I don’t think you had anything to do with the aneurysm. You can give yourself hemorrhoids by straining, but an aneurysm requires bad luck.

You definitely didn't do anything to cause the aneurysm. The things you listed in your post are things that are risk factors and not necessarily causes of an aneurysm. It could be that your genetics predisposed you to it, could also be bad luck as Scott said. The likelihood is very high that you will never know.

I have a brain aneurism as well. I was diagnosed randomly- was having headaches and had an MRI and caught it - but it wasn’t causing my headaches oddly enough. It is just something that happens and a lot of people have them but they never find them unless they have an MRI or CT scan like in my case.

I just had surgery last week to treat it and am doing very well. They have a lot of good treatments now. Have you met with a neurosurgeon to decide how you are moving forward to treat it or if you’re going to wait and watch?

Hi Bubba,

How big was yours, where was it and how did they treat it?  Did it grow or did it start out big (when you found it)?  

I really know nothing about aneurysms and I'm a little scared to read about it.  It's too new and I'm too emotional right now.

Just had an MRA on Thursday and I'm waiting to hear from the neurosurgeon.  

Mine was 5mm- located in the left quadrant, not really near the eyes or anything that would be affected with surgery. You can have it treated a variety of ways- mine they mapped out my vein through an artery in my leg ahead of time- a procedure in April. This is to make sure they have a map of the arteries in the brain and they know where they are going. They used a web/mesh device to basically block up the aneurism so it will stop blood from flowing into that area. I’m on blood thinners for the next two months but i won’t have to be on them forever, like if i had other types of procedures (like coiling or clipping of the Aneurysm.)

I think they try and avoid opening up your skull. Coiling is the next most common I believe and they go thru the groin and put a bunch of metal coils basically to block off the Aneurysm. It take longer bc the doc has to put individual metal coils in and they might have to check in a few years to go back and make sure the coils are “enough” to block it off.

I guess id try and wait to see what your doc says on the size and location and if they suggest surgery. I’d ask how how quickly the aneurysm will grow (mine wasn’t expected to grow) and what the rupture rate is (although mine was less than 1% I do have other health issues and I didn’t want to wait until I aged and wasn’t able to have this easier surgery- I didn’t want to wait and have to have the more aggressive craniotomy in 10 years or risk a stroke, so I chose to have the elective surgery now with minimal risk.).

I only need one more angiogram where to go in the groin in 6 months to check the placement of the web /mesh device to make sure it’s clotting okay and that’s it. I’ll get a MRA scan in 10 years and if everything is going okay, I’m good to go!

Again, I’d try and read up as much as possible. The aneurysm foundation has a lot of good information but don’t overwhelm yourself with too much until your meeting with your doc. Ask a lot of questions and consider audio taping the session/appt where he explained everything- I did that and I was surprised when I played played it back the things I missed. I hope this helps and feel free to message me if you have any questions or want to chat more. Hang in there!