Liz D

Hi Karen My doc came to the house to me, he said the surgery was full of sick people! For the first few weeks he came to see me 3 times per week and then I saw him at least once a fortnight. A lot of visits. I still see him now every 2 months for a check. Because he saw me so often he could see improvements where I couldn't. It was the other way around for me, my home was like another surgery for him he was here so often. If you have any doubts about anything always go to your doctor. It's always reassuring to get things checked.

Hi I think Penny's right, we're all different. I can watch TV but can't have it too loud and I can't watch programmes that have those silly camera angles, where it either shoots from one scene to another very quickly or someone's sitting still but the camera starts to pan around! This is all too confusing for my brain and I get a headache. I think I have a slight delay in messages being realyed from what I see to my brain. I'm afraid I don't think I could deal with the cinema it would be far too loud, I like to be in control of the volume!

Hi Sandi Welcome to BTG. You are still very early in your recovery. It can take up to 3 months for the blood to be absorbed by your body and it has to be processed by your kidneys, that's why it's a good idea to keep hydrated. Keeping hydrated also helps you have fewer headaches. You need to listen to your body and rest up as much as you can. My bleed was at the back of my head, I had a dissecting aneurysm on the left vertebral artery. I remember experiencing all sorts of sensations in my head. I found I got the tightness when I was having to concentrate. I think I know what you mean by the wavy feeling and I think this is healing. That's what I put it down to. I can still get it sometimes now but it happens more when I'm trying to recall something. I can't help you with the sinus pressure, maybe it's being caused by tension. But you should speak with your doctor and get him/her to check things out for you, maybe there is some sunus infection in there. Take care.

Hi Win Welcome to BTG. Well done on taking 4 steps, you sound like a strong person. Good luck in your continued recovery.

My neuroradiologist asked if I'd been in a car accident because he said he'd only ever seen my kind of SAH as a result of one because the artery was in such a mess. I've never been involved in a car accident. He also told me that I more or less was born with the default in the artery wall. I agree with Karen, I don't believe car accidents can cause a aneurysm to grow but could, maybe, be one of the many reasons that they burst. I was also told that there's actually quite a number of people who have aneurysms, live their life to the full and it never affects them. The rare thing is an aneurysm actually rupturing. I guess we are just the unlucky ones that circumstances were such that our aneurysms did.

Hi Anne I don't have a second aneurysm but I do have some restrictions. They believe my SAH was inherited because of the family history and the flaw in the artery that caused the aneurysm to develop could be in another artery. I had a SAH 12 years before the anuerysm ruptured (I thought I'd had a migraine!) and they think it was caused by an artery dissection and then the aneurysm grew from that. My aneurysm was dissecting the artery and that's why the artery was coiled. So they keep my blood pressure just below "normal". I have been advised no alcohol and I have to stay away from smokers. Both alcohol and smoking can cause arteries, in suseptible people, to clog and put pressure on the artery wall. I also have to stay away from caffeine as it can raise your blood pressure. What I was told about blood pressure going up was that this will increase volume of blood within your arteries and again this will put pressure on the artery wall. My restrictions are more about reducing the risk of developing another aneurysm but seem very similar to yours. Sorry I can't of more help. Should have added that I'm not allowed to go to the gym but that's because of my blood pressure. I can't swim because the stroke has affected the mobility in my left arm. So I walk. But again because the stroke affected my left side I can't walk very fast and at first couldn't walk for any length of time but I've slowly worked that up and now can walk for an hour. I also walk to work which is at the bottom of my road and at the bottom of a very steep hill! I do that 4 times a week and every Wednesday (my day off) I go for a long walk.

Hi Steph Sorry I can't help you with any information. But stay positive, sounds like your consultant is going the "extra mile" for you and that's great news. Take care.

Hi MP Welcome to BTG. As the others have said, listen to your body and rest when it tells you and keep up with plenty of fluids. You are only just 11+ into your recovery and to be back at work is amazing! Take care.

