How long until fully recovered
 

Hi,
I a new to this site. I had a subarachnoid hemorrage on the night of July 15, 2011. My aneurysm was coiled and I spent two weeks in the hospital. I have no deificts of any kind and am totally intact, thank God. I was released from the hospital on 7/29. Although I am "fine" I still suffer from horrible headaches and am on strong medication that makes me feel sick to my stomach. How long can I expect these headaches to last? The dr. tells me that it is different for everybody. Nevertheless, I would like to hear from people who have had a similar experience. I get very frustrated because all I can do is sit around all day. If I do have a surge of energy and accomplish something around the house, I suffer the rest of the day. Thank you in advance for any response.
Susie

my journey
 

on sept 1 2010 i had 2 aneurysms coiled 1 had burst and bled and 1 had not burst. bad headaches for 10 months or so till i got a good pain mgmt dr. i am still limited in what i can do. for the first couple of months i thought i would be ok.now 1 year has past and if i werent on the rite meds i would be bedridden. hope you get good drs stay proactive on getting better the only one looking out for you is you.

Hi Susie

I am not on this forum vey often, but I noticed you had not had many replies. I had an aneurysm clipped in 2004, and was around this forum a lot after that. The brain is very slow to heal - it can be anything up to two years before you are fully recovered (or at least up to the best you will be - although having said that, some people continue to make progress after that, it is very individual).

Treat you body and your brain gently - your brain had a massive insult and it will soon let you know if you are overdoing things. Recovery is a long slow process - so listen to your body and if you need to rest a lot that is not unusual. This is a life threatening occurrence, and it will have major physical, mental and psychological impact on you. So, be patient, you should notice a lot of improvement after about six months.

Please take care

Lyn

I haven't been on here for quite a while. I had a right pica aneurysm coiled after a sah in December of 2006. I went through 6 surgeries over the next year, an unsuccessful clipping, and multiple surgeries for a spinal fluid leak and shunt for hydrocephalus. After my last surgery my outlook on life was great, I was just happy to be alive although the headaches were awful. One of the worst things is the ringing in my ears. It has never gone away and whenever I am around people it gets really loud until I get so irritated I just have to get away.
I tried to go back to a normal life, I worked I tried to be productive, but then I lost my job in December of 2009 and it has been very hard since then. The headaches are still bad. I can't give my dog a bath without being in pain for hours afterward. That is pretty much true of anything that requires effort or bending over or picking something up. I have been denied SSI because they say I can still do some type of work. As I can't seem to do much of anything at home I haven't found that type of work yet.
I am forgetful, I don't allow myself to cook when no one is home, and I don't allow myself to leave the kitchen when I am cooking. I have set the stove on fire a couple of times by forgetting that I was cooking. I would love to encourage you that things get better, but for me they have not. They got a little better for a while, but now on the eve of my 5 year annieversary things are probably as good as they are going to get for me. I still have daily headaches, I don't take narcotics, I only take advil. I have put myself through hell a couple of times to go through two weeks of no medications to prove at least to myself that they aren't rebound headaches. I have some double vision, and a lot of fuzziness. When I say fuzziness I mean that I can't focus very long and get confused around people and noises.
I hope for you that things get better for you quickly, but don't be too hard on yourself and take it easy. It makes it harder when you try to do too much, you actually make it worse. Oh, one other thing, well two actually. For nausea, ask your doctor about Zofran, it is nausea medication that is used for cancer patients and works great. It doesn't cause sedation like the other main nausea medication(that I can't remember the name of right now). Also if you have trouble sleeping, instead of a sleeping pill like ambien ask about melatonin, it is over the counter and won't make you feel groggy but will regulate your sleep. It has changed my life I always had insomnia, even before the sah, but since I started taking melatonin I can go to sleep and sleep 8 hours without feeling groggy.