Signs and Symptoms
A small, unchanging aneurysm will produce little, if any, symptoms. Before a larger aneurysm ruptures, the individual may experience such symptoms as a sudden and unusually severe headache, nausea, vision impairment, vomiting, and loss of consciousness, or the individual may be asymptomatic, experiencing no symptoms at all.
If an aneurysm ruptures, it leaks blood into the space around the brain. This is called a “subarachnoid hemorrhage.” Depending on the amount of blood, it can produce:
- a sudden severe headache that can last from several hours to days
- nausea and vomiting
- drowsiness and/or coma
The ruptured aneurism (hemorrhage) may also damage the brain directly, usually from bleeding into the brain itself. This is called a “hemorrhagic stroke.” This can lead to:
- weakness or paralysis of an arm or leg
- trouble speaking or understanding language
- vision problems
- seizures
Read more about this topic: Cerebral Aneurysm
Famous quotes containing the words signs and, signs and/or symptoms:
“The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Deuteronomy 26:8.
“The whole visible universe is but a storehouse of images and signs to which the imagination will give a relative place and value; it is a sort of pasture which the imagination must digest and transform.”
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)
“For anyone addicted to reading commonplace books ... finding a good new one is much like enduring a familiar recurrence of malaria, with fever, fits of shaking, strange dreams. Unlike a truly paludismic ordeal, however, the symptoms felt while savoring a collection of one man’s pet quotations are voluptuously enjoyable ...”
—M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992)