Jump to content

Hello from Phil. T


Phil. T

Recommended Posts

My wife suffered an extensive SAH September 2010 and remained in hospital 7 months.On coming home she did really well physically regaining her strength. In August 2011 things began to go wrong after she fell asleep for a couple of hours. She woke not knowing who I or her daughters were and things worsened in different phases over the last few months.She has been having a good day where she can do almost anything but this is followed 24 hours later by a bad day when she would get frustrated and at times aggressive.This is continuing and I wonder if anyone has experienced a similiar 24 hour turnround in behaviour as the doctors appear somewhat mystified.My wife is currently in hospital undergoing a mental assesment as it was becoming impossible for me to look after her at home.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Phil and welcome,

I'm so sorry to hear that. Since starting this site in 2006, I haven't heard of anybody with a similar problem, well not to the same severity as your wife's. Do you know what part of her brain was affected by the bleed? We do have members on here who's partners have had frontal lobe injury after the SAH and this has affected their temperament and level of irritability etc. The following link may help. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontal_lobe_injury

Mental health issues however are something that are pretty common for a lot of us. From what I've seen here, these mainly tend to be anxiety, depression and frustration. Post traumatic stress also seems to feature for a lot of us. Hospitals are very good in patching us up physically, but they don't deal with mental health issues after a brain injury. I think that many of us try to cope alone and struggle with life post SAH, until we get to that point where we know that we need to seek professional help and are unable to cope with day to day life. Quite a few members of this forum have sought help, either with medication, counselling or both. This may be months after the SAH or even years down the line.

It seems strange that one day she is okay and coping with life and then she suffers a massive blip. I do know that most of us still suffer from fatigue many years later. You can do too much and push yourself one day and then the next day the fatigue kicks in big time. Most of us have had to learn to pace ourselves, make adjustments to our lives or you end up failing and hence the frustration, depression etc. It's a very big learning curve for the person concerned and their family as well, lots to cope with. Did you ever receive any advice about SAH recovery when your wife left hospital?

I think that you've done completely the right thing for your wife, there's only so much that we're able to deal with by ourselves and it sounds as though she does need some professional help. Wishing you the very best and hope that all comes good for you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

hi phil

im sorry to hear the your wife has had a setback hopefully it wont be a long one .

i can only speak from what i have gone through with lin who had her bleed in 2008 and three years down the line lin is still throwing up the odd surprise and complication which has led me to keep asking questions to get a reason as to why things keep happening with lin. a brain injury is such a complicated condition and even the surgeons and drs cant answer or give an explanation as to what is going on inside because they dont know . i dont know why they always plump for a mental condition it i think depends on what area of the brain suffered and was damaged by the bleed do you know what area the bleed took place as karen has said the frontal lobe is responsible for behavior and temperment dont forget even a year down the line that the brain is may be trying to make new pathways if it can and at times the signals get messed up have they done a scan since she fell asleep and woke up confused there are many questions you have the only way to clear them up is to have a meeting and ask write them down so you have a list to go through i know and understand the home bit i would love to have my lin home but because im getting past it in all honesty which i have to admit as much as i want to cope and think i could the oppisite is true so i spend all my time with her in a home but we do have freedom to go out things do change on a day to day shedule you can only take one day at a time one step forwards and two back this seems to been the norm i wish you well and your wife to be able to pick up after this step back take care

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry to hear about your wife....when I came home from hospital after SAH....I was home approx 7/8 months and then my

family rang up hospital (had hydrocephellus ) check spelling !!!

I am not saying your wife has hydrocephellus just telling you what I had

Had a shunt fitted..then I knew who my family were....sounds daft but I saw my Parents and family who had passed on before

shunt was fitted ..once shunt was fitted I came back to reality..... phew thank goodness.

Good luck to your You and Wife and keep chin up

Regards

WinB143 x x

Edited by Winb143
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for your replies. My wife has extensive damage to the right anterior temporal lobe along with frontal lobe damage. We have recently been told that she may have damage to capilleries within her brain possibly as a result of the 3 invasive brain operations she has had, the first to put a drain into the brain, secondly to position a shunt to drain fluid and finally a coiling operation. The aneuryism was finally located in December 2010 at the right rear of her head, close to the carotid artery. She has short term memory loss and has difficulty in finding her way around even familiar places, getting lost within her own home. However all is not doom and gloom, as she can be extremely well on a good day and close to the person she was prior to the haemorrhage. She is well capable of doing any tasks she wishes on these days but struggles with motivation, concentration and attention. The main difficulty is the 24 hour turn around in personality and behaviour.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi again Phil....I can only guess you are all going through.....I come from a big family..and I am the youngest...so I have had

Sisters and Sister in law visiting me...we sang when I was out of it....or so I am told....it helped me get through the grey/mist

(I had venticulitus and sepsis also.)

My hubby calls me heavy maintenance..because of the weight I have put on..... But I am definately High Maintenance !!! always

have been though ...lol

Try and do things with wife singing etc ?.....Hope she gets well soon...

My language has gotten so bad.

Hopes all goes well ....... Good luck to you both and never give up x

Regards

WinB143 x x

Edited by Winb143
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...