Have you faced something simillar?

[PuzzleheadedBowl510]

I've been having cognitive difficulties for 3 months now.

What exactly is a problem:

Causes

Shortly before this situation started, I was sick with something like a cold with a fever of 39 degrees and severe pain in my eye muscles, I couldn't even move them. I almost recovered within a week, but the eye pain lasted about a month. Apart from the cold I can't remember anything that could have had any effect. I don't drink, smoke or use anything other than the prescribed medication.

At the beginning of visual problems in the ears were strange sensations like twitching and a feeling of fullness that remain to this day, perfectly coincide in time of appearance with other symptoms and as I think there is a connection between them.

Common symptoms

Still have mild eye pain, itchy eyes, feeling of fullness and twitching in the ears, burning on the surface of the head, dizziness when moving or turning the head. Other group of symptoms is itchy testicles and urethra and mild pain in kidney area.

Vision

Difficulty walking fast, I can't see and process everything and it makes me dizzy. I can't look for objects in my apartment because I "can't see", it is difficult to scan and sort out what I see with my eyes.

Double vision, difficulty in recognizing objects, that is, I see several things lying in a pile and have to distinguish for a long time what of them is what, looks like a hard to distinguish mess. As soon as I distinguish one object, other objects or edges of the same object fall out of the zone of mental/visual grasp.

Moving objects leave a trail. Same thing when turning my head, everything is blurred and moves slowly.

The same situation when reading, it is extremely difficult to keep pairs or even single words in focus, it turns out to read only by "scanning". Thus I can read one or two pages and that's the end of my strength, it is almost impossible to read further. Due to insufficient speed and volume of vision, processing can be dizzying when turning or moving.

Executive dysfunction

It is very difficult to write, to choose words both in writing and in speech. It is extremely difficult to stick to one topic of conversation and especially difficult to develop it. There is just an emptiness and a feeling of lost thought. Too often and unexpectedly.

At any activity I constantly forget what I was doing and go to do something else, I realize that I was not busy with it and the previous thing is more important, I remember with great difficulty and just as unsteadily do it with slipping to other things. Especially it concerns complex chains of actions like assignments from the university or for example writing this text, it really requires a considerable investment of strength and self-control, much more than it is usually required.

Poorly oriented on the quatira, poorly remember what to put where and what is where.

Memory

I remember general things, where I live, what is my name, where are the nearest stores and educational institution, but details and names I remember extremely long, with difficulty and obvious understanding and feeling that goes not as it should or usually went.

Difficulties in communication

It is much more difficult to choose words, especially in formal settings where you can not explain familiarly or figuratively in two words followed by "well, you get the point". Just do not remember the right word or combination of words, intentionally. You have to work hard and look for options, which is usually obtained with a noticeable delay and labor. Few people like it, especially if the "slowing down" person is you. Even rarely get to take into account the position, financial status and gender of the person, often began to catch myself thinking that already expressed the moment should have kept silent and in general not to start a conversation even close to this topic. But all this is understood with hindsight. The understanding of what is worth saying and what is not, as it seems to me, correlates with the difficulties of performing multidimensional tasks, which I indicated at the very beginning.

With general talkativeness and wordiness I don't really want to talk to people other than my closest relatives, and not always even with them, because the selection of words really takes effort and doesn't always succeed, they are easily replaced by words similar in meaning that I still remember, but with unfamiliar people it's hard to switch to "well, like" "you know" "this is the thing".

Had several medical tests and scans including MRI, lumbar puncture and serum blood autoimmune panel. All negative.

[Gandalf2]

Hi PB, I'm sorry to hear you are so unwell. If tests all come up negative it's possible your problem is an autoimmune one, where the body's immune system attacks itself. I'm not a medic and you give few details of your age or location. In the UK the NHS should refer you to rehab and support through your GP and a social worker. If it is Enc.the you should largely recover with meds, rest and exercise I'm in my 4th year and have improved beyond all expectations. My other posts may help. G2

[Paula-38]

Hi PuzzleheadBowl510,I'm so sorry to hear that you have been through all those tests and you're getting nowhere.

I have had a slower processing speed and disinhibition which has affected my social skillsI think for most of my life. I had encephalitis the day after my first birthday.

Here are some coping strategies for you.

It's words/phrases I have never heard of rather than if I remember them . I remember them if they are used regularly but some words or phrases are not always used in daily life, that's my opinion.

I give myself extra thinking/reading time before I say, write or type whatever.

Otherwise it might come out back to front or it sometimes doesn't make sense.

Hmm? I think it seems to only affect me verbally.

I've always been good at communicating in writing /typing but it's still only early days for you yet.

I suppose had an advantage on this note because I went to school after I had encephalitis so it's like when you first learn to read or write, well that's how it was for me. I learnt about computers at secondary school so there's another advantage but I was not taught social skills. I'm learning to stick to the topic of conversation so to speak, I think if I'm anxious my concentration can go a bit off track so to speak, but if I'm calmer it works well with me.

However what we all know is that everyone is different and so are our encephalitis journeys.

If I'm calmer I can switch between tasks a lot better now than I used to be able to, presumably it's about the same subject such as cooking a meal. It's one topic with several different tasks to do and keep an eye on, but if the subject was changed to something nothing to do with food or cooking say like the weather or something on the news etc.

I might get distracted but I wouldn't forget though.

I would have to be extremely stressed out before I would forget stuff like that and nobody wants too much stress.

The only thing I can't follow a plot on television but if I were to read a book about the same topic I would remember it better. I recognise people's voices if it's someone I haven't seen in a long time better than faces. I often draft say an email or letter first so I can rephrase or reword something I don't think of quick enough the first time, but like it will come back after I've seen what I typed/wrote in that instance so I then take a break and come back to it when I'm ready or when I've got more time

I am the go Encephalitis International volunteer if anyone forgets anything I just remind them what has just been spoken, if they were talking slow enough, and if not I would just ask them to "please slow down" plus I can now manage to talk to a group of people at once about one subject/topic, I couldn't do that once.

However if I'm in a group of people and there are say 3 or 4 topics to follow, well then I get more anxious trying to keep up with them all but there again nobody is perfect. I only wish I was there to remind you to do daily tasks, what you've done or haven't done, etc. Having a disinhibition book is very helpful I created it myself so I can look back on my mistakes and how much progress I have made, and I add new phrases/words I learn along the way to my book.

I did this with my dad, he mentioned the things that I'd said that were socially inappropriate, and what I should have done/known about and I wrote them down. I think it also takes practice being in social situations too.

I hope this helps you a little bit.

Paula-38