aneurysm

ming's comment on aneurysm made me inquisitive about this condition.
it can happen to anyone and i think it qualifies to be called a silent killer. how it can affect one in 15 people is scary. plus, it is more common in woman. shudder.
so what is it actually?

A brain aneurysm, also called a cerebral or intracranial aneurysm, is an abnormal bulging outward of one of the arteries in the brain. It is estimated that up to one in 15 people in the United States will develop a brain aneurysm during their lifetime.
Brain aneurysms are often discovered when they rupture, causing bleeding into the brain or the space closely surrounding the brain called the subarachnoid space, causing a subarachnoid hemorrhage. Subarachnoid hemorrhage from a ruptured brain aneurysm can lead to a hemorrhagic stroke, brain damage and death.

there are no strong signals to warn you before hand but of course there are symptoms.

Ruptured Cerebral Aneurysm Symptoms
Sometimes patients describing "the worst headache in my life" are actually experiencing one of the symptoms of brain aneurysms related to having a rupture. Other ruptured cerebral aneurysm symptoms include:
Nausea and vomiting
Stiff neck or neck pain
Blurred vision or double vision
Pain above and behind the eye
Dilated pupils
Sensitivity to light
Loss of sensation

Unruptured Cerebral Aneurysm Symptoms
Before an aneurysm ruptures, patients often experience no symptoms of brain aneurysms. In about 40 percent of cases, people with unruptured aneurysms will experience some or all of the following cerebral aneurysm symptoms:
Peripheral vision deficits
Thinking or processing problems
Speech complications
Perceptual problems
Sudden changes in behavior
Loss of balance and coordination
Decreased concentration
Short-term memory difficulty
Fatigue
Because the symptoms of brain aneurysms can also be associated with other medical conditions, diagnostic neuroradiology is regularly used to identify both ruptured and unruptured brain aneurysms.

the symptoms are so vague eh? i dun think it will ever get detected unless you go for a CT scan or when you faint. a normal person will not go for a CAT scan if he is not told by the doctor right? is a scan included in those annual body checks???

i am having a neck pain now...but could be due to the too much time spent in front of the computer. and hungry too. had two curry paus for dinner. sigh not enough to fill the stomach. go to sleep now to forget the hunger and rest the neck.

http://www.brainaneurysm.com/index.html this is where i get all the information above.