More than a year after the rupture, Brothers is living independently, traveling and back to work full-time. But the health scare changed her perspective.
“Life is for the living,” she said. “It’s not for the constant grind.”
Beware a “thunderclap headache”
Most brain aneurysms don’t cause problems — in fact, up to 80% stay intact for a person’s entire lifetime, according to the BAF.
Unruptured aneurysms usually go unnoticed, Buckley said. But when they grow, they can press on nearby nerves and tissues, which can trigger symptoms like pain behind one eye, vision changes, facial numbness or weakness, headaches and trouble concentrating.
More often, though, these aneurysms are found by accident during brain scans for unrelated issues. Most of those patients just need routine monitoring to check for any new growth or changes.
“Risk factors for developing an aneurysm are being female, having high blood pressure, having high cholesterol, smoking cigarettes and having other family members who have had aneurysms,” Kellner said.
“In Julie’s case, she is a young woman who is very healthy, and her aneurysm probably occurred spontaneously,” he added.
Kellner said Brothers’ initial misdiagnosis isn’t an isolated event — but there are key indicators that could tip off doctors and patients alike.
“When you hear someone has had a sudden, severe headache, that’s a sign to go down the route of figuring out if it’s an aneurysm,” he said, noting that kind of pain is often referred to as a “thunderclap headache.”
If you’re sent home with no testing like Brothers was, don’t be afraid to push back.
“Even though the walk-in clinic agreed with me that it was a migraine, I knew something wasn’t right,” she said. “I think that gut instinct is there for a reason.”
