How well did you recover

spidercystman · New User Joined: 26 Aug 2008 Posts: 2

Hi, this might seem a little weird but about 5 months ago I had surgery to remove an arachnoid cyst out of the posterior fossa part of my brain. I'm writing this here because there aren't that many people who have had my type of surgery and i feel the people here might be able to relate to what I'm going through.

So heres the question. After surgery how long did it take to get back to normal with brain function? Is there anything special that you did to recouperate? Food, exercise, anything. People with arachnoid cyst basically have the same syptoms but they progress much slowly so they can be a little bit harder to diagnose because our timeline of symptoms start when we are youger and still dont know our bodies that well. Anyway I basically suffer from trouble with memory not so much memory loss but Learning difficulties, and basically not feeling completely like my old self in the way I think and analyse things.

Any replies will be so helpful even if you werent the one who had surgery. Thank you so much in advance.

brainman · Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 9:14 am Post subject: Re: How well did you recover

Hi spidercystman. I know that you are asking a general question about brain surgery and that is OK... we will try to help. However, it is impossible for me to answer outside of the cancer context. We who have brain cancer live in a state of anxiety(?) about the possibility of a recurrence. "Normal" will never be the same for any of us.

However, in a more general sense, I think you are talking about getting your memory back. That very much depends on the specific location of the damage. Once damaged, the brain can relearn certain things but it does take time. I suffer from right sided weakness and my surgery was almost 3 years ago. My right side is much better but still weaker than it used to be. I do all sorts of exercises to try to improve, but it is slow.

Your memory may never be as good as it once was. It does sound like you are a young person and that is in your favor. The brain can re-learn how to store information. It might take time. You could do some "memory exercises" to help it. I cannot remember the game, but I recently saw on TV an ad for a hand help game to help improve memory. You might what to google on that subject.

Good luck.
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1992 Astrocytoma grade 2, left motor strip
2005 Recurrence this time said to be an Oligodendroglioma grade 3, same location.
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spidercystman · New User Joined: 26 Aug 2008 Posts: 2

Thank you for your reply. It does sound odd me coming to this website but I have found many similaritis with arachnoid cyst patients and brain cancer patients. I also have to worry about reacurrance it really sucks.

I will have to look for some brain exercises to do. The reason why i ask about physical activity because I have read that it will stimilate neuron growth and my help grow new neurons. Much like you during the hard parts of my ordeal I found it hard to exercise and still do a little so I have not wanted to push myself unsure of whether it would help or hinder my recovery.

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