Can I ask anyone who have been diagnosed with aortic aneurysm did you have symptoms before the diagnosis
No symptoms even now 12 years later. It was 3.2 cm when found by chance and is now 3.7cm.
No symptoms at all. Developed an irregular pulse and an echo revealed a root aneurysm of 4.2. Bicuspid aortic valve was discovered later. I am now 67 and no symptoms apart from the worry now that I know it is there.
Thanks for letting me know Marlborough. I am sorry you have the worry though of knowing you have that thing there like a ticking time bomb. I had a heart echo done and they said it was fine . Good luck to you
Thanks Derek . 12 years and has there been no change at all
Good luck to you too joycemadine. Very best wishes.
My AAA grew to 8 cm before I got a new family doctor to check out my annoying coughing, difficulty swallowing food and strange feelings of throat obstructions plus what felt like chronic laryngitis every time I tried to have "a non-stressful"discussion with my family and friends... I had a sacular aneurysm with both left and right subclavian arteries sitting atop this aneurysm. I had surgery forty years ago for my coarctation of the aorta ...also not discovered till I was 18yrs of age...had the surgery on my 19th birthday in 1974. There was a complicating anomaly at the time, an aberrant R. Subclavian artery which was very close to my coarctation. In those days the tests were via angiograms...and the surgical options had to be decided once they opened me up. Forty yrs later we have all these imaging tests at our fingertips etc and more knowledgable specialists in the field to all collectively decide what our best options are...
It's sooo important as to how you follow up AFTER SURGERY...AND EQUALLY important to learn what to expect beforehand...IF of course it's scheduled surgery versus emergency ....
Cardiac rehab encompasses all the disciplines ...YOU AND YOUR FAMILY most important ....continuation is VIP...and staying connected to help others and yourself...locally and distant connections like this forum...to see that we're not alone in all this...and to appreciate all the numerous variances of aortic disorders!!!
Further testings were done to rule out Connective Tissue Disorders as can happen, though I didn't have Marfans Syndrome.
I had a two phase surgery ...because I didn't have life threatening symptoms, the team opted to wait for a custom low profile stent from Denmark for my situation...that was the TEVAR surgery...the open surgery I had both the cardiac thoracic specialist and the vascular specialist etc working on reattaching my subclavian arteries from the left and right arms to my carotids left and right at neck level... 'Twas eleven hours...
My first surgery I went home in 21 days. This latest surgery, I was discharged the third day! Probably too soon, cause I had delirium from a fever the first night home...once I realized why I felt completely helpless in my emotions ...to the point of feeling suicidal, I realized I was buried under my bed covers...too warm!! I drank liquids and ate Popsicles !! Cool cloths...calmed down Also the beta blocker proved to be too much for my system...I had headaches and vertigo and cross eyed visions...
My blood pressure is low enough without the meds and I was told that with the stent, that my left and right arms would always have different readings...the right is higher than the left, FOR ME... there is a difference of up to 30 between the arms, etc.. I'm keeping track...
Many variances could be attributed to other factors including a possible thyroid nodule(s) enlargement...
Keeping a diary of your BP and heart rate, nutrition & fluid intake ...triggers, how you feel, sleep ...exercise...etc for a few months...helps when explaining to your GP or specialists....Get copies of any reports/ tests/ CDs to keep track on your own!..keep your own records because the hospital destroyed mine from forty years ago !!! Good thing I kept my own because the present docs gladly made copies of those old reports!
Best of luck to us all!
Hi Joyce, Over a year and half period before: I had migraine, dizzy spells if I got up to quick, pins and needles across the shoulders blades, lethargic and worn out feeling.
Never visited doc’s on any regular basis through distrust with good reason: as all the times I did, it was dismissed as individual Items, always put down too much work, need more excursive, dietary.. even depression. Best care I had was emergency! And no surprise they told me shame they did not connect the dots.. As I all could have been prevented…Really… no poop there then!
After care is back to ignorance of support and knowledge within the system, found out more through support groups mainly in the US like the John Ritter foundation as most UK sites are moderated (Info removed) if it does not support the NHS view or sites! Welcome to restricted Briton Info on a need to know basis and apparently we don’t need to I know! LOL.
