Extreme Nausea - Full Feeling

[Jergen22345]

Hi all, my spouse is four weeks into VM and still suffers from nausea and a feeling of fullness .Any suggestions into foodstuffs that are more palatable to VM suffers? Ideas into getting her to eat a healthy diet would be most appreciated. I know that this is one of the keys to recovery. New topic so I started a new thread. Is this correct or should I have kept to the original. Thanks again. The support I have received through this forum has been invaluable. Jergen.

[Caroline58]

Hi Jergen,

Yes quite normal to feel nausea.I was nauseous for almost four months and still if I get overtired have headaches and nausea although very infrequently now.

I had to take anti emetic medication and it really was hard to eat well as I felt off many foods.Please reassure her that this is part of the illness.

I found everyone here very supportive as well as the meningitis now helpline.

All the best to her but it will take a long time to feel better from my experience.

[Mdroney in reply to Caroline58]

Hi Jergen, I found the Meditteranean diet to be very beneficial with my stomach issues . Morning banana & Berry smoothies to include kale & Bone broth protein power are excellent. Super for the digestive system! The health benefits are amazing . Good luck!! 🙏

[Jergen22345 in reply to Mdroney]

Mdroney, will try this today. Sounds great. Thank you very much for your reply. Jergen

[Jergen22345 in reply to Caroline58]

Thanks Caroline, we are about a month into this ordeal, and as you know a very difficult thing to deal with. I keep telling her patience is the key, and eventually we will see resolution. Again, many thanks to you and all who have taken the time to reply to my many queries. Jergen.

[Jergen22345 in reply to Caroline58]

Caroline, quick question: do you have a spinning sensation in your head. This plus fatigue seems to be her most pressing symptoms now. Also depression is starting to set in. Can anybody relate to these symptoms? Thanks Jergen

[Caroline58 in reply to Jergen22345]

Hi Jergen,

I was dizzy and felt imbalance when I walked,especially outdoors in large areas.Such a weird sensation that I had to hold onto someone.

I suffered bouts of anxiety and a mild depression and was very tearful.Have never felt so low mooded in my life so now looking back it was all part of the side effects.

It was demoralising to feel ill for so long and I felt I would never have a day where I woke up and felt good again.

But now 5 months on I only occasionally get a headache usually if I am tired.The hardest is to accept this illness takes huge time to recover from.

I have only just started to work a little and now feel motivated to enjoy my days again .

Be patient and reassuring.I felt like a failure and a fraud but now feel well again.

She will get better......time,rest,don't overdo it! I spent so much time pottering,resting,doing a little and resting again.I had to learn to slow down.Yes ....felt so low....but if she paces herself and learns her limits it will be easier.

I felt so frustrated.

All the best

Caroline

[Jergen22345 in reply to Caroline58]

Caroline, good advice. this is starting to take a mental toll, but no more fever, and headache is gone when she rests. Everyday I do reassure her that with time and patience she will get better and return to a normal life. Thank you for your response, greatly appreciated. Jergen

[Lheisel13]

Hi Jergen,

I am six months out from my VM diagnosis and still suffer headaches. I found that the Whole30 program worked great to get my body feeling better. You can find it online. Basically it eliminates all sugar, gluten, artificial ingredients, and dairy and you eat only real food. Worth a try, I think.

[Jergen22345 in reply to Lheisel13]

Lheisel13, yep, will look that up and incorporate the program into our meal regimen. If you don't mind, may I ask other than the headaches, do you have any other lingering symptoms from the VM: ex: short term memory loss, confusion, fatigue, etc. Sounds like you are doing well, thank goodness. Many, many thanks for your response. Jergen.

[Lheisel13 in reply to Jergen22345]

Hi,

The worst side effect I still have is the headache, along with pain in my neck. The first few months I was fatigued and wasn't really able to concentrate well. I used to be able to multi-task easily, and now it isn't as easy but is getting better.

The key is to realize that you have to slow down, something I am not very good at. I was originally planning to go back to work 3 weeks after my diagnosis. Needless to say, that didn't work out! I was fortunate to be able to take 3 months off work (I'm a principal in a school and I missed the last two months of school!) and go back part time the fourth one. When school started in September, I went back full time, and weathered the headaches and fatigue. Now, as long as I rest my eyes and brain on the weekends, I'm better during the week. By Thursday I am feeling it, but I can make it through the week.

Please tell your wife that it does get better! My husband was the most supportive person I could have asked for, so I can only hope that you can do the same for your wife.

Good luck! Here's hoping things go well...

