My Husband might have a blood clot on his brain (we are so worried!!)

[mummyloveslucy]

Hi, My Husband has been to the ear specialist at the hospital today. He has a buzzing in one ear and is almost deaf in that ear. The Doctor wants him to have an urgent brain scan as he thinks it might be a blood clot. We are really worried. He has been told to avoid stress at all costs. (but we have a toddler!). What will they do if it's a blood clot? Does anyone have any words of advice or reasurence?. Should he still be at work? We are so worried and would really appreciate any responses.

no experience, but didn't want yoour thread to go unanswered. Difficult I know, but try not to worry.

I think he would be justified in a few days off work, but then keeping busy might stop him worrying. Depends on how stressful his job is though.

He does have quite a stressful job as he works with troubled young people. He is extreemly well respected at work and never goes off sick, so I don't think they'd mind. I don't think he understands how serious it could be as he says he feels fine. Thank you for answering, just needed somone to talk to.

Goodness how scary for you

Fingers crossed

How soon will they do the CT scan? Hopefully a within few days.

They would probably have admitted him if they felt it was serious. Hopefully they just want to rule it out. If they do find a blood clot there is plenty they can do to dissolve it before any damage is done.

If he develops any more symptoms (severe headache, numbness / loss of movement down one side / visual disturbances) he should go straight to A+E.

He could go to work if it would keep his mind off things, or stay off if he wants to rest. I don't think everyday stress will make much difference, just not to try and do too much, be too busy.

Good Luck.

scattyspice- Can they remove a blood clot without surgery? I hope they can. I hope it's a case of ruling out the most serious thing first, to be on the safe side. Thanks for the advice about headaches, he's been getting them for a while now so if he has another bad one we will go streight to A+E.

No idea. Should he be? he went on his own to the hospital, as I stayed home with our daughter so that he could have some peace. We both thought it would be some sort of ear infection. We weren't expecting anything serious at all.

They can administer 'clot busting' drugs (through a drip I think).

Thats good, better than surgery. Is it very serious? We realy have no idea. It sounds very serious but we don't have any medical experience.

I don't know MLL. I'm a physio on a stroke unit. A blood clot in the brain causes a stroke. The clot busting drugs can reduce the effects of the stroke, but we only see people who have already had a stroke. You're husband hasn't had a stroke so can't have a significant blood clot in his brain. I guess they want to see whether he had smaller clots which can be treated to avoid a big clot causing a stroke. If the symptoms are just in his ear it maybe that it's a blood vessel near his ear not his brain that they are investigating. I'mafraid I don't know enough about stroke prevention ang investigations to tell.

Do you know when the scan is? Has he seen a neurologist?

He's only just been to the hospital today. To see the ear specialist so hasn't recieved an appointment yet. I realy hope it is a blood vescle neer the ear and not the brain. He has been told that he needs a hearing aid in his bad ear. Even if he went deaf in that ear it would be much better than a stroke.

If they really suspected a stroke I'm sure they would have admitted him.

Good Luck

Thanks scattyspice.

I am really sorry but I do not have any experience of blood clots but 13 years ago I developed exactly the same symptoms as your husband - the sudden hearing loss and dizziness. At the time I was already seeing an ENT consultant for on going sinus and ear problems, I remember going to see the doctor as a matter of urgency who then managed to scare the hell out of me by talking about tumours etc. He thought I had got an acoustic neuroma which is a benign tumour this isn't as scary as it sounds I had a MRI scan within 2 weeks which ruled this out and the final diagnosis was sensorineural deafness the likely cause being menieres disease and frequent ear infections destroying the nerve but to be honest they were never really sure, I was just glad it wasn't a tumour. In my case the cause turned out to be relatively innocent. I still have total hearing loss and tinitus in my right ear but its something I have been able to live with.

nhsdirect have a good section on acoustic neuroma - tried to do the link but have given up after the 3rd attempt.

I'm not sure if this has helped but I guess what I'm trying to say is that in the end my outcome was positive. I really hope your husband gets his scan soon as I know how scary the wait can be. I really do wish him well and send you both my best wishes.

Thank you morgansauntie, it's good to hear of someone who's been in this situation and it's turned out fine. He dosn't have any dizziness or any other simptoms appart from the hearing loss and tinitus in that ear. I will go and look for that website now.
Thanks

Thats ok happy to help and share my experience I did mean to put tinitus at the begining not dizziness sometimes the buzzing can be a bit distracting, I have the dizziness as a result of the menieres disease. At one point I was offered a hearing aid but they then said because of my type of hearing loss it could make things worse so I never bothered with it.

As I said I hope you get things sorted out soon. I will be looking out for any updates, take care.