So its been 8 weeks since my surgery. I go back to work in June. Now more then ever im so tired...i sleep most of the day up all night...i go outside do my running around...I try to walk as much as i can etc.....
is it normal to feel this tired?? im worried about going back to work and feeling this way...also ugh i gained weight i feel so blah i hate the way i feel about myself...on top of it all im trying to move in to a new place and it seems like nothing is working out :(
Last August, I went back to work 6 weeks after I had my aneurysms clipped. I'm always exhausted at the beginning of a school year, but last year I was even more exhausted than usual. I couldn't do my usual beginning of the school year 10 hour days and spent the weekends sleeping. I had a lot of trouble focusing and kept forgetting things, so I wrote myself a LOT of notes. (It didn't help that they didn't get my computer hooked up until 2 weeks after school started.) I'm still not 100%, but I am doing great. I get my work done without staying too terribly late all of the time (just every now & then). Where I've had to cut back is my "fun" stuff. I just don't have the energy. I'm planning to work on that this summer. I have my 3rd Gamma Knife treatment the week after school gets out & hopefully I'll be done with all of my AVM & aneurysm treatments/procedures/surgeries. :)
From what I've read and through my own experience, it's completely normal to feel exhausted. I had a baby almost 4 months after my craniotomy so I was exhausted like all the time but here I am a year later....just as exhausted. Yesterday I went to Walmart and even though I used a mart cart I was still exhausted by the time we got home. It wasn't even that busy there...I really don't know why it tired me out so much. From what I've read on this site, it seems a lot of people still get tired out easily even years (sometimes years and years) after their surgeries, especially people who have had a stroke because of their AVMs. Idk about your weight gain I'd have to say that one of the few good things that happened because of the crani was having a seizure and being put on keppra which is the only thing I can connect to my unexplained loss of apetite.
It is absolutely "normal" to be as tired as you are. Remember you didn't have your appendix taken out, you have brain surgery! That's not a minor surgery. My doctor explained it to me this way (and for me it's a bit different because I had a bleed but..) part of your brain was damaged during the surgery, no question. You can't just cut in to a person's brain and not disturb something in there. So whatever part is damaged is not working correctly right now. Your brain has to work harder to do some things. It has to kind of detour around the damaged part and take an alternate route. Your brain is working harder to do things that required no effort before. No wonder you're exhausted! Is it possible to go back to work part time at first? Maybe half days for a while to ease yourself back in to it. You're still probably going to be exhausted for the first few weeks back but that might help. As far as the weight gain..I gained 30lbs in about 6 months because of an anti-anxiety med I was taking. Talk to your doctor about any meds you're taking and see if weight gain is a side effect. It could just be that you're not as active (with good reason) as you were while you're recoverying and once you are able to get back to a more active lifestyle that will help with the weight. Just go easy on yourself! You're still recovering. Do what you can do and don't try to push yourself too hard. Best of luck returning to work! I'm cheering for you!
I started treatment for my AVM over 5 yrs ago and Im still always tired! Not sure if its mostly because Im on seizure meds for just becuase I have had so much brain surgeries. Im still being treated. good luck and I hope you can shake your tiredness!!!!
Nay. I wish you the best with your job. I was also tired after my embolisation but it gradually got better. I’m at my one-year mark and I feel like I am 95 percent back to normal, although some will say I really wasn’t that normal to begin with. Ha ha
Thanks everyone...it just sucks bc everytime i mention to someone "im tired" they look at me like im crazy and say " y r u tired u been home all this time sleeping in or u look great y r u tired? sometimes i just want to cry bc while i may look good im so tired and im even more tired that people believe that i shouldnt be. I start second guessing everything like should i really be tired? or am i being lazy? I get so upset....
i know my weigh gain has to do with me not being so active...and staying in.
My apartment search continues...
Thanks Trish it makes sense about the brain detour!!
A freind shared this with me. I hope it helps!
Thanks Melissa, I can relate. Although i am avm free now, recovery is also hard. Having an avm has totally changed my life..dealing with things i never thought i would have to. My mom crys everything she sees the incision on my head :/