Lisa

[Jergen22345 in reply to Lheisel13]

Hi Lisa, thank you for the info. May I ask if your headache is any better than it was at the onset? My wife has no neck pain thankfully, but very bad relentless headache. Hoping this starts to improve soon. Still no idea how she contracted this. Really doesn't matter at this point. Thanks again, Jergen

[Lheisel13 in reply to Jergen22345]

Hi Jergen,

My headaches were awful for at least 2 months. They were, by far, the worst headaches I had ever had. They got better as time went on .

We have no idea how I got it either. Have to say, that drove us crazy!

Hope your wife starts feeling better soon. Don't let her overdo it once she does, though!

Lisa

[Jergen22345 in reply to Lheisel13]

HI Lisa, once again thanks for taking the time to respond. We see the dr. tomorrow, and I have some questions regarding constipation, and difficulty urinating. Don't know if others have experienced these problems, but my wife is now dealing with them. One thing after another it seems. Wishing you all the best, Jergen

[Lheisel13 in reply to Jergen22345]

Hi again Jergen ,

Wow, your wife's issues sound like mine. I was unable to urinate from before I was admitted to the hospital and had to be catheterized for over a week . My husband read how this could be due to the brain inflammation but no one could corroborate that. I saw a great urologist who helped but it's still not back to the way it was. I also had constipation issues, mostly due to the headaches being worse when I tried.

Can I ask where you're living? We are in New Jersey in the US.

Lisa

[Jergen22345 in reply to Lheisel13]

Sure, we are in California, Los Angeles area. Yes, your two cases sound very similar. I pray that at the end of the day you are both back to your normal selves living a happy, productive life. You have no idea how uplifting it is to speak with folks like yourself who take the time to share their experiences with others who are just beginning the journey. Without you, many people, like myself, would feel so alone and overwhelmed with this catastrophe. All the best, Jergen

[Lheisel13 in reply to Jergen22345]

There is so little information out there so this website has been terrific for us too.

Let me know how your wife's appointment goes.

Lisa

[Jergen22345 in reply to Lheisel13]

Yes, absolutely, will do

[Jergen22345 in reply to Jergen22345]

Hi all, wife's headaches subsided and temp is normal, however the extreme fatigue and dizziness, inability to pee and constipation prompted me to take her back to the ER. Doctor admitted her to the hospital and ordered more tests: blood work, MRI, and another lumbar puncture. Am waiting the results of the above. Will keep you informed.

Warm regards

Jergen

[abracad]

Hi

Eating healthily will obviously give the body the best support in healing. But I think you should be guided by what your partner feels they are able to eat at this point in time and then gradually add foods. I am still recovering from Viral Meningitis since June. Prior to being ill I ate a healthy diet and had a very good appetite. Since being ill, there are so many things that I just can't eat. For example I had a banana everyday as a mid morning snack but now I have to force myself to eat one, having to make it into a smoothie or with a little maple syrup. My appetite is a lot smaller than it was, I am much slower eating & I eat to a schedule because I don't actually get hungry. I need to eat regularly as I have very little strength and my body has a lot of work to do fixing itself! If I have overdone things, I can only manage to eat toast. But eating toast is better than not eating at all. When I am asked by Dr's etc if I am eating healthily, my answer is 'I am trying to'. Yes, I still have the lingering symptoms as you state above. I am still getting better though, just extremely slow.

[Jergen22345 in reply to abracad]

HI Abra many thanks for your reply. Yes eating is definitely tough. Glad to hear your appetite is improving. This thing just came out of the blue, and has left us totally clueless. To go from perfectly healthy to this is utterly amazing. We fight every day to speed her recovery, and I am sure we will eventually get there. As you say, slow progress however. All the best Jergen

[Chicagogirl in reply to Jergen22345]

Hello Jergen

I had severe loss of appetite (West Nile Viral meningoencephalitis Sept. 2016) and dropped 15 pounds in a week. I think this was the hardest symptom to deal with. Knowing you have to eat to survive and not being able to do it. My husband tried so hard to help but it was a miserable time. He asked a nutritionist what would work and she said " WHATEVER she will eat." Its ALL about calories at that point. He had been trying to get me to eat more protein and healthy stuff for healing. Didn't help and didn't work.

