I suffered a severe sah at the age of 45. It occurred (...

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I suffered a severe sah at the age of 45. It occurred (somewhat unfortunately) post-orgasm and I was told in hospital that this is not uncommon. There was no warning apart from sudden extreme pain in my head; then I lost consciousnes for approximately 15 minutes. In hospital I vomited and was very very drowsy - slipping in and out of consciousness for some time. In the first (local) hospital I was treated as being in a diabetic coma before eventually having a CT scan and then being removed very quickly up the line to a specialist neuro-surgical unit where I was immediately given nimodopine?. lumbar punctures, pain-killing injections, anti-nausea pills etc. etc. After four weeks of lying flat in bed, it was decided to operate because I had another bleed which resulted in a severe, full-on seizure and the beginnings of paralysis down my left side. The surgeon informed me that he did not want to operate but if he didn't I would definitely die and operating meant that I had a one in three chance of dying, one in three chance of being paralysed and a one in three chance of surviving.

Luckily, owing to his skill, I am here to tell the tale. This all happened over ten years ago and the surgeon who saved my life, Mr Ian Cast, has long since retired. I have temporal lobe epilepsy and take phenytoin; I have another small brain aneurysm which has not been treated and I now suffer from severe bouts of migraine (unrelated?) but - apart from that - I am as well as I have ever been. There is life after haemorrhage!smile

[i:95930b35c8]This message was automatically imported from the original Patient Experience[/i:95930b35c8]

3 likes, 10 replies

10 Replies

  • Posted

    Finally, I've found another person  in the world who had a similar experience to mine. I was 49. Are you  a female or male? If female I'd really like to share experiences with you by email, even although we'll probably never meet up. For me it's 20 years ago. I have yet to find another female to whom it has happened like ourslolredface.  I live in Tasmania, Australia, a beautiful  island and the smallest state.
  • Posted

    I'm following up to see whether you'd like to correspond with me because you're the only person I have ever found with a very similar experience to mine. I was in Jakarta with my husband when I had my subarachnoid haemorrhage, and had experienced a headache flying over Java. I also couldn't swim the full length of the pool in the posh hospital the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra stayed in. would you prefer me to talk about it on this forum. I don't mind. For how long afterwards did you feel fearful of futher sexual orgasms? Cheers for now. Patsy from Tinderbox, Tasmania.questionwink
  • Posted

    It's Patsy from Tasmania again. Are you female like me?

    Prior to my subarachnoid haemorhage, I'd been suffering from  earaches and tiredness in Tasmania.  Unfortunately the GP I  went to, an older male, just said I was a tooth-grinder, didn't even check my BP.So I ended up going to Jarkarta with my husband, an orchestral musician. and having the worst headache ever in my life during orgasm and vomiting.  The hotel doctor only given me pain killers.   But the next morning my husband after rehearsing, found me in bed, very yellow in colour and unable to move my left side. He called for an ambulance and I spent 16 days  in intensive care. A CT  scan revealed a burst berry aneurysm in the R parietal lobe. I had to be airlifted with a doctor, to  Hobart, Tasmania, where our teenage children and my mother were waiting.Two neurosurgeons performed  an emergency operation I'm still searching for another such survivor, especially female to maybe help or at least know that I'm not the only one in the world.

  • Posted

    I had this also,  tasted blood in my mouth thought it was a nose bleed.

    Was in hospital and remember nothing until I had shunt put in for hydrocephelus

    It was like a ight being switched on, I have trouble walking but apart from this  I feel fine. But it has taken  since 2009.10 and was told I'd never walk but can walk 60 to 100 steps beore back goes, good luck All xx

    • Posted

      G'day Winnie. That makes three of us to whom it happened at that moment of supposed rapture, which turned into rupturefrown!

      I was 49  at the time and that was 1994. I walk with an AFO on my left leg when I'm outside the house and have been through a heck of a lot of ups and downs. I can't use my left arm or hand to speak of.  I remember much of what has happened since I was allowed into a Rehabilitation Hospital in Hobart after my clipping was done in the Royal Hobart Hospital, but I've kept having to ask my husband what happened in the public hospital in Jakarta.

      Now that I'm older I think the years of relying on my right side have done funny things to my spine. My pain seems to be now centred on my lower back and right side down to the ankle/foot. I've been told it's neuropathic pain.

      I need a walking stick as well as the ankle/foot/orthic.

      All the very best to you two and others I still find it a very hard road to continue happily. It took me a year or two before my fear of sex went, and a lot of experimentation with that to feel safe to orgasm again.

       None of the staff in hospitals  or medical professionals  since were able to help me to help myself. They didn't appear to want to know about the sexual connection or it's importance to my future life.

      Thanks for listening and letting me share thiswink. Patsy

  • Posted

    Hi Patsy,

    It's me again Win from UK (old hag) lol x

    My Sisters sang to me and I'd wake up when they sang wrong words, so I was told.

    I got a lot of info and help from Behind the gray and they helped my daughter through this bad time in our lives.

    Keep singing and trying we will get there eventually ~ Never give up Ever !!

    Love

    Win xx 

    • Posted

      Dear Win

      Haven't forgotten you or "Guest". So how old were you then and now? And are you saying your  brain bleed happened during  sexual orgasm too? I have a daughter now 39, who went to study veterinary science in Queensland, a long way from Tasmania (where you can't study it). She is at present med officer on a Sea Shepherd boat tailing poaching vessel, "Thunder" off the west African coast.

      After  the clipping of my aneurysm, I  was almost given a shunt because the rehabilitation hospital doctor confused me with another patient having headaches. My neurosurgeon was so angry when he found out it wasn't me.frown

      I like the singing you refer to.  I was a good singer before my stroke.  Our son and daughter both said as I was being allowed home for a weekend, singing in the car as we always did:"Mum, you're not singing in tune"cry. I  lost such a lot of self-esteem from not only that but also the loss of my own career and income. Our local National Stroke Foundation group in Hobart has a singing group one a fortnight. It's my intention to try and pick up again soon. What is Behind the Gray?

      I'm rather nervous tho excited about becoming a grandmother in early May.  It is our son, aged 35  with Nozomi, 34, having their first in Brisbane, Queensland. Again a long way away.

      Love, 

      Patsy( older hag I reckon) but still smiling

      xx

    • Posted

      Dear  UK Win Old Hag drom Tassie Dagconfused. Today I sat at the back row of a local respite centre and listened to the German Choir, mostly having older singers of different nationalities up to a 92 year old German chap and down to 60 year olds. They're the only  German choir in Tasmania and seem to sing  all over Tasmania and interstate! I was so thrilled to hear them, as I knew almost all the songs they sang. My ancestry has Swiss-German and Austrian and my grandmother  could yodel beautifully. I still have a songbook or two of hers. My mother has an English and Irish background and sang constantly around the house and in our local town Glee Club.    So I joined in down the back whenever I could. I  did however have tears rolling down my face when an old chap played accordian and the choir sang "Seeman"( Sailor). That was because of our daughter on the Sea  Shepherd boat in the Atlantic Ocean chasing  the worst pirate of the  seas.

      Oh well. But it was a beautiful concert!

      Patsy.

  • Posted

    Dear Guest

    Are you still tuned in ? I've replied to Winifred too.

    Patsy

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