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Hello - Helenm


Helenm

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Hi everybody,

Recently sent details of what happened to me to Chris and he suggested I introduced myself to you all.

I am 45 and I live in Oxfordshire, in a very pretty village, with my husband, my nine year old daughter and 18 yr old son. I also have an older daughter who is now living and working in London. I work as a Senior Administrator in the admin office of a private girls' school.

My SAH happened very recently, on the 22nd August 2009. There was hardly any warning at all and I didn't suffer many of the symptoms other people have described.

The day started normally, I felt absolutely fine. I took my youngest daughter into town in the morning to get new school uniform and we had a very nice girly time. We went for lunch and then made our way home. We had been invited to a BBQ later that afternoon and when I got back my husband asked whether I had remembered to get him some gluten-free burgers and sausages. I had forgotten, so we decided that I would nip to Sainsburys whilst he showered. Still felt fine and had no indication of what was about to happen.

On the way driving back to the village the ends of three of my fingers on my left hand went numb. I thought it was a bit odd, but because it only lasted a few seconds I didn't think any more about it. As I pulled onto the drive about 10 minutes later my whole hand went numb and I had pins and needles spreading up my left arm, with an incredible amount of heat, together with a lot of excessive saliva in my mouth. I realised something was very wrong and managed to get indoors and call my husband. By then the sensations had gone again. He told me to sit down for a while and he would make a cup of tea and call the doctor. However, as he came back in from the kitchen, the horrible sensations had come back and he could see the left side of my face had dropped and I was slurring my speech. He called an ambulance and ran to get our neighbour.

In the minute or so that it took for them to get back I had become unconcious and was slumped in the chair. They pulled me onto the rug and put me in the recovery position. It was whilst they were waiting for the ambulance that I had my first seizure.

I had a second seizure on the way to the local hospital and a third seizure whilst I was in A&E. The local hospital decided to induce 'coma' and put me on life-support and I was then transferred to the regional unit at the John Radcliffe. I spent time in ICU and then another 18 days on a neuro ward. When I woke up in ICU I had no speech problems, no headaches, no weakness etc.I had a whole range of tests, CT,MRI, bloods and an angiogram (how grim are they!). They confirmed a bleed but they all came back negative for any cause.

It is odd that nothing was found and I am finding it really difficult to come to terms with what happened. I am left with very few problems, short term memory is a bit patchy, I have the concentration span of a goldfish and my left arm gets shaky if I have overdone things. I get very tired and have to sleep most afternoons, but overall not too much to worry about - it could have been so much worse. I have good days and bad days and often get emotional and cry for no real reason.

I know I am one of the lucky ones and I thank God for that every day.

This is a fantastic site & I would love to hear from any of the members and particularly those who have had similar experiences - ie a bleed with no proven cause - to compare notes. Are you finding it all as confusing as me? :confused:

Edited by Karen
Added Members name to Thread Title.
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Hello Helen and welcome to this site :)

I know there are others on this site who had a non anuerism ( I have forgotten how to spell it!) bleed, it does sound very confusing to have a bleed but not know where it came from. The tiredness, memory probs and emotional after effects seem to be the same though.

V ivien x

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Hi Helen

Warm welcome to the site.....thank0you for sharing your story

Yes all the symptoms seem to be the same wither a SAH or non SAH, though you started like me, numbness then pins & needles then colapse your early though in the recovery but you've found a good place to start that.....

take care

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Hi Helen and welcome to BTG! :-D

There are a few members that have suffered a non-aneurysmal or perimesencephalic SAH, where no cause has been found. Try the search facility button at the top of the screen and type in the keywords and hopefully you will pull up previous posts.

From what I've read, I believe that the prognosis from this type of bleed is very good.

You're very early days into recovery, so you're doing well just getting on here!

xx

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Hi

Thanks to all of the above for your very warm welcome. I was directed to your site by my best friend, who happens to be an Occupational Health Practitioner - so she knew all about you and suggested I might find good advice and support here - she was absolutely right. I look forward to more discussions as time goes on. xx

Edited by Helenm
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Good evening and Welcome, Helen. What a valuable friend you have and it is good to know that Occupational Health folk are aware of BTG! Our founders surely deserve that:thumbsup:I'm sure you will find that we are all happy to share and to support and someone will always be here. Hope to talk' again some time:-D

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Hi Helen

Welcome from another non aneurysm SAH person! Yes we are the lucky ones as recovery tends to be total eventually but as you say, we are left with lots of unanswered questions too. Glad you are doing so well and that your friend pointed you in the direction of this web site.

Ann

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