So...here are two things that worked for me and kept me going. After trying unsuccessfully to eat all my former favorite foods, I started eating cottage cheese with potato chips and drinking lots of lemonade. Not sure why, but I was able to eat this and it has protein and calories . I have not been a potato chip eater since I was a kid. I think the salt and crunch helped. I also used a kid's trick. I couldnt bear the Ensure the hospital tried to give me, but I could get down a smaller version called Mighty Shake. I would plug my nose and chug the whole thing then drink some water. Also worked with kifir . No way I could.just drink it, had to hold my nose. Killed the smell and taste which made me nauseous . I am 2 months out and I have most of my appetite back and have gained 5 lbs. Im still having CC and potato chips and have not tired of the taste. Hope this helps some.😊

[euagelia]

Hi Jergen,hang in there. I hope your wife gets better day by day.

My baby girl had vm at her 50days and was hospitalized until she was 4months old. After returning home she was vomiting a lot (sometimes with blood),she was literally sceaming every time she swallowed even 10ml of her milk and eventually she was refusing her bottle and started loosing weight. A child gastrenterologist suggested we tried giving her the Losec Mups (a pill for serious acid reflux) in baby's dosage. so we did. It needed about 20 days and my baby started drinking more and more milk without pain and screams. I do not know if my daughter's gastroesophagus system was damaged from vm or the strong and longterm use of antibiotics (that of course were needed to save her life) but the thing is that she was helped a lot by this simple medicine. Vomiting has stopped and she now started gaining weight and actually wanting to eat and drink her milk.

All cases are different but i thought i should share this with you,perhaps you could ask your doctor as well.

Hope your wife gets stronger and overcome these. Remember: she is alive. you both together can fight now for her to become better. This is wha. i was telling my self to have strength when my baby was going'though this hard time.

[Jergen22345 in reply to euagelia]

Hi Euagelia, so sorry to hear about your child's illness. We see doctor today and I will ask him about the med you suggested. She is eating a little more, so at the moment constipation and difficulty urinating are pressing issues. Hopefully we can get them resolved today. Can't thank you enough for taking the time to respond. Jergen

[maineknitter]

Hi Jergen,

I agree with the others that say to eat what is tasty and that she does keep down.

Something that is recommended for children who have been ill ,is the BRAT diet. Bananas, rice, applesauce and the toast. They are soft, easy foods for both directions should they have to come back out. Also, carbs are easy for the body to digest as compared with protein.

If your doctor has prescribed anti nausea meds, fill the script and use at the first sign of nausea and then as directed after that. If her doc has yet to do that, ginger and peppermint are natural antinausea things.

Water, juice and tea are good fluids,as long as they are clear. Like not orange juice because it's not so great coming back up.

Also, they make lollipops for women who are pregnant. I'm not sure if there's a medicine in them, but sucking on hard candy or lollipops can also help reduce nausea.

Learning how to meditate and do deep belly breathing can help in a few ways. One it reduces the panic that can happen when you are about to be sick and waiting for things to happen. Two it's a great distraction from the body and reduces the activity of the heart and lungs inducing relaxation and that can help with waiting for the sensation to pass when you do not get sick. Three it is free and we always have the tools with us. Four it is able to relax the belly as well.

Also think about foods you've wanted when your sick with the flu. Chicken soup is good when able to do protein, broths, vegetable soup, jello type things.

Not dairy, nasty on the reverse journey, not highly caffeinated things, not salty or fried foods. They are harder to digest.

I'm not going to say it gets better bc it will only get so much more better. The brain and the body have been assaulted by a germ that causes a lot of pain and can depending on type cause death. The things that happened happened, it is what it is, now, rather than focusing on returning to presickness level of abilities,accepting that this is how things are now and grieving for what has been lost are going to be ongoing topics of life.

I had been told that the brain heals very slowly. The first six months are when most of the healing process is going to happen. After that it fades off until the end of the second year post sickness being about what it is going to be like for the rest of her life. At first I was happy to have a end point for feeling crappy. Then the first half year passed and things were better but not where I was before getting sick. I held out hope that things were happening deeply and slowly. But there was not really any improvement by the end of the second year. I was depressed that my life was not going to be better than it was. Suicide was a common thought even though I didn't share with others. Then my training from work with folks in crisis started to kick in. I remembered that things happen, folks choose what to do, and then life moves on the next thing. In that choice moment, your either going to react or respond. Reacting is letting instincts go and usually end up with a bigger mess. Responding is when one says that yeah this crap thing happened but I am not going to be angry about it. Or whatever emotion. So yeah I got sick, I can either be a victim or I can choose to thrive.

Rehab is a way of living to thrive. It helps to understand what happened and how to adjust to the changes and changing things from the sickness.

So I'm not all happiness and light that it will get better. I am though completely assured that you will both get through this, just not in a particular way.