Anyone else? SAH Symptoms: Shakes/chills/heat sensations?

[hendo24]

Hello everyone,

 

I am just 3 months out from SAH and trying to understand which symptoms are to be expected and which may not be. Specifically, I don't see much on the site from people complaining about shakes or chills? I have these episodes that I get chills and my body is shaking or spasming as if I'm cold but I am not. I am totally conscious and they don't feel like a seizure. It can last minutes, or hours, or even days and it is miserable!

 

Sometimes it starts with a warm liquid feeling inside my head, especially around the ears, then my whole body gets hot and I start shaking profusely and I sweat all over. I had this in the hospital right after the heme, and then not for over a month, and then it stared again. It flattens me and I can't function and is quite miserable. I've checked my blood pressure and pulse and temperature as all this is happening and it is totally normal! I just try to relax and breathe my way through it.

 

I visited both the neurologist and the neurosurgeon and they just said my brain is healing and should go away within another month? I also had a repeat MRI and it was normal.

 

I also get heat sensations in my head or down my body. In the head, it feels like someone pouring hot water inside my skull. Sometimes its around the ears, but it can move around a lot. This happens off and on throughout the day. I also often get hot sensations down the body, especially at night when lying down?

 

I am just worried that these symptoms aren't letting up much. There doesn't seem to be an answer or remedy? And will they go away? Especially the chills/shakes?

 

Anyone else? I would love to hear if anyone else has similar experiences???

Wade

[Karen]

Hi Wade,

In my early years post SAH, I did quite a bit of my own internet research with the weird symptoms that I was experiencing. I've often wondered whether the chills/heat sensation are linked to the pituitary gland and the hypothalumus in the brain, as it is close to the Circle of Willis ... and perhaps some damage was caused by the bleed? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0005172/

 

I still get the odd chills, but it tends to be linked to a bit of fatigue with me ... once I've warmed myself up with a blanket, had a rest, I start to sweat, almost like having a temperature, then I seem to be okay again...It does tend to make you wonder whether something has gone wrong with your internal thermostat! Can you link your episodes with anything?

I'm not a medic, so would advise that you contact your GP and have a chat. I've had a series of blood tests taken over the years, just to rule other things out.

[Winb143]

Wade,

After I had my shunt fitted I would wake up and mouth used to go into a spasm, it scared me but lasted about

a minute, it has stopped now thank goodness. If you are worried go and see Doc or Hospital.

 

I had a feeling of water running down side of head and I had hydrocephalus but I was out of it so cannot

remember much until I had shunt fitted.

Wish you Well

 

Love

WinB143 xx

[DawnS]

I didn't get chills and shakes, but I used to feel absolutely roasting hot all the time. I'd wear just a t-shirt through the first winter. All that has returned to normal now and I've had to wear a coat this winter which is good because people around me used to get quite upset about my lack of layers. Now I tend to get very cold if I sit still for any length of time and spend most evenings cuddling my hot water bottle.

 

The watery sensation over my brain subsided too but I couldn't be sure of how quickly, I think about 3 or 4 months after? I also used to get strange 'dead' feelings in my arms which took a lot longer to pass. This wasn't a circulation thing because changing position didn't help at all. I am about 20/21 months post sah and the only real symptom I am left with now is fatigue which can bring on it's own symptoms such as stuttering speech, headaches and an irritating inability to sleep.

 

Dawn x

[Daffodil]

Hi Wade. That was a description of a feeling I would be happy to forget. I had some very strange sensations post bleed. My coiling was at the top of my neck, back of head, not sure if that has any bearing but I used to get hot and cold very quickly and very intensely in the weeks after especially around the back of my head and down my neck and spine.

 

The sensation of trickling fluid, pins and needles, it was so unpleasant and disturbing. One night I might be wrapped up with blankets and hot water bottles the next I would be waking up because I was too hot or had strange sensations that I could hardly lie still.

 

I always say that if anything changes in symptoms that it's worth getting checked out so I am glad you got an MRI and got all checked,( I did many times) its good there's no change.

 

I can only share what I now personally believe, based on my own experiences , that any time there i have some intense sensations i now think it is when the brain is healing. I usually find after periods when i have had this intense activity that I suddenly realise something has improved a little. But if you're worried and it gets worse then go back to the doctors.

[Gill C]

Wade I didn't get chills & shakes but I did find in hot weather I was sweltering, in cold weather I was freezing to the point of chattering teeth. In most other respects I am ok now except for the fatigue & some other issues not relatedv to the sah. I remember my scar itching lots & wanting to take my skull off & itch inside, I also had a creeping sensation rather than the feeling of liquid over my head.

I do still get bad heads but nothing like in the early days, its usually related to lack of sleep or being over tired.

[kpaggett]

Wade, i used to get a chill like someone walked over my grave everyday. Now only sometimes and I like you was never cold when it happened. I also used to find that my quads would clench and release after I ate like for some reason my brain had mixed up digestion with the large leg muscles. My thermostat seemed to also be out of whack as I was too hot if the temperature was over 72 or standard room temp. I used to call my gp over things that bothered me and it did ease my mind, so by all means call if you are worried about it. Now I never call, but I don't have those crazy symptoms all the time like I used to either.

~Kris

[Skippy]

Hey there

I have trouble regulating my body temp since SAH but not the extent of chills or spasms. It takes me a lot longer to warm up or cool down than it used to. I asked my neurosurgeon about this and apparently its common in people who have suffered a brain injury to have trouble regulating body temp or feeling heat/cold etc. My hubby had to test the temp of my baths for over a year so I didn't scald myself.

Check with your GP to make sure that there isn't some other underlying reason though - better to be safe than sorry.

[Sallios]

It’s good to read the posts in this thread as I’ve been feeling cold and getting goose pimples all over even when it’s not cold. Hot water bottle, blanket and log fire all necessities now. It does feel strange: not like real cold if that makes sense?