Originally Posted by sarahin

Hi,
I'm new to this forum. Here's some backround. I have two aneursyms and had a craniotomy over a year ago to clip one off. The second one is positioned where it might cause a stroke depending on how it tears if it ruptures. This type of stroke is 50% fatal and there is a about a 1 in three chance of a rupture in my lifetime. If you survive the stroke there is a good chance you are not mentally fit to care for yourself afterward. Aneursyms really stink.
The reason why I came to this forum has to do with what happened after my craniotomy. I had speech problems and had to reteach myself to spell. The surgeon ordered therapy and a MRI to see if I had a stroke. The MRI was normal. I started getting extremely apathetic and fatigued. I was embarassingly spacey and couldn't focus on more than one thing at a time. The surgeon and my internist didn't seem to take me seriously. I got to the point that it felt like the world was a dream and I only thing I did was go to work (lived every other moment laying on the couch) and I knew I couldn't continue to go to work much longer.
I made my own appt with a neurologist, told him my problems, and asked him to find out if I had a physical or neurotic problem. He unexpectedly gave me a prescription and also ordered an all day testing spree. The medication was Amantadine and the first dose made me feel some how "different". The second dose made a wave go threw my head and everything around me felt like it really existed again. I still had the testing done and it showed that I now have a non-verbal learning deficit. From what I understand I had what would be labeled as a TBI (from swelling, pressure from the clip/aneursym....?) and my dopimine levels dropped causing my symptoms and some permanent brain damage.
I felt so much better on the Amantadine, and along with some denial, I tried to live on as I always had. It's not working. I have been told that I am not myself anymore. I have trouble with more than one thing at a time happening. I can't remember any facts about what I was focusing on and integrate them into the next thing I'm doing. This is not a normal complication to brain aneursym clipping. I thought that this forum might supply me with some helpful coping mechanisms. Many people had some really mean reactions when they found out I had brain aneursyms and I sure don't want to vent about any problems due to brain injury to anyone around me. I hope the people here will excuse all my venting. Any advice for a new
TBIer?
Thanks...Sarah
PS...waiting on fixing the other aneursym