rince

You only need check ups if you've been coiled not clipped. An angio/MRI shows the position of the coils and if any compaction has taken place. Scott

Good to see you back and posting Andy!

Holly, you're not alone in being scared of an angio! When I had my first check up angio I'd had at least three but that was my first "remembered" one. Was I scared? You bet and everyone else on the ward who was having an angio was scared, well apart from one woman who was having to have them on a six monthly basis for some reason. Upshot of it all was that it was nothing to be worried about, apart from the freezing cold room in which it was done! The hardest part of the day was laying down for the few hours after the procedure. I know that nothing anyone can say will ease the worry, but come back and tell us about it after you've had it done. Scott

It can take a while for the fog to lift, but that needn't mean that your life has to stop whilst it thins out. There is help out there for people in our situation it just needs a kick start, ask your GP if there is anything in your area in terms of neuro rehab, get someone to contact Headway and see what they have in your local area. We have had in various degrees a life changing experience and where you go from where you are now is very much down to your own personal physical and psyc circumstances. Just because someone else has recovered quicker than you does not mean that you will not make the same sort of recovery over a longer term. The hardest thing I had to learn was that I was NOT going to have another haemorraghe and once I had really accepted that I could begin to look longer term which is really helping me on the road back. Small steps for now, but keep going! Scott

My vision actually improved post SAH, which I was told wasn't unusual. What would of been slightly unusual would of been staying the same!! We were told to get a eye test 60 days ish after.

Hopefully she'll be in recovery blissfully unaware of anything! I've thought about her more than once today. Scott

http://depts.washington.edu/neurosur/ptcare/brain_aneurysm.html Reading this and watching the videos isn't for everyone but it's of some interest! Scott

I'd like to echo Karen, we all will be thinking of you. Scott

The whole IQ used to bug me as the clinical neuro psyc made me take tests over a six month period and although I still have a pretty healthy IQ it seems to of dropped 15 points. Still doesn't stop me from winning on quiz machines tho!! Scott

15 months on can just be the start of "recovery". Its not just the physical but the mental as well, how you feel is more important than any physical aspect of SAH IMO. If you feel well it doesn't matter about the pain and aches, but if you feel that you're never going to be well again that is worse than anything. I have learnt that it's about taking each and every day as an individual event, yes they can be influenced by events on either side but thats for us to learn. When you've had good hat happened in the run up to them? Trends can be hard to spot, I've found that something silly like sleeping in is a good way to have a bad day look not only at that day but the day before (I don't know why but it is for me). Good days for me normally follow a quiet day or two, but the good days also are reasonably busy and the good "spell" can go on for a few days now. The bad times can be very bad, but now I think I know in every part of my body that I'm not going to have another SAH and the dizzyness and "disconnection" is just something I have to live with. I'm four years on now, and even I have seen improvements in my life and health that give me hope for a continued "recovery" Good Luck. Scott

Hi and welcome Holly, where abouts are you? You'll find us a quite friendly bunch.... Scott

This is the Headway group that I went to, and I know many of the people in this film many of them I class as friends. Headway helped me a lot in the medium term, I learnt the benefits of being around people who knew brain injury and understand the consequences. They also helped me in the maze that is NHS services and made sure that I received the best quality care. If anyone has the chance to attend their local Headway it could be one of the major parts of your recovery so give it a go. Scott

Karen We all know that we can't expect any grace from anyone who hasn't been through what we all have have experienced. What I can rely on though is the understanding of you all on here. That is a credit not only to you but each and every person who takes the time and effort to post. Scott

I'm not normally a person who gives into "raw" emotion but this is one of the few times in the last 30 odd years when I've been moved to tears. The only reason I could give is that I'm grieving for what I've been through (and my family) through the suffering of someone else. Some four years past my own SAH I'm sat at 10.45 in tears at my keyboard because someone I don't know has died. I'm angry because I shouldn't be like this and I know that at the very heart of it all is the fact that I haven't come to terms with what has happened to me. Scott

