NeilP

Reading this and just just knowing that others understand what it's like really is such a relief! Makes me feel just that little bit more normal! I'm losing count of the amount of times I think I've cracked it after a good week only to crash. Sometimes I crash and have no idea, other times I choose to do something knowing it'll knock me out the next day. Bit like a good night out on the beer. You know you'll get a hangover but accept is as payment for the night before. I've come to the conclusion that no matter what I do every so often I will crash and it will pass and good days will follow.

I remember that! 8 weeks in I spend most of my days on the sofa going through it. Practically bed ridden in the front room. I can only give you my recovery. I'm 43 so we're similarly young! . Now the more I read the more I realise I've recovered pretty well but here's a rough timeline... 8 weeks tough times. Headaches, dizzy, moods, depression, sleep for hours, what the point in all this! 3 months I can start to read computer screen again without my eyes separating. I can work a little, I can go for a reasonable walk with the dog. Have to have a few hours kip afterwards though. Headaches are still there every day but not quite as bad. I think its a combination of the headaches not being as bad and me getting used to having headaches. I can hold a conversation for more than 5 minutes. 6 months Fatigue is nowhere near as bad. I down to just an afternoon nap. I'm getting about 4 hours work done a day. Some days I feel like and can do more, but I don't. It'll only all kick off again tomorrow if I do. I get tired after I do things but I'm tired because I did something. I love cricket and luckily for me the Cricket Club were brilliant. I started playing again about this time. I got 'hidden' in the field and no pressure batting but it was marvellous to be back out playing. I'd be completely pole-axed the next day or 2 but it was worth it. Started driving again. 8 months Well enough to have a second anni clipped so back to hospital, then had a few months recovering from that. Symptoms kind of got worse but got better much quicker. 1 year Nearly Christmas, head is settling down from operation and fatigue is lessening. Starting to be able to work 5 or 6 hour days. Had a bet with my Son that I'd loose 2 stone before the start of the cricket season! Lots of parts off normal life returning. Can go out and have a game of snooker, the odd beer (only if the head feels clear and I've got nothing to do in the morning), doing a three mile walk everyday and eating well, trying to get the weight off. Even did the odd bit of jogging. I can now manage to work nearly whole days, walk the dog, not notice headaches and not even need a siesta, although I have become quite partial to a siesta! 1 year 5 months - now I work around 35 hours a week. I play cricket every Saturday, I've managed to get a few rounds of golf in with my dad. Try and get out to have a game of snooker most weeks. I still get fatigued, I still get dizzy, I still have a headache at some point most days. I still have days/hours where the world can f-off, and I mean everyone, wife, kids, friends the lot of ya! They've got used to that, they know the angry monkey will be gone in a while and I'll be back. Oh and I lost the bet, I was half a stone short and we went double or quits for the last half stone for another month, lost that as well! For me it really has been a case of understanding my new limits and pushing them back just a little little bit at a time. I learnt that the hard way! Enjoy and celebrate the successes but take your time. Did I mention take your time... Will he recover from all his symptoms? Who knows? What I think he will do is learn how to cope with and manage the symptoms. A symptom you can cope with is no longer something you suffer.

Hi Garys & Partner. 8 weeks after a SAH is still early days. I'm no doctor so and never took those drugs so can't really offer any help there. It is really hard to tell if how you feel is the drugs, coming off them or the SAH. It's probably a bit of a mixture of all three. I took Codine for about a year. At this point my wife thought that I should stop taking them. She thought they might be them giving me morning headaches and making me grumpy. She'd noticed the link, but after a year I was pretty defensive of my precious Codine up until the point that I stubbed my toe and reached for a Codine pill! I'd wake up most mornings with a headache and reach for a codine which always fixed the headache. When I ran out of codine I started using Paracetemol for the morning headaches and after a few days they stopped. It wasn't the SAH giving me the headadches it was Codine withdrawal. I had a touchy couple of weeks but moods got better. I then found a couple of Codines in a drawer a couple of weeks later and took them. Woke up the next morning with a raging headache which gave me the answer. I feel better now for not taking them. Just looked up the drugs you mentioned and one of them is an opiate like codine which is probably why the doctor is trying to wean him off. Perhaps gradually lowering the dose could be better option than stopping. Does he still need pain relief? I find Paracetamol are actually a lot better than most people give em credit for. The wikipedia page for Gabapentin says it "should not be discontinued abruptly after long term use." Pretty sure 8 weeks isn't long term but it could still be better to come off them slowly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabapentin I think you should have a chat with the doctor about it. I honestly feel things will get better for Gary. A SAH recovery will not be rushed. and rushing it only makes it worse. I still find A letter from your brain helpful.

Dizzy / Fuzzy head Irritability Headache Visual disturbances - I'm not really sure what can be described as double vision, i don't see 2 things but my eyes start to not quite be in sync if that makes sense, like one of them has been moved forward a centimeter so it takes a bit of effort to focus and its like someone turned image stabilization off on a camera particularly round the edges. Disturbed sleep.

Hi Gazzer I've had two 6 month periods of not being allowed to drive. How is you spacial awareness and how hard and tiring do you find processing the changing scene as you drive along? When I wasn't allowed I used to sit in the passenger seat and pretend to drive to see if I could keep up with other cars, road junctions, pedestrians, cyclists etc. I sometimes pretended to do the pedals, even did the engine noises sometimes! Early on it was hard and made me not want to drive. I kept doing it and it gave me a good idea when I was ready to start on short trips...

For a little while I had yohgurt tasting like butter and all crisps had lost their crunch! Had to keep getting people to try them. Tolerance to alcohol is still much much lower, but quite enjoyable. I've turned into a cheap date!

Hi Gazzer, I'm 43 and new to the site as well. It's 17 months since my SAH. From what I've read it seems everyone's recovery is different so I can only really give you my thoughts and experiences. I remember feeling exactly like that and desperately wanting to be "better". I remember getting knowing looks from doctors when I said I'll be back at work in a couple of weeks... I wanted to be back to "normal", to be over it but as much as the doctors said it will take time, I didn't believe them. Looking back, it does takes time and it has got a lot better. I now have lots of good days, average days and the odd bad day. I still get the fatigue sometimes but nowhere near as bad. I still get headaches but they are nowhere near as bad as they were. I still have the odd mighty mood swing and the odd rage. Oh and it's about 2:30am so I guess my sleep patterns are still a bit up the spout! I found there are 2 sides to recovery. 1.The actual symptoms, which for me have reduced significantly over time 2. My understanding of the symptoms, adjusting to them, and dealing with them, which has got better. Advice I'd give would be - Drink water. It really helped me with the headaches. - Avoid things that can give you a headache. Alcohol, coffee, fags etc. I remember a day hangover like I'd drunk 10 pints for 1 glass of red wine! Not worth it. - Go out for a walk everyday if you can. Find the level of exercise that you can do on a bad day and stick to it if you can. Do not over do it on good days. Build up slowly. - Bad days happen. Good days happen too - Resting is OK! - For me there is mental fatigue and physical fatigue. Sometimes if I am mentally fatigued I try and do something physical or visa versa. One quite often helps with the other. I'm sure those with much more experience will be along in a minute to add some advice. I found reading some of the people stories on here helpful. Good luck, Neil

Sorry for your loss. I was crouching down and went to stand up, I started to feel a bit faint and remember thinking 'I'm going to pas...". The only pain I felt was when I came round a few minutes later with the thunderclap headache.