Kyle Posted July 12, 2020 Share Posted July 12, 2020 Hi All, I just found BTG. What a great chat room! Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences! I had my SAH on April 21, 2020 (4 days before my 42nd birthday). I am experiencing many of the same symptoms that are discussed here. Headaches, neck pain (occasionally), cloudy short-term memory, dizziness & head pain when bending over. I do notice great benefit from staying hydrated and taking frequent walks. My head definitely tells me when I have over done it! Ah, stress definitively revs up the headaches. I am really trying to focus on managing stress! I still have very intense headaches several times a week, nausea, and of course anxiousness that I could be having another SAH every time I have a head pain. Very glad to have found BTG, and the opportunity to talk with people that actually understand the SAH recovery challenges. All my best to each of you! Kyle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy Posted July 12, 2020 Share Posted July 12, 2020 Hi Kyle Welcome to BTG - yes, everything you describe is very common after SAH and, for some, does get better with time. Let us know more about yourself and the circumstances of your SAH - it's not just that we're nosy it helps us get an overall picture of you and your recovery - and helps newbies when they join to relate their circumstances and recovery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tina Posted July 12, 2020 Share Posted July 12, 2020 Hi Kyle A very warm welcome to BTG. You will find a wealth of helpful information and caring support here. Feel free to also join in the daily banter in the Green Room. https://web.behindthegray.net/forum/9-the-green-room/ We look forward to hearing more from you. Take care Tina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle Posted July 12, 2020 Author Share Posted July 12, 2020 Thanks for the responses and the support. To give more context about my particular SAH here are the finer details: As a result of COVID-19, I found myself working from home while my two school aged sons were at home trying to home school (7 year old and 10 year old). I was wrapping up a teleconference for work, when suddenly my neck became very stiff and it felt like I got hit in the back of the head with a hammer. I lost my hearing momentarily. I made it about 4 steps and fell to my knee. I then realized I was in serious trouble. As a result of l being on a teleconference, I had locked the door that led to my basement where I was, in an effort to keep me sons from disturbing my call. I realized no one was going to know what was going on, and I needed help. I made it to the flight of stairs and crawled up 15 stairs and unlocked the door, and saw my wife and two sons standing there. I never once thought about calling for help on my telephone from downstairs. When I saw my sons faces, I knew I couldn’t let them see me like this, so I told my wife to call the ambulance and I crawled up another flight of steps to my bedroom. By this time, I was soaked in sweat and and in a ton of pain. The paramedics arrived and quickly took me to the hospital, despite all my vitals being relatively normal. Once I was in the Emergency Room they quickly did a CT scan and saw the blood on my brain. Because of the immense pain, they gave me morphine through an IV, but it did not offer any relief. The decision was made to transfer me to another hospital that specializes in brain trauma/strokes. Once I arrived at the new hospital, I was placed in Intensive Care for the next 9 days. As a side note, that I later found out, I was the only non-COVID-19 patient on that entire floor and in ICU. However, I was blessed to make it out of my 9 day stay without getting COVID. The neurosurgeon advised me that I would normally stay in the hospital a bit longer, but he wanted me to go home before I caught COVID. My pain had to be controlled with Fentanyl while in the hospital, since the morphine did nothing for the pain. After 5 days, I was able to control pain through non-IV meds (no more Fentanyl). I did experience mild vasospasims on days 5 through 8, but again they were controlled through medication. After, all the testing, my final diagnosis was a NASAH. I am very fortunate on all accounts! From being able to get help, to not getting COVID, to having a NASAH that didn’t require coiling or a clip. I would say that the most frustrating aspect on my road to recovery is that once I have a few good days and think I am all better, I have a really rough day (bad headaches). It looks like from other’s experience, this is a fairly common struggle. I will also add, that in these very unusual and challenging times. COVID has definitely thrown a curveball to anyone that has recently gone through any type of SAH. From no family being able to visit in the hospital, to virtual doctor appointments and everything in between. I am just very blessed to have found this site and hopefully my experiences can provide some reassurance to someone that may have just experienced a SAH during these unique times. I am blessed in so many ways and do have a whole new appreciate for life! Tomorrow is definitely not promised, so make the most of today! Thanks for all your support! Kyle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swishy Posted July 12, 2020 Share Posted July 12, 2020 Hi Kyle, Welcome to BTG...so happpy you found this site...I felt so thankful to find them after my own SAH and vasospasm...You sound like you are making good progress, you are still in the early days of recovery...I know this is unlike any other illness I have had, thinking that when you have some good days you are getting past it...I have found it to be slow...steady, but slow... Sometimes I see the best progress when I look back...I too had a small SAH and a severe vasospasm. The vasospasm was the worst of my event, sending me back to the hospital, intensive care and rehab....for weeks I thought I had another SAH...everything took time to sort out for me...I am 3 years 2 months post and much better, improvement each year and I am a good deal older than you, 64 when I had mine... Kyle, your story struck me with your feeling isolated when you had your event...so very frightening, so happy your family was there when you got to the top of the stairs... The Covid situation is making it all so much harder for everyone entering the hospital. I work at a hospital, retiring soon, and it makes us so sad our patients can't have their loved ones with them.. We have loosed it a bit but it is still no where near what it was as we welcomed family members... My thoughts and prayers to you and yours as you continue ... xx Jean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClareM Posted July 12, 2020 Share Posted July 12, 2020 Hi Kyle, welcome to BTG and thanks for recounting your story. I too had an NASAH with hydrocephalus as an added complication. Made it out of hospital after just over 2 weeks but I was lucky that it was not during Covid and my family were able to visit the whole time. However my friends husband had what sounds like a very similar experience to you and he spent 3 weeks with no visitors. He appears to be making a great recovery. Must have been very worrying for your family and lonely for you. Mind you if you were anything like me you probably didn't notice much of what was going on - I was asleep most of the time! Glad to hear you are making a good recovery with just a few blips. This is to be expected and will be made worse if you do too much. I think the problem is that as you feel better you do more which can then lead to being exhausted. Best advice I can give you is take everything slowly and leave plenty of time for rest periods. My bleed was over 5 years ago and even now if I push too hard I know about it. Take it easy, be kind to yourself, hope your recovery continues well. Clare xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.