moments where I feel like I’m mentally challenged! This is atrocious, I mean it definitely is a blessing to be alive, especially since I just had open heart surgery in October of 2024 and being diagnosed as a diabetic after getting out of the hospital and now this. It is through the grace of God that I have been strapped in a stray jacket or placed in someone’s psych ward. So basically I have to restrain myself in a lot of different areas and what really scares me is someone aggravating my nerves as I feel like having someone get me that upset can be detrimental to me and my health. I have been fighting to get on disability just off of the pain that I’m in everyday due to my chronic back pain and everything else wrong with me, but honestly it’s been a real struggle and I’m sure that there are more people worse off than I am so I try not to complain and just deal. I’m just a little tired of just dealing with things and just putting a bandaid on things instead of facing them. They say only the strong survive and I guess we are all living proof, thx for listening!
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Glad you are here and you have definitely had your share of struggles.. Keep trying with the disability.. Highly recommend using an attorney. I use a lot of cognitive assistive devices or apps to help with my memory and communication.. keeping you in my prayers 
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Thank you!
I had to get a disability attorney after being denied the first time and when he told us it would be another almost two years because the backlog had grown to almost four years, I called one of my Senator’s aides and spoke with him. Bless his heart, I was accepted the next week! I met him on one of the lobby days with the BAF and The Bee Foundation. It was the first year for that particular Senator. I couldn’t believe it that the young man remembered me. My disability attorney said I was awarded it because I had lumbar repair (walk or not walk was my choice) the year prior to my rupture, not my rupture. He had told us that because of my age and higher education degree it would be harder to get SSD as SS expected me to get a job in a factory. I couldn’t return to factory work because of the back surgery.
I should have listened to the wonderful ladies at our local SS office and hired an attorney to start with. If you haven’t hired one yet, that may be what you need to do. We have another member who’s going through the same thing and waiting for his zoom court date with the judge.
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