Janet

Hi Joanne I agree with Donna any sign has to be good. I think the brain is a mystery even too the Neuro's in the way in which it recovers and the time it takes to do so. Many people have been give slim odds of improvements and proved the Consultants wrong by recovering to a better degree than predicted. Stay positive it is still very early days in your fathers recovery, my thoughts and best wishes are with you and your mother at this very difcult time. Take care Janet x

Hi All I'm like you Karen have noticed my armpits are more sweaty but because of the partial Hysterectomy don't know if I'm going through the menopause my last blood test was in June 06 before SAH. Really must ask my G.P for another blood test to see if I am going through it yet might explain a few things. Its just so easy to blame most problems on SAH these days. Janet x

Hi Joanne So glad that you have seen some small improvements its good that he's looking at you and squeezing your mums hand he's probably just too tired as yet to make the effort to speak but he has let you know he's still with you. I think as we've all said recovery is very individual but the first few weeks its really hard just keeping your eyes open and talking is difficult as when you try to speak everything comes out jumbled and mixed up or you just can't find the words at all. I sincerely hope that when you next visit your dad you will see some more improvements. Janet x

Hey Donna Like Myra really can't help on this one as I also had an hysterectomy about 11 years ago. Janet x

Hey Donna would have been nice but I live in Birkenhead, Merseyside bit far too come for a coffee but thanks for the offer Janet x

Hi Everyone Just to let you all know I have been able to reduce my hours to 25 and if necessary will be allowed to reduce them further. My new hours start immediately which is great Thanks Louise I did understand what you were saying. Janet x

Hi Joanne Obviously the bleed in the brain does cause damage but the effect of coiling or clipping also cause some trauma and also in the first few months there is also irritation from the blood drainig away. It is very natural for your father to be the way he is at the moment if the Neurosurgeons were at all worried they would let you know. No need to apologise we're a very friendly if slighty nutty bunch on here and there will always be someone to answer any questions you may have. Janet x

Hello Joanne and Welcome It must be a very hard time for you all at the moment but hold onto the fact that the Doctors say he is good condition medically. Everyones recovery rate is different but it is very early days for your dad and in the first few days after it is very usual to spend most of the time asleep or in a confused state. I'm sure most of us here would agree that we don't remember who had been in to visit us whilst in hospital. With brain injuries the mind seems to slow right down as its busy working on healing itself. I hope your dad starts to improve soon please let us know how he doing. Janet x

Hi Cal I think his G.P is right as it does thin the blood and is normally used for breaking down clots. I suffer with a lot of pressure in my head along with nerve pain. I did take a low dose of anti-depressant which is used for nerve pain but am now on a low dose of anti-epilepsy tablets which so far are helping a lot. Does Jim go back to see the Neurologists soon as they may be able to suggest something that he can use. As it was the Neuro who prescribed for me. Janet x

Hi Jill Welcome to the site and hope you find it as useful as I do. I had my SAH in Nov 06 and still have short term memory and concentration problems. Look forward to hearing more from you Janet x

Hi Donna Yes the weather does seem to affect the way my head feels also. Sunny weather is fine but the hot humid weather really makes my head bad. Also in Winter the extreme cold and bitter winds makes it quite sore as well. Janet x

Thanks everyone I know it probably wont be a problem but I'll let you now the outcome after I've discussed it with work. Janet x

Hi All Have finally had to come to a decision about life, work balance. As some of you know I returned to work on a phased return last June and gradually increased the hours worked to 30 a week. I have been working the 30 hours since November but it has been a struggle as most weekends are just spent recovering ready to face the next week. This latest bout of fatigue has made me realise that it can't continue, I hardly have a social life at all due to tiredness and haven't been able to get to the gym much at all this year as am too tired to go after finishing work for the day. Physchologically this has a big impact on me as I have difficulty trying to loose weight at all but at least when I was managing to make it to the gym I felt better about myself. So wish me luck everyone because when I go back into work Monday I will be asking to reduce my hours I'm hoping to cut back to 24/25 hours a week instead. This has been a hard decision to make and something Morris and I have discussed he has bless him been nagging me for months to reduce the hours I work. I am obviously very stubborn and its taken me a while to admit defeat and acknowledge the fact that I can't continue with the way things are. Janet x

Hello Paul A very warm welcome to the site look forward to hearing more from you. Janet x

Hey Donna I didn't manage to start back at work til 7 months and then only on a phased return. I still can't work full time as I find that the 30 hours I do at the moment is very tiring and need to spend most weekends relaxing. Enjoy meeting up with your work friends next week just remember to take things slowly on the training day. The best advice I recieved for working back on screens was to take a break every 20 minutes just to rest the eyes and it really helped quite a lot in the first few months. Janet x

Hi Anne I have the same problem and am quite often startled when someone/thing comes up behind me on the left. I did have a third nerve palsy on my left eye but according to the Opthamologist the vision in my left eye is fine now. Maybe it is just the brain not registering things as quickly. Janet x

