Liz D

Hi Mel Welcome to the site. I agree with Skippy, couldn't you look into seeing if you would be entitled to any help. It does rather sound as though things are a bit too much for you at the moment. Did your employer allow you to go back on a phased return? Do you know there is a new sick note system now. Your GP can give you a sick note asking your employer to cut back your hours for a certain period, I do think you need to go and have a conversation with your GP. Tell him/her how you are feeling. I also think what Janet said is a good idea, you never know what you can get until you ask. But so glad you've found this site and remember when you're having a bad day we're always here to listen. Take care.

Hi Luisa I agree with Keith (Bogbrush) you may be back too soon. I went back to work after 10 months but was on a phased return. To start with I was to do 6 hours per week over 2 days but not consectutively. I remember feeling shattered and told them I needed retrained. I was to increase my hours slowly over 6 months. What Occupational Health said was that I was to take on some duties, consolidate them and then take on more. However, it didn't work as I had a an office supervisor and manager that put me under too much pressure and are now going through a process aftger having been accused of bullying, not just by me! After 11 weeks I was signed off again with work related stress. I was losing weight, had lost my appetite and was not sleeping the nigth before work. I was being made to feel useless by these two people. However, my colleagues were wonderful. They each spoke to me about the SAH and welcomed me back. They were very encouraging. I remember one saying to me, when I told her my confidence had been badly affected, that if she were off work for 10 months, never mind having had a SAH, then she would lack confidence. Another even understood that it must have been nerve wracking just walking through the door! However I am now back at work, working elsewhere in the hospital. This is my first week back and I have just completed a full week of 35 hours! But I've not needed a nap during the day now for 3 months. I know I would have been successful in my return to work last December if it were not for those two personalities but the difference now is amazing. I'm just so much better and so able to cope with work. I think you should see how it goes but if you are still feeling so the way you are then maybe you need to give yourself some more time. I too now have no children at home, the last child to fly the nest left last Friday. I've found going back to work so much easier with just me and my husband. Things are easier in the morning and also in the evening. I like the house being quieter I'm afraid to admit. I always found on Monday mornings that I would be quite shattered from all the coming and going at the weekend!

Hi Angela I had a follow up angiogram in February. I was not looking forward to it. I'd had an angio after my bleed and coped with it ok but I was on every painkiller you can think of, I was also on steroids and medication to keep my blood pressure very low. I was also being pumped full of fluids. What I'd remembered was being so desperate for the loo! Everything else I coped with. I had to be kept awake for the first 2 hours of my coiling procedure (then a GA for the next 6 hours) because they were doing a balloon occlusion and then they were going to coil off the artery as well as the aneurysm. All I can remember was hoping that they would hurry up and send off me to sleep! So I was really nervous come February. But you know what, it wasn't nearly as bad as I had remembered. I wasn't desperate for the loo half way through and the hour went by in a flash, it was uncomfortable however. But I knew I was to have an angio, what have you been told about what to expect? I'm pretty sure your sister's experience was a blip, as Karen said. If you are not sure, call your surgeon's secretary and ask her what are you booked on for. Tell her what happened to your sister and let her know how nervous you are that the same could happen to you. I hope this helps a little.

Hi Bubbles Welcome to the site. It took me 8 months before I could cope with the computer and it took a lot of energy to just switch it on! It all takes time! Take care.

Hi Vic An interesting thread that I must have missed previously! I don't get PMT but I am certainly more "stupid" when I have them. I get more dizzy spells and my balance is worse. I also get quite a bad headache the day before. Like Michelle C I kind of thought they would have gone by now or at least signs of that, nope, just as regular as before! I did say to my neuro last year about how I am at that time of the month and he said that SAH would have no affect! He's a man! But things are definitely a wee bit worse during that time. I had a sentinal bleed in the December and another one in the January before my SAH on 10 February and a sequential bleed on 14 February. The bleed in December coincided with the first day of my period, the one in January was on the last day. The SAH in February was the first day of a period and the sequential bleed was on the last day. Again they said coincidence. But surely your hormone cycle has an affect on you blood pressure. I don't believe my hormones caused the aneurysm but must have had an affect on when it burst. What my neuro said last year was that these two things were going along in parellel! What I do know is that everyone's natural rythms mean that yor blood pressure does go up around about 2am to 3am. I used to work for a dental practice and the dentists said that if you were going to have bad toothache it would more than likely be then that it would hit you!

