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Hi Aine, just bought my 2nd brain trainer book!!! Just love them. Finding that I can do more in them as time goes on but hey!!! those symetrical crosswords???? still in a fog with those?? Good job you've got your Donald!! any tips? My John is very good with numbers, Sudoku etc. but crosswords, no can do. Am determined to crack them though! Love Suexx

Hello Aine! just bought the brain training book....mmmm....very good but must admit, there are some puzzles I can do really quick then others I haven't a clue about??? Just wonder really if this is just me or if its because different parts of our brain are affected??? Hope that makes sense?? Let me know, love Suexx

Hello Karen, don't blame you for applying for DLA, the important thing to remember when filling in the form is to tell them how you are when you are feeling at your worst, otherwise they won't have a clue how badly the SAH has affected you. I've had years of filling in DLA forms for both John and Matt and with Matt particularly I find it very hard to fill in how he is at his worst but it is definitely the only way. Hope you get a good result, Love to you, Suexx

Hello Diane, can't believe this, i've just posted on the SAH discussion board before I read your full story, you certainly are a survivor with a great positive attitude. Will look forward to hearing more from you and with all the others here I say a very big welcome!! Love Suexx

I can only echo what everyone else if feeling right now, I only heard about Anita Roddick this morning and just feel so upset for her family but also very emotional within myself, it makes us realize I think just how close we all came to not being here. I haven't been posting recently because I've had lots of things going on but as soon as I heard I just wanted to speak to you all. I'm so greatful for the bond we all have. Thankyou Karen for setting up this site. Love to you all, Suexx

Andy, I just want to say and agree with everything everyone else has said, what an amazing man you are. The only way I can even go some way to understanding is that my son has a severe mental illness and when he is ill I would not even write on this site what happens to him, I think thats why when I read your posts it sometimes makes me cry, because in another way you too have the painful experience of seeing someone you love dearly behave as if they were not that person. (Hope that makes sense) We also Andy have that wonderful blessing of learning to love unconditionally. Heather is definitely not herself when these incidents happen, just as my Matts not but the pain of seeing them when their brain just isn't engaging right is sometimes too hard to bear. You swear, moan, say whatever you want to on here mate, let it be your sounding board. Will be praying for the two of you, Love Suexx

Hi Harvey, can only reiterate what the others have said mate, welcome, this site is just full of helpful non judgemental people, it will sure be a big help to you!! Suexx

Hi Jayne, so glad you can share how you're feeling right now and I just so agree with everything everyone has said to you, I don't think I can add anymore, except to say try to turn those negative thoughts and fears into positive ones, like, yes, this is the room that I could've died in but I didn't!I'm here to tell the story and live my life!! I had my SAH when I was in church on New years eve, havin a great time, dancing, waving flags, then it hit me. Now I just love going to church but each time I go, I do remember what happened to me, when I go pick up a couple of flags I think "hey Sue, this is what you were doing just before the SAH," then I look round at my grandkids dancin around and think "Yeah but I am still here! I am still waving flags and I thank God I'm alive!! Glad you've found the site Jayne, the people on here are just ace! the most encouraging folk you will find anywhere! Love Suexx

Hello Wendy, its great that you can share your experience with us, it can be good therapy to write our experiences down although painful too! This is a lovely site, everyone is very friendly and helpful. Where do you come from? Its loveley to hear from you. Speak soon, Love Suexx

Hi Keith, just to reiterate what everyone else has said really......talking is good, it lightens the load. I think you've done really well and you know, your sense of humour is ace!! Thats a big part of what keeps us going I reckon (sorry if i've said that before... I seem to be in repeating mode at the moment!!) think the brain is a bit tired!! You take a step back for a while, all the best, Suex

Hi Debbie, good to hear from you. Your experience sounds very similar to mine, my SAH was on last New Years Eve, (will def be celebrating this next one!) It was actually 4 days before I got a brain scan to diagnose the SAH. I didn't have surgery either .......no known cause. I was 56 when it happened (now 57) Have 3 grown up kids and 8 grandkids, like you I was always a bit of a multi tasker, always on the go doing loads of things at any one time, I came out of hospital on 14th Jan and can honestly say my recovery is going well but I know beyond doubt that I'm not the same as before! I honestly think its only over the past couple of weeks that I have come to an acceptance of whats happened to me (I prob think i've been at this point before but I haven't) We've had lots of stuff going on that I would've sailed through pre SAH but now...... well, now I have to take a bit of a back seat. Fatigue and poor short term memory are the major things also lack of energy, I was previously really fit and loved power walking and swimming but thats on hold for a while although I have taken to walking again about 3 times a week just not as fast or as far as before. I don't do as many madcap things as before, but hey, maybe I shouldn't do cartwheels at my age anyway??? All in all i'm doin ok really, my house doesn't get as much attention as it used to, had all my grandkids here for lunch yesterday and whereas before I would be gettin everything put back to normal once they had gone, now I leave it a bit and do it in my owntime. Anyway there is bound to be something i've forgotten to write, or I may have totally gone off at a tangent I don't know. Love to you anyway, Suexx

Hi Jess, haven't spoken to you before but hey, glad your pregnancy is going well, where do you live in the West Midlands? I am from the Black country area, Stourbridge, near Dudley. Someday soon, (weather permitting) we are going to meet up at the Copthorne Hotel in Merry Hill with Sami and Paul and maybe Sarah and Fiona. Would u be up for that Let me know, we did have a date a few weeks ago but the whole country seemed to be flooded, so we postponed for a while!! Hope you are keeping well, love Suexx

