A subarachnoid haemorrhage story (Anonymous)

I had suffered headaches from being 23 years of age. Typically these headaches started immediately over the right eye and spread up into the forehead over the head and down into the back of my neck. The first headache I had was in January of 1979 when I had to attend the funeral of a friend. The headache started on the morning of the funeral and was followed by severe feelings of sickness and vomiting, my husband at the time took me to my parent’s house as I was feeling too ill to be left at home alone. My mother contacted my GP who put the headache down to 'stress' and the fact that I was upset over the death of my husband's friend.

The headaches continued for 17 years, albeit mostly without the sickness I had experienced on the first occasion, but always in the same format with the pain commencing over my right eye. I saw several GP's all of whom said they could find nothing wrong and put it all down to stress, hormone imbalances, etc, etc. In the end I stopped going to the doctors as I felt like I was wasting everyone's time and imagining the headaches.

On the 17th March 1996, two days after my 40th birthday I woke feeling a little 'worse for wear' and with one of the dreaded headaches, but I put this down to the fact that I had been out on two occasions over the weekend celebrating. I was due at the local sailing club that afternoon to watch a friend compete in a race. As the afternoon wore on I began to feel worse and worse with terrific pain to the head and neck, in the end I asked my parents to take me home which they did. I remember getting out of their car, walking up my front pathway and opening the front door.

Apparently about one hour later I rang my parent’s home and asked if they would come back because I did not feel very well. Thank God they did so immediately, on letting themselves into the house they found me in a state of collapse on my bed complaining loudly that my head hurt. They rang 999 and an ambulance arrived within minutes.

After initial assessment at the local hospital I was transferred to my nearest neuro unit, where a scan discovered two ruptured aneurysms in the right-hand side of my brain. I had surgery performed immediately which resulted in a five week stay in hospital. During subsequent scans, an unruptured aneurysm in the left side of my brain was also discovered this meant I had to return to hospital in May of that year for further surgery in order to prevent any likelihood of it rupturing in the future.

Thanks to the wonderful staff and surgeons at the neuro unit, I have over the years made a full recovery and for the last five years have been back at work full time and living a normal life. I would say to anyone in the same situation never give up, you need much determination and encouragement from your friends and family to succeed, but keep trying and eventually it will all fall into place.