Symptoms,Causes,Treatment of an aneurysm and meaning

Emily Clarke, the famous British actress who plays Daenerys Targaryen on the blockbuster show, Game of Thrones, which is due to release its final season in April 2019, made revelations about her life and her battle with bad health in an essay titled A Battle for My Life published on Thursday, 21st of March, reported a leading daily.

The actress wrote about her struggle that she went through when she had to go through two surgeries of the brain that nearly took her life and also the recovery from them. The health issues started in 2011 after she had wrapped up the very first season of the show and it happened in the gym while she was working out with her trainer and felt a severe headache. The headache later turned into unconsciousness and was later diagnosed as a stroke, an aneurysm. What followed was a dreadful surgery of 3 hours on the actress's brain. In 2013, regular scans that Emily had with the hospital revealed that her second aneurysm had grown double in size and needed another surgery. The surgery was unsuccessful, and the recovery from it was extremely difficult. Chances of survival were very thin.

Here is everything you need to know about an aneurysm – the causes, treatment, symptoms and more.


According to the American Heart Association, an aneurysm occurs when the artery walls become weak, which causes them to balloon out, or widen abruptly. An aneurysm can occur anywhere, but the most common ones occur in the brain – cerebral aneurysm, a major artery in the heart – aortic aneurysm, leg behind the knee – popliteal artery aneurysm, intestine – mesenteric artery aneurysm, an artery in the spleen – splenic artery aneurysm.

Causes of aneurysm
The causes of an aneurysm are unknown but the common ones could be congenital – meaning a person is born with them, or an aortic injury that can cause the aneurysm. While a history of the disease in the family also puts you at risk of it, lifestyle diseases like high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and lifestyle choices like smoking may also have some link to the aneurysm and its causes.

Symptoms of aneurysm
An aneurysm can develop over the years and show no symptoms. It mostly only shows symptoms when it expands quickly or ruptures, and those symptoms may include:


Pain
Headaches
Dizziness
Nausea and vomits
Low blood pressure
Unconsciousness
Rapid Heart Rate
If any of these symptoms are seen, it could mean that the aneurysm has ruptured, or something serious has happened to the body. The patient should be taken to a hospital at the earliest.

Treatment of an aneurysm
A ruptured aneurysm calls for an emergency and needs to be looked at as soon as possible. No or delayed treatment of a ruptured aneurysm can be fatal. If you have been diagnosed with an unruptured aneurysm, you may need to keep a check on it with the help of regular scans and tests, so that the rupture can be prevented. Some aneurysm may even require surgery to prevent rupture, or even after the rupture.

How to reduce your risk?
There are some lifestyle changes that you can make and reduce your risk of an aneurysm, especially if you or your family has a history of aneurysm. Make sure you eat healthily, exercise regularly, keep your heart healthy by keeping blood pressure under control and bad cholesterol reduced. You should also quit smoking, and manage stress better with yoga and meditation to keep the risk at the minimum.