Hi Tracey, welcome to the site. Wow!! 14 years on, you sure have loads of experience to share with us!! Look forward to hearing from you more, Love Suexx PS....and sure hope we can help you too!!xx

Hi Blondie, welcome to the site (sorry it's belated!) I had a SAH with no known cause on 31st December 2006, even though I don't interact on this site consistently, I have found it to be invaluable to me! The people on here are ace, non judgemental, very helpful and very friendly......what more can I say! Speakto you soon! Love Suexx

HiAine, thanks for that. Must admit I didn't take part in anything for carers week this year, whereas I normally do, our Carers in Partnership group put on a big event though and apparently that went down well and was well attended. 3 of our group have made a 6 minute video, for carers which is good. Just remembered, I did go to one event, it was a question and answer time for carers held at our local mental health unit, it was the second one that we've had and is excellent, we had this last one as a sort of launch to carers week, we have our chance to put all of our questions to a panel of proffessionals. It is my son Matt's psychiatrist that organized it, he's so different to all the other docs I know in that field as he has a real heart for carers and believes it to be essential that our views are taken into account. (Can't believe I forgot i'd been to that!) Aine what client group did you work with in your job?? Love Suexx

Janet, please don't let my dentist experience put you off! Everyone is different, you would probably sail through with no after effects. Suexx

Hi Guys, can def go with you all on misdiagnosis, was in church, just sat down when my "big pain" hit me, ended up collapsed on the floor (though not properly unconscious) was taken to hospital where I happened to mention in the state I was in that my uncle had died in the same hospital the day before, was told I probably had a stress headache!!! Sent home, to cut a VERY! long story short, 4 days and 4 GPs later my husband sent for an ambulance as I was getting worse and THEN only then did I get my CT scan that put me in the right place in the right hospital!! Hey, went from migraine, to suspected meningitis but only my daughter thought I'd had a brain heamorrhage, she even phoned our GP to tell him so!!! He felt that she was over reacting??? mmm..... don't think so!!! Anyway, didn't complain, cos i'm here to tell the tale. Love to you all. Suexx

Hi everyone, only just came on site, lots of reasons, ie: business of life etc. But!!! bit but! I actually went to the dentist yesterday PM first time since SAH, only had to have a filling but hey!! think I have felt the after effects today, headache, vice like grip at the back of my head, only reason I can think is because of the drill vibrating in my head?? Have wondered all day why I feel like I do and maybe the dentist is the answer??? Any thoughts??? Suexx

Hi Karen, also connect with what you say about not feeling connected to the rest of the world. Weird feeling that is, I can be having a conversation and still feel detached, not quite a part of everything. Oh well, at least we're not on our own. Speak soon, Suexx

Hi Karen, so glad you started this thread because feel pretty sure that just LOADS of us feel the same!! When I am out and about I get moments when I am really scared? WHY? nothing to be scared of, I live in the town I grew up in, I know loads of people! I get dizzy, disorientated, sometimes feel I have to hold on to things? (don't usually tell this to people!) Like you, my anxiety can happen in a supermarket when there are loads of folks, or even this last Sunday PM in a church meeting!! had an ace time, then at the end of the service, everyone was buzzin about, having a natter, all I wanted to do was get out of that place, couldn't cope!! nothing to do with the church, more to do with the volume of people!!! I definitely feel more and more as time passes "Where are you Sue?" where is the person that I was? Suexx

Wow! this is all so interesting, I have always been and still am very supple, I bruise easily and am often burstin little veins in my finger joints with no cause, am double jointed in my fingers, have bad knees (which I've always put down to my running days) My teeth are ok. Joan you reminded me of myself when going for physio for my back problem, she was amazed when she asked toto touch my toes and I put my hands flat on the floor. The only difference is my SAH was a Non A one. Surely all this has to be linked though?? Suexx

Hi Joan and Sami, feel very much the same as you two on this one. Glad i'm not the only one! Some days feel fine, then others I feel that I just don't function right at all and never seem to get anything done. Seem to have lost my motivation too. Felt fine when I got up this morning till not long ago but now seem to have come to a standstill Love Suexx

Sorry! just a bit more!! when describing all my post SAH symptoms to my GP, every one seemed to mirror the symptoms of hypothyroidism, so how do we know the difference??? Well, yes, the MRA that shows what happened to my brain plus the CT scans etc. but very odd, the similarities are amazing. Myabe we should search the net and see what we find? Suexx

Hi Annie, Karen Doreen, my T4 level was 2.4, as told to me by the receptionist at the GP's. My GP had already upped my thyroxine from 100mcg to 125mcg (spoke about this in an earlier post) do feel a little better but still extremely tired, what makes me think there maybe a link between underactive thyroid and SAH is the fact that I had felt so unwell generally for a few weeks pre SAH,had blood tests the week before, didn't get results till after the SAH, (sorry if i'm repeating myself!) Only to find that my already (but controlled by mediation) underactive thyroid had dropped drastically, as I said my GP thinks it probably saved my life because it was so slow, but my question is this, why did it drop just before SAH? (I do have regular thyroid tests). With me its not a case of SAH causing the problem but the problem seemed to occur pre SAH? Hope that makes sense. I'm going to see my GP next week to discuss this all with him, will let you know the outcome Love Suexx

Oh dear! think I should have posted this elsewhere on SAH discussion as Annie started one ages ago for Non A'ers! Have since found out that Non A SAH always seem to be mid brain! Suex