Hi Laura Sorry can't help with regards to the tablets he's given you because my head pain is just on the left its not classed as a headache its neurological pain and dealt with by different medication completely. Hope it works for you though. My new prescription seems to be helping a lot not having to take hardly any paracetomol at all at the moment. Janet x

Hi Shiree I used to have constant headaches and dizziness in the first six months. The dizziness only happens now if I overdo things but the headaches or head pain has been a problem. I have been trying different types of medication as the pain is neurological. After a further C.T scan in April and a couple of appointments with the Neuro team have now been given a different type of medication and so far it seems to be working for me. Talk to you're G.P/Doctor there are some types of anti-depressant and epilepsy medication that used in low doses can be given for neurological pain. Hope the headaches and dizziness get better soon. Make sure that you're drinking plenty of water and resting when your body needs to being overtired can make the headaches worse. Janet x

Hi Laura You're not on your own with the extreme tiredness I only work 30 hours a week but it takes me most of the weekend to recover. The extreme fatigue is at its worst if I do too much thats why most weekends I just try to relax as much as possible. Hopefully once you settle into your job properly things will start to improve its just getting into the routine thats so exhausting. Janet x

Hi Shiree A warm welcome to you just got back from my hols. I'm 20 months post SAH and work 30 hours a week. I returned to work after 7 months on a phased return but have been unable to increase my hours anymore due to fatigue, concentration and nerve pain. I have just been prescribed new tablets for the nerve damage and so far they seem to be helping as I haven't had to resort to as many paracetomol was on the maximum a day until started the new tablets. Things do improve gradually it just takes time, patience and the ability to listen to your body. Janet x

Hi Pam My rupture wasn't the classic sledge hammer headache type. I had intense pain behind my left eye on and off for about six weeks and put it down to stress even though the drilling type pain was so intense it would wake me up. Then about ten days before the surgery I became really ill and nauseauos (spelling) and could bearly move. The drilling pain behind my eye had change to severe pain and was there constantly. I spent nearly a week in my local hospital waiting for all my scans etc. to be looked at by visiting Neurologist. I finally had someone come over from Walton on the Thursday who held the scans upyo the light and stated that he couldn't see anything obvious but would take them back to Walton to be looked at more closely thank god he did. As Walton phoned my local hospital the Friday afternoon demanded I be put on flat bed rest immediately and I was transferred over within a matter of hours. The oncall Neurosurgeon visited me the Friday evening and his words of comfort were if you feel like someone has taken a sledgehammer to your head we'll rush you in to theatre tonight if not you'll be seen in the morning. I made it til about 8.30 the next morning before I felt my head exploding and the pain was that bad I was actually screaming. Thankfully it eased off slighty and Morris turned up and my Neurosurgeon he gave us literally no choice but for an immediate craniotomy as he didn't think I would make it to the Monday for the less invasive coiling procedure. I have since learnt that I has several small bleeds in the 10 days leading upto the day they operated with a slighty larger bleed on the morning of surgery. I feel very blessed to be alive but like a lot of others have had scares and returned to hospital a couple of times. Like you I visited my Doctor in March because the pain I get is quite severe and constant. I did have another scan and thakfully everything is fine. I asked why the pain I feel is quite severe and was told that Neurological pain following any brain procedure can present at any time and that some people never suffer any at all others can go for years without any and then suddenly start to suffer neurlogical pain. I don't know how helpful that is as I do not have the worry of untreated Anuerysms to contend with but if you really feel something is wrong insist that your G.P sends you for a scan. I t was my G.p who arranged mine not the Hospital as I had been discharged in March last year just 4 months after my operation. Janet x

Donna I was on codeine a bit longer than you about five months but I reduced the amount I was taking gradually. I used to feel sick a lot in the first few months but thankfully wasn't physically sick. My vision was also affected and that is probably what makes you feel sick, dizzy and faint. I also found that being on my feet for to long used to make me feel dizzy and faint. I think you learn in time that your body is telling you it needs to rest and the only way it can do it is by giving you physical stop signs. Hope you start to feel a bit better soon. Janet x

Hi Donna I know you probably get fed up of hearing this but you are still early on in your recovery and the anxiety you feel is perfectly natural. At your stage I also was scared of going out by myself and always made sure that someone was with me. It does get better but it will take time and if you ovedo things one day it does knock you back for a few days. I still get fatigued if I overdo things now and have to rest and take it easy for a few days. Make the most of the achievements you have made and slowly but surely the good days will last longer. Janet x

Hi Elaine So glad that Maggie has had a better day Janet x

Hi Yasmin Sorry to hear that you're having a rough time at the moment. I had a full blood tests run in the june of 06 because I was constantly tired and nauseaous and my G.P thought it could be a problem with my thyroid but the test were normal. He eventually just put it down to the strain my body had been under as I had broken my foot and damaged all the tendons in the foot and ankle in the previous October and was still undergoing treatment for the damage. I hope the blood tests go well and they can find out whats causing it for you. Janet x