Hi Zoe Richard's doing doing really well and your giving him great encouragement. Great idea about extending the walk by a house each day. I was too frightened to leave the house for weeks after my SAH but that's how I did things. I started with just standing on the patio for a few minutes, then walking to the end of the road (which is 4 houses!)until eventually I could walk to the the local Co-op, which is at the bottom of the hill (a steephill!) and walk back home. I felt that my husband was my carer for months (and my SAH was no where near as severe as Richard's). I was very weak when I came out of hospital and it took me 3 weeks to just be able to stand up in the shower! For about 3 months he had to come home from work at lunchtime to make me my lunch. He was doing all the housework, shopping and cooking. He's a senior civil servant with a very time consuming job so he got quite exhausted. We had some difficulties because of this. He would talk about when I get back to "normal" and this really annoyed me because I knew that person was gone! So when I was stronger we had some couple counselling, which helped him come to terms with the changes in me. This was about 8 or 9 months post SAH. But now things are better than they've ever been and we have an even deeper understanding of each other. Richard seems to be very motivated and I'm very impressed with him being able to cook most of the dinner, well done Richard. You've had a tough time Zoe but this post is very positive. I'll say it again, Richard is a very lucky man having you fighting his corner!

Brilliant news Stuart, fingers crossed the results will good.

Hi Pete Welcome to BTG. It's such a pity that we leave hospital with no information on what to expect. I found such relief when I joined this site, so many people further down the road than me and so much information! We should all leave hospital with the address for site.

Hi Karen My advise to you would be to make sure that you are ready to go back, don't go back too soon. I returned to work (medical secretary with the NHS) 10 months post SAH. I was being supervised by occupational health. I was to start with 6 ours per week over two days and the days not be consecutive. The occupational health doctor thought my phased return could take 6months. I was able to cope with the work which relies on a high degree of accuracy working with a lot of numbers. I was very accurate! However, my manager and office supervisor gave me no support and in fact put me under huge pressure to be back working 35 hours and doing full duties. They ignored OH advice and even refused to attend a meeting with OH to discuss this. As a result I was signed back off sick 11 weeks after returning. The OH doctor was very supportive of me and in fact told me to stay off sick until this was all sorted out and he stressed to me that I was doing really well and that it was my manager who was failing! I returned to work again in June but not to that office. I was redeployed and now work in a wonderful office with wonderfull colleagues. I managed my 35 hours per week fine for 5 months but decided to cut them back to 18 3/4. I'm lucky also that I have no financial pressure on me to work and I find that makes working very easy. Make sure that your union fees are up to date, as I couldn't have coped without their support. You are entitled to see what your employer has written to occupational health and what kind of report they want from them. This may also explain why they want to see your consultant and GP's reports, my OH doctor never asked for these. You will need the full support of your head teacher and also your colleagues. But be prepared for them not to fully understand what you have been through. They may assume that you are back to "normal" because you are back to work. Be prepared to be really tired and the headaches to return! But if you get full support and are able to increase hours/duties at your pace then you will feel an enormous sense of achievement. I find it so easy to get out of bed and go to work. I really look forward to it, gone are the Monday morning blues! I still have some days when I get tired and a bit headachey, usually when I have to do something new. Good luck with your return to work.

Hi Tracy Night time is the worst. I had to sleep with a light on for many months after my SAH and even now (I'm nearly 2 years post SAH) I sleep with the top landing light on and my bedroom door open a little. I don't wake much during the night now but I found when I was the light helped lessen the fright. I take a beta blocker (& another BP tab)for my blood pressure which shot up 5 months post SAH. It does help with anxiety but can make you a bit tired. It helps with that horrible pounding of the heart and the sweats that come too. My GP lowered the dose of beta blocker after 3 months to a tiny amount (his words) because my BP stabilised. I hope things get better for you soon.

Hi Diane Happy New Year to you too. Sounds a bit of a mixed bag of results for you both but hopefully the MRI will give you better information. It's not really enough to just say "we're alive get on with it" is it! Both the SAH survivor and their famillies need support to get through this!

