Guest Shygirl268 Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Hi Karen, and all...I posted earlier in the 'introduce yourself' forum but wasn't sure if i was gate crashing! In September of last year I woke up one morning with the most severe pain behind my right eye, the pain was so bad that moving my eye even a fraction was agony, so i tried to keep my eye closed and still while i got dressed and took myself off to casualty, they sent me over to the eye emergency room, where they diagnosed 'dry eye'... ok.... so i was happy to accept their diagnosis as i was terrified it was something more serious! The pain diminished gradually over a couple of days until i was left with just a residual pain in the same place. In retrospect a couple of other symptoms that had occurred over a couple of months prior to this came to mind. Dizzy spells, leg weakness, extreme fatigue and just a general feeling of being 'unwell'. After several other 'episodes' and trips to GP and casualty i decided to have an MRI scan done privately and the results confirmed two unruptured aneurysms, one on the internal carotid artery (directly behind my right eye!) and one on the middle cerebral artery. I saw a neurosurgeon in December and he also told me my symptoms were unrelated and i smiled at him in a patronising way! He said we could monitor them and be rescanned in a year (this seems like an awful long time to wait!) or I could choose surgery (bearing in mind that my mother died 20 years ago at the age of 44 of an SAH related to an aneurysm). So here i am, and last week i made the decision to have surgery, i am now on a waiting list to have an angiogram but the wait, i've been told, could be as long as 6months...I felt disheartened at the thought of waiting so long... but today is a beautiful sunny day, i've had a lovely two hour walk with my dogs and i'm so glad to be alive..... Its lovely to be here too, you all sound so lovely..... Julie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 Hi Julie, You're definetly not gatecrashing and it's given me the opportunity to set up this forum, so, many thanks... My story is on the homepage ...... I was told that I could have had a sentinel/warning bleed/stroke at 38. I was totally mis-diagnosed and probably presumed as being too young at 38 .... but, I looked up my symptoms on the internet and had to ask and it was only at my insistance and being a pain in the a**e that I got a MRI scan many months later.....I was also having a lot of very scary eyesight problems too and knew that what I had experienced wasn't right....I'd also suffered migraines. However, I had an inconclusive MRI scan, which most of us on these MB's will now know that a MRI isn't the best scan to have if you've had a brain bleed and doesn't show up the arteries particularly well ... Basically, I was told to go away and get on with my life and I did .... but, the first year was particularly hard, as I didn't feel well and I returned to work 2 weeks after a "probable bleed"..... which I now find horrendous to even think about. My head was held together by a blood clot for 4 years, until I had the next bleed ..... If you have a look in the photo album of this website, there's a picture of my annie .... you can see that it looks "heart shaped" and I presume that the reason why, is because the artery has pushed out on two sides ..... once from the first bleed and secondly, from the subsequent bleed. All I can say, is that you really do need to make yourself a pain in the butt and go with your gut instinct .... I wish that I had been more of a pain after the warning bleed, but I didn't want to make a fuss and probably didn't want to believe it myself. If you have a family history, then anybody reading this, should be insistent on being tested, if they're having persistent headaches, migraine or eye problems. However, if you're having the worse/sudden(feels like a baseball bat has been hit over your head)/longest headache + eye problems/sinus type pain + neck stiffness + nausea, then go to Casualty/A & E .... I wouldn't even bother with the GP, especially if you have a family history of aneurysms, it's better to look silly then have to endure the damage that a SAH can inflict... Good luck Julie and I really feel for what you're going through..xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest janey Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 h i julie and welcome, i am still a newby, but have to say have gained no end from this site too. Yes if you are at all worried, go straight to the hospital. Its has happened to me at least five times and they are very good, scans straight away and yes they were all necessary. It is worrying I chose to have elective surgery on an unruptured aneurysm, had already had 2 SAHs, so was aware of the risks. I knew if I left if I could go blind , but equally the operation may have the same effect. As it was, I only have slight damage to my good eye and I can still see. I had a surgical wrapping operation as the annie was to small for a clip and couldnt be coiled. It is very frightening when you have to choose and the waiting game is the worse , many people on here have the same experiences and will be able to support you through this difficult time Good luck and take care janex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shanti Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Hi there I had 2 SAHs in early October and 13 Nov 2007. The first is a small aneurysm in the right sylvian fissure arising from the middle cerebral artery. The second was a large aneurysm on the right posterior communicating artery. This was coiled on 13 Nov at Salford Royal (Hope) Hospital. I have been very lucky, left with only third nerve palsy of the right eye which is showing improvement week by week. My ophthalmologist at Oldham Royal Hospital will begin to correct this hopefully from 10 March. It will entail using glasses with prisms - at this stage no mention of an eye operation or anything that drastic. On my check up appointment on 30 Jan 2008 the radiologist informed me that they will give me a MRI scan in May and again in November to check progress of both aneurysms. They cannot coil the smaller aneurysm, because of where it is (not on a main artery itself), they will have to clip it and as such they will have to enter through the skull (or perhaps over an eyebrow with keyhole surgery like Sarah in Northwich). Like Janey and Karen, it is a worry having an untreated aneurysm. I think I would definitely opt for an operation if given the choice. I have family in Switzerland and fly a few times a year to see them and also do voluntary work for an orphanage in South India and would like to think I could fly there too at least once a year which is a long haul flight. With an untreated aneurysm I think it would prove to be a great worry, especially in India so far from home should it bleed again. I will pursue this with the hospital after my MRI scan in May. Good luck Julie, I'm sure the 6 months will pass sooner than you think. I can't believe I'm 3.1/2 months on from my operation. Lesley xxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Shygirl268 Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Thanks Lesley for your very supportive message, yes i'm sure the time will fly by, if i'm feeling well its great but i seem to go in stages, i have a week of feeling terrible, bad headaches, eye pain, dizziness, all of the usual symptoms and then a couple of weeks of feeling great with just the mild head ache and the odd bit of eye pain... at the moment i'm on a good run... and then its much easier to put it to the back of my mind and get on with my life. There's always the nagging worry though that it could rupture especially as i get closer to the age my mother was when she suffered a fatal SAH..... But today the sun is shining and its so beautiful outside, i cant help be feel my spirit lifted. Love and good health to you... thanks again. Julie X Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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