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[Teri]

I am 4 weeks post SAH non aneurysm. I had the horrible headache, vomiting, light sensitive, motion sickness. I had a bleed into 2 cisterns. Angiogram showed no aneurysm. 

 

I have not went back to work. Having issues of poor short term memory, headaches, major fatigue and ear ringing. If I do not write things down the next day I will forget. I get lost trying to find my car if I go to shop. All a tad bit scary to me.

 

Anyone else have these things? 

 

Thanks 

[subzero]

 

Hello Teri … and also a warm welcome to BTG.

 

It is very early days in you recovery and the post NASAH symptoms you describe are very common.

You will find support and comfort as you read the various threads on this site. They are the personal experiences of so many survivors.

 

It is so important to accept at the outset that your brain has been injured by the bleed. Don`t try and rush the healing process by attempting to get your life back to what it was too quickly. Recovery will take many months of patience and rest while you deal with and accept the physical and emotional circumstances you find yourself in. Heed Casey`s good advice.

 

I do hope you have the support of family and close friends. Take time to explain to them how you feel. This is such a new situation for them too.  They can`t see the internal damage caused by the bleed. To them initially you may look normal.

 

If you have employment …. please don`t rush to get back … take advice from your consultants and phase any return so that you can gauge how your body and brain are reacting. Fatigue and tiredness will challenge you a lot.

 

Please keep in touch regularly with us and our members will be eager to respond to any questions you may have.

 

Take care and I wish you well on this difficult and challenging journey.

 

 

Subs

 

 

 

[Tina]

Hi Teri 

 

A very warm welcome to BTG

 

Wise words above from Casey & Subs. You are very early in your recovery, things will improve, it just takes time. One step forwards and sometimes two steps backwards. Pace yourself and rest rest rest  

 

We look forward to hearing more from you.

 

Take care

Tina x  

[Winb143]

Hi Teri,

 

Just knowing you are not alone is a help in itself.  On here we can tell our worries to others who understand .

 

As for short term memory loss mine has got a bit better but I often say to hubs "Did I tell you this" and I get the look which  = "Yes Win 4 times" !

 

But it gets better and when tired it is worse lol catch 22.

 

Keep a smile handy for down days and I love to sing so poor hubs and Family and on here.  (BTG)  I have been known to feel a song coming on.  My ears are echo and loud sea noises sometimes worse than others.  Depends how many people are talking  all at once lol xx shhhhh like waves  !!

 

Take care and look after you XXX Hope to hear from you soon 

 

Nice people on here xxxx All that the others have put also especially water xxx 

[Chris G]

Best wishes Teri.

 

As said above, it takes a while to recover, so go easy on yourself.  Headaches and memory problems seem to be the longest of the aftershock symptoms for me.  But they do get better with time.  I thought 3 years out, I was as recovered as I would get, with still some strange headaches and short term memory problems, but now almost 4 years out, things are continuing to improve,  The headaches are mostly gone and the memory is better, but it could be because I really focus on memory now.

 

Years sounds like a long time, but in my case, most of the improvements came rather quickly, and the rest just lingered a bit.  So I am hopeful that you will feel  much better in a few short months.

 

We are all different, and I will say the recovery is not a smooth line.  I experienced many peaks and valleys,  primarily with "gloomy" days where I just felt depressed.  But those too get better and fewer with time.

 

Please be patient with yourself and heal nicely.

 

Chris

[Daffodil]

Quote

Having issues of poor short term memory, headaches, major fatigue and ear ringing. If I do not write things down the next day I will forget. I get lost trying to find my car if I go to shop. All a tad bit scary to me.

 

Absolutely it’s scary. First what happened is a major life event, no small thing at all so give yourself time to heal.  you are here to tell the tale so don’t brush it under the carpet, stare it in the eye and then make some changes to accommodate what has happened. Your memory may be off so carry a pad and write everything down. Leave yourself post it notes, write lists. Yes you may have had a great memory ore bleed but for now it’s a little disrupted.. If you give yourself the kindness and consideration to take more time doing what you did previously and rest as well your body and your brain will thank you for it down the line.

 

You know if someone spills a drink on a laptop or drops a phone down the loo. Yes you can dry it out with rice but often keys don’t work or the screen is a bit different in places...that’s kinda like us! 

 

your brain had blood spill over the surface of what is essentially your circuits and that is going to knock a few things out, change around how you navigated thoughts and actions and just generally give you some odd strange effects and probably will continue to do that for some time yet. Some may go in time, some may be with you permanently and so you’ll find ways to adapt and get used to it.

 

Everyones bleed NA or SAH are different in scale , grade, site, and so is unique in its effects as we all are but time and care is really important especially for all those who are ambulatory when they leave hospital and can self care as people just assume you are back to normal and had a lucky escape. For me I physically was unable to do anything so my rest was enforced which in some ways meant I had no choice but to just be slow but just because you are up and about doesn’t mean that your brain is ready to cope with shopping, driving, and everything else.

 

Try to maybe create a visual picture of why you need to slow down for now. If you fell down and bruised your entire side of your leg so it was swollen and discoloured then you wouldn’t just assume you can do what you did before, you’d wait until that had gone down . Now think that your brain has had a similar trauma, it’s had blood Go into a system where it shouldn’t be so allow and adjust for that until it starts to show you with improvement of symptoms that yes things feel more steady . 

 

 

[Macca]

Hi Teri,

 

All great advice above.  Scary is natural, time is the healer. Learn to listen to your body, it tells you when you feel well and when to rest and its had enough.  Good rest is as important as good exercise!

 

Make a diary your best pal. Use it to remember things and to chart your progress. Learn to adapt to change the way you do things that you could do before but can't now.

 

You'll be surprised at how creative you can be.  It's a long road back but the sooner you start walking along it the sooner you'll get there!

 

Good luck and we're always here to give you reassurance and advice and encouragement.  Medical advice is out though because we're not doctors so you'll need to consult you medical team for that sort of stuff!

 

Best wishes

 

Macca

[Chris G]

Sorry, repeat post (speaking of memory loss)

 

chris