Mother, Brother and Myself Cindy - all early 50's

[Cindyvincent]

My Mother and I were both 52 years old when we had our SAH. Mom's was in 1983 she stayed comatose for 2 weeks. She suffered some weekness and speech problems. Mostly suffered from emotional effects. Depression and Anger. I had my SAH at 52 in 2009. I was very fortunate not to suffer any lasting effects.

 

My Brother 55 years old had his a few weeks ago. He was just released from the hospital...so far there are no signs of a stroke.  I'm new to this site and felt I needed to research the possibility that SAH could be hereditary. I'm not sure anything can be done for my children to prevent this. Since my brother had his I feel certain this has to be hereditary. The doctors at Harborview in Seattle didn't say much about it. 

[Super Mario]

Welcome to BTG.

It is a known fact that aneurysms can be hereditary. In the UK family members are offered the option of having MRI scans to check if any are present. Of course the decision for them to go ahead is entirely up to the person themselves.

If I were you I would explore that option with your neurologist. Prevention is better than anything untoward happening. 

[kempse]

Hi,

Welcome to the forum.  I too believe that in some cases aneurysms are hereditary and this does look likely in your family.  I understood that they only make the link if, like you, your immediate family member ie mother, father, sister etc had a sah, but not in cases like mine where my granddad (my mother's dad) had one and then me.  I'm not sure how they so easily rule out a link when people can live through life with aneurysms that never rupture and therefore the aneurysms are not known about which could result in a hidden link between family members.

 

It may be worth asking those doctors if your children should be routinely scanned at some point in the future.  

 

I think any of us with children and have aneurysms ourselves must wonder about our children - I know I do.

 

Best wishes,

Sarah

[Macca]

Hi - welcome to BTG.

 

Before me, I am not aware of any of my family suffering SAH.  However, both I and my first wife, who is the mother of my two children, have both had one - and both of us survived.  My children are adults now at 39 and 33 years old respectively.

 

They have been advised to get scanned and so far neither has, but I mention it about once a year to get themselves checked.

 

All we can do is advise you to go and get checked as prevention is better than cure, in my opinion.  The weight off your mind would be a big stress reliever too.

 

I think, though I don't know, that many people must be going around with aneurysms in their heads they don't know about, but where they are not in imminent danger of rupture. Some will, but many won't.  My surgeon said it is like getting a puncture on your bicycle.   One minute ok - the next punctured and the tyre goes flat!

 

I wish you well.

 

Macca

[Winb143]

 

Hi Cindy,

 

My Aunt Nell/.Ellen had a brain bleed and all she remembered was the light going off.

Her 2 sons had bleeds also and  they had bad ones, going way back as I was 10 when Aunt Nell had hers.

 

I asked N.S. if it was a weakness on my Dads side and he told me we only look at immediate families ie Brothers, Sisters, Mums and Dads !! 

 

Glad in a way my Daughter has migraine as they gave her an MRI scan which put my mind at ease..Phew .

 

I am not medical but it seems funny that an Aunt and her 2 sons had them and me !!  but who knows xx.

 

Take it easy and keep happy it really helps if you can keep Stress at bay and sing or remember a time when you laughed, as that helps me.

 

Good Luck and remember no rows or listening to others worries xx Smile at everything and think only of good times,

Love

Winb143 xx xx Hard to do but go for it  xxxx

[Sharlua]

Hi Cindy 

My sister has anuerysms like me fortunately hers are small and have not bled, I had one large one and my dads sister died of SAH.  My daughter had MRI to check but she was clear thank goodness.  My son who lives in America has not been checked.  When they checked daughter they did tell her aneurysm can develop at any time so having a clear scan now does not give total reassurance.

 

Sharon x

[Jan]

Hi, I hope it's ok to hop on this post and ask Super Mario a question.

 

SM Who offers family members the option of having a scan? No one in my family was offered this. My eldest sons father was recently diagnosed with Parkinson's, I, obviously had a SAH and my Dad had Parkinson's, I'm not saying(because I don't know) that SAH and Parkinson's are in any way related regarding being hereditary but I'm guessing that because they're both 'Neuro' I should perhaps suggest that my son gets checked out?

 

Jan xx

[Super Mario]

My neurologist advised that my family had the option to be checked. Daughter decided to go ahead but she had to go to her GP to get a referral to Neurology Out Patients so they could request the MRI.

I suppose of it is down to the GP being willing to do a referral. 

[Jan]

Hi Cindy I'm sorry, how rude of me, I just jumped right in with my question,so I'll start again. . . . 

Big welcome to BTG, you have found the right site for information, other people's experiences, advice and friendship, look forward to hearing more from you x

 

Super Mario thank you for your reply

Jan xx

[Misty]

Hi Cindy, 

 

My Grandmother died of SAH when she was 58. I was 53 when I had mine two months ago, and I believe there was another family member (distant relative) who also had SAH, so in my view, ours is hereditary. There will be some people without a hereditary link, but in my case it looks to be a genetic defect on my fathers side of the family. My sister has been for a scan and is clear, but my other sister and brother have not yet had scans.

 

I have suggested that they mention it to their Doctors to see if they can have scans, but as aneurysm's can develop at any time,  a scan isn't necessarily going to be a safeguard against future aneurysm developing, but could save a life if there is an aneurysm large enough to rupture, so definitely worth looking into if the option is available.

[Colleen]

Hello Cindy, Welcome to the site.

 

I had my SAH from a burst aneurysm in 2008. While I do not know of anyone in my family having had one before, my neurosurgeon in Houston has been researching the hereditary links of aneurysms for some time. His work is through the Mischer Institute and I believe they collect information on every patient for their studies.  I know following my SAH they did suggest my sister maybe should be checked.  However, she lives in another state and although she suffers migraines, her dr has yet to order a CT scan.

 

Anyway, you might check out the website for Mischer Institute.  My neurosurgeon, Dr Dong Kim, is director.  He is brilliant.

 

Best wishes, Colleen