OK I've read through this thread and having just come home from the hospital from having a brain aneurysm "fixed" I have a few educated comments to make.
First off.. all these cat scans were for naught.. sorry to say.. they are pretty good for showing a "bleed" or a rupture but not so good with DX
first I had a MRI to rule out a mass.. this was because I have terrible Migraine headaches since I was 9yrs old. I've also had 2 concussions..
the MRI showed something that could be an aneurysm or just tortuous vessels but in the words of my neurologist "Don't worry it usually is nothing"
Had an MRA that clearly showed that I indeed had an aneurysm.. right between my eyes!! That was not where I had pain. My pain started behind my right eye.
OK so this is the part that is more interesting.... It wasn't until the brain angiogram that they saw exactly what it really looked like and what the arteries were like next to it... and it wasn't until they were fixing it that they realized how much more complicated the entire procedure was.. it was touch and go for a while. What was supposed to be 2 hour became over 4 hours.. my poor boyfriend was so scared. I was in the ICU for 2 days and then another 2 days in the step down neuro wing.
Now I will back up to the headache that drove me to this neurologist.. I was already in the hospital for something else.. another crappy thing that was probably related to all the auto-immune diseases I have been "blessed" with in the last year and a half... I woke up with the worst headache of my life.. and this is clearly the main symptom of most aneurysms. Being in the "wrong" wing of the hospital I was left to suffer until my boyfriend arrived with my fiorinals... (I can't take most of the usual Migraine drugs) I took one and immediately projectile vomited it across the room.. I hadn't actually thrown up when I had a migraine since I was a teenager. No one came to look at my pupils and test me neurologically.... I sleep off this horror headache which lasted all day.. My neck was also killing me.. another clear clue.. Luckily I lived to go home the next day.. and vowed to see a headache dr finally.. until now my main drs have always prescribed whatever I needed.
OK so my head is worth a small fortune today.. platinum coils and a stent in the noggin.. I just got home a few days ago.. saw 3 different brain drs till I settled on the one I used. He is a "rock star' neurointerventionist at a prestigious hospital here in NYC. I am currently on gabapentin 600 to 900 a day and fiorinals when needed because I have a headache that should go away in a week or 2.. I should point out that ALL these drs are convinced I experienced a small "bleed" when I was at the other hospital months before.. I am very lucky that it didn't rupture... the stats are awful on ruptures.. I am also VERY lucky.
you still haven't had a MRA or a brain angiogram.. does your neck hurt? does the pain change sometimes from one eye to the other? Just wondering because that is what happened to me and in all the years I've had migraines that had never happened before
oh and yea.. I've always been depressed so I can't even tell you what normal is. Having these headaches since I was 9 you have a different prospective on life and grow up a lot quicker than the kids around you.
NY VEGGIE
Brain Aneurysn FIXED, Crohn's, Migraines, Fibromyalgia, Hypothyroid, Polychondritis, Pericarditis, Depression
Lacto-Vegetarian Low-Residue Diet,
Solgar V-75, Gentle Iron, Calcium, Vit D, Flaxseed Oil, B2, Biotin, B12 shot, Turmeric
Pentasa, Metaprolol, Gabapentin, Synthroid, Protonex, Plavix, ASPIRIN, Flexerol, Zocor, Xanax, Fiorinal
Was on Entocort, INH, Prednisone, Prednisolone, Cipro, Flagyl