I had an MR scan in November for sonething else and asked how it looked. Hardly noticeable was the reply BUT it scares the s**t out of travel insurance companies who now don't want to know me.To them size does not matter. They ask the silly qurestions, has it bled? Has it been operated on?
Haaa you're too funny...about the travel insurance companies...or any kinda life insurance...
it's so true.... You're damned if you and damned if you don't!!....
One wanted £2K for a months cover in America!! I asked my usual company to exclude it from the policy and they did and carried on travelling.
When I told the girl doing my scan the next year she said that it would not cost them much as if it burst it would only cost them my transport to the mortuary:-)
There you go!....That's the Ugly Truth!!! They would make a bargoon off us !!!
I had to look up 'bargoon' There are some scenic and interesting places abroad where I would not mind being interred.
Ohhh.... Derek....
What places?? I'm curious?...Sorry to get off the topic here...but obviously you've thought about it...Tell us about yourself and how you got to this point in your life....
Believe me be...I was getting my affairs in order just before my surgery,
this 8cm aneurysm, unexpectedly put me on the high priority list...and though I was afraid to move, once they told me my situation...I was just as worried about going through with the surgery !!
My number one place would be the Nun's Corral in Madeira. It is at the foot of an extinct volcano where Pirates slaughtered the Nuns. There is a part of the side of it where slots have been cut (like in mortuaries) into the lava and the bodies put inside and sealed over. Nice and peaceful and not very many people will go there.
Another is a cemetery blanketing the clifftops between Bronte and Coogee outside Sydney. The white marble gravestones looking out to sea are dazzling in the sunlight. Or on the Cliffs at Shirley Heights looking down into English Harbour in Antigua.We have looked a lot of strange burial places in our travels. The Portuguese what I would call family greenhouses in some cemetery’s with coffins on the shelves inside. The families come and visit and have picnics there but I’ll just have a boring old cremation. My wife though being a Pisces would like to be buried at sea
Hi Joyce, my sister who had elective surgery for a 5.1 TAA about a year ago, now remembers having occasional difficulty swallowing food such as rice. She never thought anything of it and only discovered her aneurysm following a routine health check. Another sister and I have since been tested and confirmed to have aneurysms, hers at 4.1 and mine at 4.3 so both being monitored. I have had dry coughs a couple of times which scared me a bit but my December CT scan showed no change in size which was reassuring. I am due an ecocardiogram next week and will ask the consultant about the dry cough. Will keep you posted.
Thanks for your reply Mary Roze. sorry to hear you have found out you have aneurysms as well I had a heart echo done not so long ago and it cam back fie good luck to you and your sister
I was checked in the January 2011 and then it was 1cm. I was already experiencing Periferal Arterial Disease which is narrowing of the arteries - I was told smoking was the most likely cause. The only symptom I had was bad circulation in my legs. I took ill over a period of a week ultimately I collapsed. I was diagnosed with salmonella sepsis food poisoning with blood poisoning - this was late July 2011. After improving I told them about the ultra sound check for the aneurysm. I was eventually taken one morning and had another ultrasound - I saw the figure of 5.3 being scribbled on a piece of scrap paper. This was on a friday morning - on Monday I was visited by the surgical team - I collapsed in their presence. The aortic had ruptured, I was resussetated and taken to surgery-my family were told people in my condition post op do mot "usually survive". I had no warnings at all and was sitting in a wheelchair when I collapsed.
Oh that is so scary. . I hope you are doing ok now . Did you smoke at the time .Its a good job you were in the hospital at the time .
Sure was scary - I am a bit damaged - memory - mobility - speech - balance. but I am alive - the experts opinion was the the week of vomiting considerably exsasibated the problem as usually it takes years to get to an operable stage. I had given up smoking the year before but the damage to my vascular system PAD Periferal Arterial Disease - just like the advert with the gunge coming out of an "artery" - The nurse said without an intervention it takes about 4 minutes and there is no return to become terminal. I think probably the 26 units of blood helped with the sepsis (blood poisoning) as transfusion isn't a treatment for it. I try to live normally but at least I know passing in that way is painless and quick lol