Hi Kel That's great news. Well done.

Hi Karen Welcome to BTG. I was 49 when I had my SAH and was 9 months into recovery when I found this site. It took me months to be able to just sit at the computer without getting a headache, so you are way ahead of me! I also remember reading a post from Louise. She was approaching her 10th anniversary and that really inspired me. Your confidence will come back slowly. You are very early days into your recovery, it can take 3 months for the your body to process and get rid of the blood from the bleed. But Sarah is right, the support from this site is second to none! Take care.

Hi Zoe I have to agree with Skippy, you are an amazing woman and Richard is such a lucky man to have you! I hope you have a had a great Christmas and good luck to Richard for his surgery. Remember to try and take some time out for yourself!

Hi Debbie I had counselling 10 months post SAH and wish I'd gone for it earlier. I work for the NHS and we have a staff counselling service, which I used. You can get counselling through your GP. You can see a consellor, psychologist or neuro psychologist (although there can be quite a waiting list for psychologists). I found it helped a lot and she helped me understand a lot of how I was feeling. She explained to me that I was suffering from post traumatic stress and that made me realise why things could be so difficuly at times. I too am much quieter than i was before. If there are a few people around a conversation I tend to listen more because I'm a split second behind everyone else in processing what's being said! I have to concetrate really hard sometimes to follow what's being said and it can tire me. But I'm fine with that because that's how I am now! I work in the psychological services department of our NHS Trust and am very lucky that I have access to them everyday and also can access all sorts of information.

Hi Brenda I was like you last year when I was due my follow up angio. I was a complete bag of nerves. there's quite difference in having an angio when you are very poorly than when you are very well! But the staff saw how nervous I was and I kept telling them! So they put me to the top of the list and I had my angio at 8.30am. The staff were fab, the nurse kept asking me questions about my family etc, and the effort of trying to concentrate on giving her an answer took my mind off everything else! It really was fine. Tell them how nervous you are, they understand and do their best to put you at ease. Good luck for Monday.

Hi I'm not allowed to go to the gym and becuase of the stroke I can't swim. But my doc has told me to walk. My office is at the bottom of my road, so I walk there. It's about 1/2 mile, so I'm clocking up about a mile a day. I can now walk back up the hill, slowly, without getting out of breath. I wouldn't even go outside for 3 months after my SAH! My SAH was in Feb 2009 and I was too scared to go out in the cold. When the weather got milder I started with just standing in the back garden, increasing the time but I had to force myself to do this everyday. The panic does start to ease off. I then progressed to walking to the end of the street and then to the local shop. Eventually I was getting the bus to do down town. I agree with Louise, the weather can make it harder but keep telling yourself you can do it. Start with little goals and slowly your confidence will come back.

Hi Debbie Great news, have a great Christmas!

Hi Stuart Good to hear from you. I was thinking about you on the 26th. You are doing really well in such a short time. I had a brain stem stroke during my coiling, which left me with left sided weakness. I'm lefthanded, so I just kept trying to do the things I found difficult and it got better in time. I did get 4 months of physio which was a great help. But it took me months to be able to sit and type on the computer! Time is our best friend! Keep up with the hard work and rest whenever your body tells you.

Hi Brenda Welcome to BTG. I had my SAH Feb 2009, I was 49. I went through this also, is was about 7 months post SAH when I would get very teary. I think it was then I realised the enormity of what I'd been through and that I'd survived it. But it did ease off over the following months. But as Louise said, you should mention it to your doctor if it's getting you down. Take care.

Hi Kel Glad it went okay and hoping that the results will be good. You have done so well this year. Take care.

Hi Ann What a great post, thank you. I'm just recovering from a infection and a few days ago I said to my husband that I felt just as exhausted as when I came out from hospital and was starting to feel a bit low. I'm 20 months post SAH and was starting to feel great but this infection threw me a bit. Reading your post has just made my day!