Virus and TBI

[Flosmum04]

hi all,

I’m just wondering if anyone else has experienced a worsening of symptoms when you have a virus? I’ve got a bit of a virus, don’t feel too unwell with it, but I’ve just had a scary episode of confusion and not knowing what is real. I’ve not had one like that since the early days after my injury, it frighten d me to be honest. I felt totally untethered and like I wasn’t really here. I wasn’t sure if i was real, a memory or stuck in a book I’ve read! Very weird. Has anyone else ever had this feeling? Xx

[paxo05]

Hi, I had a virus infection earlier in the year due to my diabetes. Felt OK as such but was told I kept wandering between different subjects and coming out with random stuff.

I was fatigued even more easily and put that down to the infection. I was tiatally unaware of other side effects until I was told well after the event.

I can only take others word for this as I was not aware at the time.

I feel any additional illness impacts symptoms of bi.

Hope you recover soon ,

Pax

[Flosmum04 in reply to paxo05]

Thanks for that.. feel less odd knowing it’s not just me!

[Beachlovingkiwi]

Yep. Head symptoms appear with any sickness I get - sometimes I realise I’m getting something because my head gets sore first 😬 my period also effects my symptoms - have had a few great cycles but just recently was over doing it at work so fatigued more than usual and then got my period and was in bed for a day with sore head 😥 I’m 4 & 5 years down my road too so defiantly better than the early days but still annoying and sometimes scary when they appear . Not feeling in control is something I have struggled with since the beginning of this journey and something I don’t think I’ll ever get used too. But you are totally not alone - I believe it is a thing once you have had a tbi😩 take care

[Flosmum04 in reply to Beachlovingkiwi]

Thanks for your kind words. Accepting things is really hard. It’s been the hardest thing for me too. Thanks for getting back to me . I feel less alone with everyone on here x

[Painting-girl]

Any virus knocks me out for a week, instead of a couple of days now. Then I caught Covid in July, and it's been like losing a couple of years of recovery from the MTBI - fatigue is quite bad. I'm up to ten weeks post infection now I think and starting to see improvements. Mind is sharper this week. Fatigue now not quite so pronounced. Memory / attention still really not great. No stamina for walking ( my basic distance to walk has halved) but that could be deconditioning. Definitely more headaches ( nothing like as bad as originally though)

I read that a constant low level of inflammation, like in brain injury, can make it harder for the immune system to fight off bugs - not sure how accurate that is?

[Flosmum04 in reply to Painting-girl]

Thank you. I hope you start to feeling more like yourself again soon x

[Gordo6500 in reply to Painting-girl]

Hi I've read that a virus will cause brain inflammation,I my self have been helped very much by high dose fish oil and CBD it's been 4 years now and I'm pretty much back to normal except for short term memory. Hope your feeling better soon.

[Leaf100]

Hi FlosMum

From what I understand anything that puts extra duties on things your brain does - like making the immune system work - makes it more tired. Typically we take longer to get over things than we did before and the symptoms might be worse than they might have been before.

So, even the automagic stuff like temperature regulation, adjusting to changing barometric pressure, fighting off a bug - all takes more and can increase symptoms.

Hope you feel better soon.

Leaf

[Flosmum04 in reply to Leaf100]

Thank you. It feels like when I’m ill some of my earlier TBI symptoms come back. The worse one by far has been this weird disconnected feeling. Thanks for your reply, it’s made me feel less on my own with it x

[Janner123]

Hello, I can only speak from a carers point of view but I was very interested to read all these comments as my husband who had a severe TBI just over a year ago and is still in rehab caught covid about 8 weeks ago. I was quite worried about him as we didn't know he had covid or even an infection until they tested him after quite a few days and he was positive but although he didn't get that ill he was very distressed and confused and one time when I visited he just kept shouting and I couldn't get any sense out of him which was not normal behaviour from him. I wondered if he was hallucinating or something really bad was about to happen in his brain. Anyway he recovered from the infection after about a week but it left him extremely exhausted and asleep most of the time. He has only just picked up about a week ago. Hope you feel better soon

[Flosmum04 in reply to Janner123]

Thanks for your reply. that sounds horrible for you and your husband, i hope hes feeling better now. x

[Gordo6500]

Hi been a while since Ive posted here, I had those symptoms with the flu when I first had my tbi . Please research high dose fish oil and CBD this combo helped to heal my brain ,it may help you also.

[Flosmum04 in reply to Gordo6500]

Thank you very much, i will definitley look in to that x