Brain aneurysms- a personal experience/speech
I'd like to take you back to July 26, 2003. It was an average morning for me- I was lifting weights in a class at the gym, when I was suddenly confronted with a blinding, uncontrollable migraine that came on without any warning. The pain was unbearable and nauseating, so I got out of class to lay on a couch and let it pass. However, it grew more intense by the minute, and the gym staff reached a friend to drive me to the hospital. I remember getting into the truck while sobbing from the pain, then vomiting uncontrollably, and then losing the next 10 days of my life. I suffered an unexpected brain aneurysm, and spent a week and a half of my life mainly at OHSU, undergoing numerous tests and surgeries that saved my life in the end. Before all of this I barely had any idea what an aneurysm was, or how common they are. I hope that by sharing with you the symptoms, the diagnosis and the treatments available, then maybe you can learn to recognize one before its too late.A brain aneurysm is a weak bulging area in the wall or an artery that supplies blood to the brain. Sometimes they form by a blood clot breaking away and lodging in the tissue of the brain. Typically they go unnoticed because there are no detectable symptoms; howeve
Between 1 and 5% of all Americans may have unruptured brain aneurysms, while 15,000 Americans have a stroke every year from an aneurysm that ruptures. It has been found that women are twice as likely to have a brain aneurysm, while African Americans are twice as likely as Caucasians to experience one. This is still an experimental yet promising treatment. Often a person may lose consciousness following this, and sometimes end up in a coma. Once diagnosed, there are 2 major treatments that are used to remedy the problem. However, if it turns out to be inconclusive, then a spinal tap will confirm or rule out the diagnosis. The first option is surgery, where a metal clip is placed across the base of the balloon like aneurysm. There are many that are still able to live happy, healthy, normal lives. r they may rupture in rare cases, causing what is known as a subarachnoid hemorrhage. Brain aneurysms often go unnoticed because there may be no symptoms until they suddenly become enlarged and burst. This is very much like a special x-ray that shows many kinds of tissues with great clarity. You are twice as likely to experience a brain aneurysm as an average person if they run in your family history. Often the aneurysms occur in blood vessels that have been weakened by a condition known as arteriosclerosis, which is a thickening of the arteries or sometimes by high blood pressure. One third of people who experience subarachnoid hemorrhages die during the hemorrhage due to extensive brain damage.
Common topics in this essay:
African Americans,
I'd July,
brain aneurysm,
brain aneurysms,
subarachnoid hemorrhage,
lose consciousness,
blood vessels,
patients die,
normal lives,
brain damage,
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