Hi Saffy So glad you're doing so well. I find I still drink a lot of water, I find it helps keep the headaches away. Remember your body is still healing and you will find things getting a little better each day, it's very small steps. I was told that when your brain is healing it will sap the energy from everywhere else in order to do this, so the fatigue is your signal to rest up! Take care.

Hi Kylie and welcome. Yes we all look fine on the outside but we know things are very different on the inside! I am not allowed any caffeine. My blood pressure shot up 4 months after my SAH and I've still no idea why. I was told my neurosurgeon to cut out caffeine and alcohol (I only have one artery feeding my main brain stem and have to keep it as healthy as possible!). I was still having the odd cup of tea up until my blood pressure went up but now I don't have any caffeine (caffeine can cause a rise in your blood pressure). Although sometimes when I'm short on energy I crave that "lift" that caffeine can give you! Have you spoken to your doctor about the increase in your PMT? Maybe he could help you there? You sound as though you are doing well and I'm not surprised you have fatigue. Not only are you recovering from a SAH you have two very young children to run after!!

Hi Caroline Congratulations on your 2nd anni-versary sorry I'm a bit late!

Hi Katie I agree with Karen, it's not your fault you had a SAH, the weakness in the artery was most likely there from when you were born. Given the right circumstances I think we could all succumb to some kind of addiction, be it drugs, alcohol, shopping or food. You have survived such a lot, you are one tough cookie! I'm so sorry you lost your brother. My daughter studied CBT as part of her phsycology and music degree. She found it actually helped her, as she's quite a sensitive person. She said it's hard work and takes a lot of effort but the rewards are huge. Take care.

Hi Lisa Welcome to BTG. I too had a lot of hair loss, it was coming out in handfuls, this lasted for 3 to 4 months. I have shoulder length hair and can remember being quite shocked. Although I didn't have any bald patches my hairline at either temples had definitely receded! I spoke to my neuro surgeon about it at my 3 month checkup. He said this can happen and that they didn't know if it is due to being seriously ill or a reaction to the radiation used in surgery. But it did start to grow back in after about 6 months and my hairline is getting back to normal. I'm so sorry you find yourself in the middle of a family feud, stressfull situations can cause terrbile supset to families but it's for them to sort themselves out. But as said before you have to be selfish, you have to put yourself and your recovery first. Is there anyone else in the middle, someone who can see both sides that you could talk to and ask them explain to everyone that this is not helping you? Take care.

Hi John Well done on reaching the 6 month mark and keeping your positive attitude. I can remember reading a post a while back (I think it may have been Karen, sorry can't remember) which mentioned that the first year was really about healing and recovery but the second year bigger improvements could be noticed. I'm now 15 1/2 months post SAH and I can see a greater improvement these last couple of months. Of course things at work earlier in the year hampered my recovery because of the stress. But my husband told me last week that he can see much bigger improvements, he says he can see not small sparks of the strong confident person I was but he says there's big flashes of it! I feel I'm now finally starting to get "better". I too have moments of absentmindedness, like forgetting to switch the washing machine on or going away for the weekend and forgetting my pills and having to turn back after an hour on the road! At first it would annoy me when friends would say "I do that" when I told them of something silly that happened. But not now. John how many people do we know that can forget to lock their doors and they haven't had a brain injury! I now say to myself "well they haven't had a brain injury and they do it!" We know that we didn't do these things before SAH and it's these little changes that can be hard to come to terms with. But as you say we are still here and we're very lucky because as we know some of us on here have even bigger mountains to climb. This is why this site is so helpful and why we get so much inspiration from survivors who are further down the road than us. Once again thank god Karen had the insipiration (and energy) to start this website and help us all in our recovery. Good luck for the scan. I remember being really nervous for my angio in February and being really glad it was over! Take care.