From the personal experience of having a shunt fitted I can say it will make a difference. I can remember nothing but bits and pieces of the time before I had mine, but from recovery from the surgery I was almost the person I am now. Thats not to say everyone will be shopping in town less than 72 hours from the surgery because I don't want to raise false hopes but I KNOW I was. Thats all we can speak of for sure, personal experience. I know I have mentioned "hard evidence" before and my memory has let me down but in my case recovery began over six months post SAH and hours post shunt. Scott

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6988343.stm The Body Shop founder died this evening (10/9/7) from a "major" brain haemorraghe. Strange how someone's death, a person I didn't know, has affected me more than the death of a close friend. Shows how self centred I've become. Scott

Part of their "job" is to communicate to the patients and the relatives. If they can't do this then at least some one should. It comes down not to being used to talking on a "higher level" but to being able to get the basic facts to people. Yes the majority do a superb job and we are very lucky to have the NHS in this country, but it costs nothing to talk. Scott

I'm going to have a moan..... Why can't the doctors explain that as well as we've just had on here? I know that they have to use jargon with each other but when it comes to relatives why can't they spell it out? Are they afraid of being wrong? Are they hiding behind latin words? I was lucky and had both a Neuro Consultant and Specialist Nurse who didn't feel the need to either hide or over complicate. It's when I hear of others' experiences that I realise how lucky I was. Scott

Early days I know but..... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6961911.stm

If we had a penny for every "never going to recover" or "recovery will stop at six months" sort of story that health care proffesionals tell we'd have almost enough to buy a weeks shopping! There are manypeople who are told that and then go onto to make much more of a recovery than expected. We should never make light of SAH because we are very much the success stories but we are enough to hopefully make that sort of diagnosis a thing of the past. Scott

Seems strange to say but the severity of the initial bleed probably saved my life. I collapsed and fitted which meant that my wife called the emergency services and I was taken to A&E. I had a history of migraines and probably would of been fobbed off the same way as quite a few other people have been. I was also apparently closely questioned about possible drug use, but the consultant at North Hants (Basingstoke) correctly diagnosed SAH and sent me for a CT scan and I was in the Wessex Neuro unit within hours. Probably the same thing as driving a car (you notice all of the same model on the road) but Basingstoke seems to be a hot spot for SAH as a know of over a dozen people who've within the past half dozen years who've suffered a SAH. Domestic Goddess welcome to a place where as the line goes "everyone knows your name" (random Cheers reference) and you can speak your mind and ask anything you need. Scott

There a few ways to get more people to look at the situation in which you find yourself. Try speaking to some one at PALS (ask at the main desk in the hospital) or alternativly try speaking to anyone who seems to have the same point of view but is still a medical proffessional. Get their advice on where to go next off the record. There are lots of places you can go to get hard evidence of recovery from what your Mum has gone through, SAH is quite specialised, do they have a person who "specialises" in SAH? Don't give up, your Mum is still in there somewhere and there is hope that she can come back to you. Scott

I can remember how wound up you were at the thought of having to see the neuro psyc but as we all said at the time it can be a positive. I still see my very own personal CNP (Clinical Neuro Psyc) sometimes when I drop in at Headway or around town and she always makes me smile Scott

My sense of humour hasn't really changed, but one night just after my first year post SAH I was watching Bruce Almighty. Jim Carey has never really been my idea of "funny" but his rival for a job had a scene that made me almost wetting myself. After the film I looked over at Sarah (my wife) and she was crying, because apparently that was the first time I had laughed since the SAH. Humour is important because although I hadn't "laughed out loud" I was still enjoying comedy but maybe not expressing it very well. I have found tho I can watch films over and over again without detracting from my enjoyment of it. A "talent" I wish I'd had while my boys were younger and watching the same tape of "Thomas the Tank Engine" over and over and over again. The video eventually wore out much to my delight, but I came home from work one day to find Sarah and the boys watching a new copy she'd purchased that day! Scott

We're probably the ideal Nintendo customer! We have (takes a deep breath) various Game & Watches, NES, SNES, N64, Game Cube, Wii, Gameboy, Game Boy Colour, GBA, DS (each) and all the various stuff that goes with it. The Brain Training game is excellent and all the family play it. Best of all tho is the Wii which everyone who plays on it immediately wants one! Scott