Janet

I had stabbing pains behind my left eye on and off for over 2 months then had initial bleed during a meeting at work. Mine was a slow leaker as was in local hospital for nearly a week before getting transferred to Walton then having to have an emergency craniotomy as was in danger of having a much larger bleed.

Hi Jules and welcome sounds like you had quite a rough time of it I find any illness post SAH seems to take longer to recover from. I hope that your employer is going to do regular reviews with you before increasing your hours phased returns are a good thing as long as it works in your favour and takes account of how you feel Good luck with your return to work and let us know how you are getting on.

Hi Caroline and welcome I think we all have after effects from the SAH and have to find ways of living our lives around them. I suffer from what is now classed as chronic head pain most likely cause being a trapped nerve from the surgery but have been told to learn to live with it. The fatigue is a lot better than it used to be but can creep up on me when I overdo it.

I have adapted my life/work balance which has helped a lot but I do find concentration and multi-tasking very hard and working in an incoming call centre it can be very challenging at times but also funny as finding the correct words if I'm tired is a problem luckily most people laugh with me when I'm having problems finding words or speaking double dutch.

Hi Mike

Really feel for you and the bad place you're in at the moment. I have a daughter who has had a few spells in " mental health" establishments over the last few years she also finds it difficult to speak to health care officials and like you can help and support others but finds it difficult to help herself I personally think its all part of the illness.

I had to seek help myself when the pressure of my daughters illness got too much and had several counselling sessions myself that really did help me to manage my feelings and deal more effectively with my daughter. I think the main thing is to keep an open mind and as someone mentioned earlier if you find it hard to talk about yourself make some notes on your feelings and take them with you.

Good luck and I really hope that you can find a way forward that you are comfortable with.

Mine was left posterior communicating artery with 3rd nerve palsy no idea as to size but have a 10mm clip on it.

Hi Mark and welcome sounds like you and your wife have had a difficult few months. Walton is a brilliant hospital and I'm sure that your wife will get excellent treatment there. Please let us know how the appointment goes and hopefully your holiday will still be able to go ahead.

Hi David just read through the post and can really emphasise with you I have suffered with chronic neurological head pain for nearly five years since my clipping surgery. I take Amitritylene for the pain and have done for nearly 5 years now after trying a few other types of meds. My Doctor now allows me to self-medicate between 10 & 50mgs depending on severity of pain. It can cause drowsiness once I go past 25mg but it helps a lot.

I never got back to full time hours as I found it to exhausting and made the head pain much more severe so I only work 20 hours a week on an incoming call centre and since we moved office and my shifts changed to 3 days working 1 p.m til 8 p.m am finding it a lot harder both concentration and head pain wise.

After the first 3 years of pain and several referrals back to my Neuro-Surgeon he finally said that he thinks the pain maybe caused by a trapped nerve but as my clip is not MRI compatible I have to learn to live with the pain. I have been on a pain management programme and some of the relaxation exercises can help.

Hope you can find something that works for you constant pain is so debillitating and at times make emotional wrecks out of us.

Sue best of luck with this next round of treatment hope its not too debilitating for you and that you still have energy for doing some of things you enjoy

Hi Lisa what you are feeling is normal the numbness does take quite a long time to go. I had mine over 5 years ago but the bone flap still moves and the weather does affect it also tiredness.

Hi from one Janet to another and welcome as others have already said its always nice hearing from somebody so much further along from their SAH and I'm as curious as Karen as to if you eventually manage to go days and weeks without thinking about it ???? Looking forward to hearing more from you and well done on learning to use the computer

Hi Paul thank-you for letting us know about Rod. I also had the great pleasure of meeting Rod and Merril both lovely people my thoughts and prayers will be with him,Merril and the family. Rod if you are looking in wishing you all the best in the battle you are fighting love to you and Merril.

Hi Jordan and welcome its great to hear that Saori has kept her sense of humour and that she will be getting the treatment she needs soon. As with all brain surgery tiredness and fatigue can be real problems in the first few months of recovery but as Sami has already said plenty of fluids are a great help with reducing the amount of head pain. Please let us know how Saori gets on.

Good luck Ian hope there is a bed available for you on the day can't give advice re voluntary procedure as mine was due to SAH but I was clipped. So any questions once you're home again be happy to help you with.

Hi all I'm over 5 years into recovery as well and agree that emotionally the first couple of years can be hard as it takes time to come to terms with having a SAH and also learning to get used to whatever limitations it leaves you with.

Emotionally I'm still likely to cry at the silliest thing and if I overdo things fatigue can strike but learning my limitations and balancing my life/work has helped a lot.

so glad Chris is doing so well and will soon be home with you all.

November 2nd.

Good luck for tomorrow you will be fine it just pre-op nerves making everything seem so scarey. Try planning something nice to do after might take your mind off it as well as giving you something to look forward to

Hi Annie

Welcome to the site you will find lots of useful information on here to help with your recovery but perhaps more important plenty of moral support from people who know exactly what you're going through. Personally I found the first year of recovery the most challenging having to adjust to new limitations and just learning to accept the enormity of having had a SAH.

Sounds like you have had more than your fare share of losing loved ones recently so no wonder you feel so emotional besides having to come to terms with the SAH itself. Plenty of rest and fluids in the first few months is essential and even though you are a Psychologist maybe some counselling might help. Look forward to hearing more from you.

Hi Sue

Welcome to the site and hope that you find as much help and friendship as I always have. Recovering from a SAH is very individual we all progress at different rates but with your next lot of cancer treatment soon as well you will need as much rest and support as possible. Wishing you well with the treatment and please let us know how you are getting on.

Hi Janet and welcome to the site will look forward to hearing more from you.

Hey Dawn good luck today hope it all goes well for you. I only had 1 angiogram and that was a few days after the op. Think having to stay flat for 4 hours after was torture for me.

Hello and welcome to the site look forward to hearing more from you.

Hi Debbie

Welcome and glad you managed to find us we have lots of wonderful members who will make you feel right at home and be able to understand how you're feeling. Any question just ask there is always someone around.

Hi Alison and welcome to the site it is good to hear that Chris is responding when asked and as others have already said it is much harder on our loved having to go through this ordeal. Thinking of you all at this very worrying time and wishing Chris all the best in his fight back to health.

Great news Jess that everything still looks good must have set your mind at rest even though it doesn't explain the symptoms.