Hi Maggie Welcome to BTG and a Happy Birthday! You are very early in your recovery and headaches will be regular. Make sure you are drinking your 3 ltrs of fluid each day, as this helps keep your brain hydrated. It's also your body's way of saying slow down. I had daily headaches and was told to take a painkiller as soon as I felt it come on, I was trying to wait as long as possible and hoping that I wouldn't need to take a painkiller. My GP said this was the wrong tactic as the headache would fatigue me more! It does get better but it can take 3 months for the blood to be absorbed by your body, it has to be processed through your kidneys, again why lots of fluid is needed. It does get better, I'm sure you will start to feel the headahces becoming less frequent and less in their intensity. I think it was about 9 weeks before my mine lessened. I still got headaches but it was because I was doing more and using my brain more. I sort of saw it as a "positive" pain. I looked at it that way because like any muslce that's been injured, when you start to excersice it, it can be painfull but at the same time the muscle is getting better and stronger. From about October until now I have had about 4 headaches that have required me to take codeine, other headaches have gone with paracetamol and sometimes only 1 tab is needed. Another thing I would do after a few months post SAH was to go into a quiet room, pull the curtains and rest my brain for a bit and the headache would ease. Even when I returned to work in December I would go to the loo, put the light out and sit for 5 mins and this stopped the headache. As i said before it is very early days for you and I assume you are still being monitored by your GP. Is he checking your blood pressure? It's always a good idea to tell your GP about the headaches as it was my GP that noticed mine were getting less frequent and less painful. Take care.

Hi Hadyn Welcome to BTG. I was always "sporty" and played hockey up until I had my first child at 26. I then was always in the gym. But for about a year to a year and half before I had my SAH I didn't go because I was started to suffer from fatigue and headaches when I went. I think I was having very small bleeds then because my headaches were getting horrendous. I am not allowed ot go to the gym because of my blood pressure. My excersise now is walking and even some days that's a no go! It's hard coming to terms with the changes in us post SAH. I like to think at some point I can get back to the gym but we'll see. There are members who still go to the gym and when they see your post I'm sure they'll share their experiences with you. But also we do recover at different time scales so lets hope that you keep improving and in time can get back into fitness.

Hi Laura A hysterectomy would be fine if you're finished having a family, am I right that you haven't started a family yet? I can't help re the pill, I only ever used it for a year when I was a teenager but it made me quite ill. My husband was responsible for contraception. When we completed our family after having 3 children, he had a vasectomy. If it's because of heavy bleeding and pain (but again you have to have finished having a family) then there is another procedure. I had problems 6 years and they couldn't find the cause and wanted to do a hysterectomy. I refused to let them until they told me what was causing the problem! I'd tried a mirena coil for 6 months but it didn't help. So I had an edometrial ablation. They destroy the endometrial lining with radiotherapy. It's done as a day case and you're up and about in 48 hours! I've never looked backed! But it's only suitable if you've had your family. I'm so sorry that your going through all this stress, take care.

Hi Just read your post about the fiasco with your notes! You go girl! Gosh I'll have you in my corner any time!!

Hi Saffy You sound as though you are doing well. My vision is very blurred in the morning, it takes about an hour for it to clear. I have spoken to my optician and GP but got no real answers. Just the usual "well I can't see anything wrong"! So I just put up with it. So long as they tell me there's nothing wrong, that's fine with me! I wear reading glasses and now have wear them more often and I do have to increase the zoom level on the computer to read it comfortably, yet my acutal vision hasn't changed since October 2008! Your family sound lovely and good luck to your hubby! It doesn't matter how they do it, it's the fact that they care enough to try!

HI Katy Welcome to BTG. Gosh you were young when you had your SAH. It's hard when there is another medical problem that causes fatigue. I have a thyroid problem and certainly for several months my SAH fatigue was just like the fatigue I get with my my hypothyroidism. It also causes headaches! But now I can tell the difference between the two. My SAH has made my thyroid problem a lot worse. My pituitary gland has been affected by the bleed. This gland tells my thyroid to make a hormone which is then converted through my liver into energy! But now that has all been fixed by tweeking my medication and the fatigue I get is cased by the SAH. Any chronic condition can lead to depresssion, especially if it involves pain. You have to keep speaking to your doctor, tell your dr how it's making you feel. Have you been offered any counselling by you dr? It's quite something to be dealing with ME at your age, never mind a SAH! Take care.

Well done Saffy and take lots of rest. I remember my neuro surgeon smiling at me when he told me I had a 9 coils put in and told me how much they cost! But as Sarah has said, we are worth every penny and more!!

