Recovering from Meningitis

[Lauran87]

Hello

I have just recently got home from Thailand after booking a dream, once in a lifetime holiday with my fiancé - which turned out to be quite the opposite!

I became ill on the flight over to Bangkok and ended up in hospital for 6 weeks over there.

I was diagnosed with Bacterial Meningitis pretty early on which I was treated for and recovered from.

The Meningitis part was all a bit of a blur - I can't remember anything from the flight and woke up from a coma 4 days later, utterly confused and bewildered.

Whilst still in hospital I suffered some major set backs which included Congestive Heart Failure, Liquid on the Lungs and Blood Clots on the Brain.

I was seen as fit to fly home after the clots were seen as stable and have been recovering at home since and am under the care of the NHS.

I just want to talk about my feelings really, as I feel I am about to burst! I have been putting on a brave face to family and friends but deep down I feel so upset and confused and angry. My memory has been effected and am very forgetful. I get mood swings and just don't feel myself. I want to cry and let it all out. I want to know if this is normal really, and if anyone has been through something similar?

Sorry for the ramble!

I hope to chat to someone soon!

Thanks for reading x

[Mads1975]

Hi Lauran,

I can fully empathise with your feelings of frustration, upset and anger - 8 years on and some of these feelings still rear up again for me.

I was in the Royal Sussex hospital in Brighton for 3 months followed by a further month in a neurological hospital in Haywards Heath. Then after being discharged as 'recovered' I was left to deal with the results of the new me.

Being able to talk about what has happened is an important way of helping to deal with your emotions. I saw a psychologist for a few years afterwards which I found useful in understanding the effects of the illness on me.

Headway meetings have been a big help to me too and I encourage you to search for a Headway group close to you. Which part of the country do you live? Hopefully you're not too far away.

Oh and my memory was appalling but has slowly improved. I write anything I need to remember into my iPhone calendar and set a reminder in order to avoid forgetting.

I ramble on now so I'll shut up and just say that feel free to chew my ear off any time you feel the need!

Take care,

Paul x

[stevie1961]

I felt the same way Laura but there is hope, It's a long and slow process, I'm post about 3 years, my personality changed (So i'm told), and my memory used to be very poor, It's not brilliant now but it is getting better. I use a diary a lot these days as it's my very short term memory that was affected. I forget what I was told 5 minutes ago but I can remember back to my childhood.

The meningitis trust were brilliant, My wife received counselling from them and it helped her come to terms with my change of personality and mood swings. They are very easy to talk to, please give them a ring for a chat.

Physically, I'm back to normal now but my concentration levels are still quite poor, but better than before.

Family and friends can only see your exterior and if you look fine, most will think you are fine, They cannot see the turmoil going on in your head.

You've come through the worse part of this dreadful disease, Many don't, so I count all us survivors as extremely lucky. Talk to your friends and family, don't bottle it up.

Wishing you a speedy recovery, Keep your pecker up and most importantly don't worry when you have a bad day, They get fewer

[Lauran87 in reply to stevie1961]

Thanks so much for your reply - it means a lot.

Before this all happened I was working for Virgin Atlantic, flying all over the world. I loved it. Thailand was something we planned together and on our own.

It was a pretty scary time but we got through it. I say we because my fiancé was there the whole time, my Mum, Dad, Stepdad, Brother and Best friend all came over and didn't have an I idea on what to expect.

The way we were treated in the Hospital in Bangkok was out of this world. I was looked after by a big chain of people. They wanted the quickest and best treatment for me and that really really showed.

I could not fault the Thai staff in this hospitals.

It's just being back in Brighton now and with the challenging NHS. I have a further MRI scan on Sunday and am hoping for positive results from that.

With your headaches do you find it is certain things bringing them on? I think I'm finding its when I do stuff, whether it's going to the shops of meeting a friend for coffee. OR when I get upset or anxious, or in a bad mood and start getting stressed I always feel that way.

I also am getting used to writing things down otherwise I would forget everyting! And then I still manage to forget.

On the other extreme though - I now have OCD! I can't have things lying around ANYWHERE. Anyone heard of this happened ? Xx