Hi Maggie Nice to hear from you and welcome to the family! This is indeed a wonderful site and I've found it's helped me so much. I found writing my story down very cathartic. Looking forward to hearing more from you.

Hi Jan I agree with the others, don't go back to work until you haveit in writing and you fully understand what they are expecting from you. I returned to work in Dec '09 on a phased return. I work in our local general hospital. My manager had referred me to our occupational health service for them to oversee my return. I was to do 6 hours a week, over 2 days and they were not to be consecutive, for the first month. He envisaged my return to take up to 6 months. I was to do what duties I felt able to do at first, consolidate this before I took on more. If I was back working my 35 hours by the 6 months, then good, however, if I wasn't back to 35 then my contracted hours would be reduced. We got a new manager whilst I was on sick leave. She was furious with what was proposed. Even though I was only to get paid for the hours I worked and she had temps (who has already been covering my hours for the 10 1/2 months I was off!)covering the hours I didn't work. I should add she was a former sister before taking up this post! She wanted me back to 35 hours, on full duties and full shift patterns by the end of March. she put me under huge pressure and I was always being made to feel that I was useless! When I reminded her that I would be having an angiogram in Feb she rolled her eyes and sighed at me! I was signed back off sick in the middle of Feb with work related stress. I wasn't sleeping, had no appetite, would cry very easily and my blood pressure was starting to go back up. There is now an offical complaint gone in on my behalf, by my union. The occy health doc, who is furious with my treatment, has told me that it is not good for my health to go back to that office and I am to be redeployed! If I were you I would get a copy of the leaflet that the Brain and Spine Foundation have drawn up about SAH. You can download it from their website and give it to your HR manager and your manager. But at the end of the day it will come down to the personalities of the people involved in your return. If they are compassionate then your return will be more positive. This has been my experience so far but many people have had very supportive managers and had a successful return to work. I'm sure you will be one of them. Take care

Hi Leon Welcome to the site.

Hi Zoe I don't think your being selfish I think you are saying how it is. You are under a huge amount of stress. Have you spoken to your doctor? You need to be supported through this. When anyone said to me after my SAH "oh you must have been so scared" I always tell them that it was more scary and stressful for my family. Neither should you have to worry about money, maybe you should go to your citizens advice office and ask them for advice. Take care.

Hi Karen Prior to my SAH (I was 5 weeks into a new post) I worked for the department for the elderly in our local general hospital as a secretary. Our office was right outside the stroke ward, so I was very often on the ward. I regularly came into contact with the consultant (who has spent many years in stroke research) and the stroke research nurses. I also came into contact with many stroke patients and all the relevant bodies involved in rehabilitation of these patients. I knew that strokes were caused by a clot and had heard that they could also be caused by a bleed. But never once had I heard of a SAH! I never knew about the sudden onset of a severe headache and certainly even after my SAH I didn't put my bleed with any kind of stroke. That is until my neighbour, a nurse workng on the stroke ward, told me! The doc that dealt with me on the ward when I was admitted was a colleague. He had worked on the stroke ward for 12 months and had just moved to work in the medical wards. From the outset he said it was a SAH. I think having known me for a year and then seeing me in such distress, was why he was so adamant, even though the CT scan was negative. I'll be forever grateful to him because he phoned Edinburgh Western Neuro docs straight away and was told to treat it as a SAH until it was proved that it wasn't. So my treatment started immidiately and SAH was diagnosed the next day by lumbar puncture. I am almost evangelical in spreading the word about a sudden severe headache because of my experience. I had my SAH on the Tuesday and went to work the next day!! The bleed on the Saturday is called a sequential bleed. I thought I'd had a severe migraine as my migraines could be horrendous and last 3 days! I've also spread the word among my exended family and this is how I discovered that my parental grandfather died from a SAH, my 52 year old cousin died last June from a SAH and another cousin suffered a SAH Feb 2008 and survived. There just is not enough information out there about SAH. No one, in all the years of being treated for migraine told me the relevance of a headache coming on suddenly, if they had done then I would have gone to hospital when I was 37 and had just had a SAH! Sorry for having a rant but this thread has touched a raw nerve with me!

Good luck Saffy looking forward to hearing from you once your up to it after the op.

Hi Zoe Sorry don't know anything about rehab but a few members have experience of it and I'm sure they'll give you some advice. Liz