Aftermath of viral meningitis

[Nandhinii]

It's been two years but the nightmare doesn't seem to come to an end.

It all started with on and off fever.It went on for a month and then i was diagnosed with typhoid. After spending two days in hospital, i got home feeling fine.The very next day,i got chicken pox...it became worse in a matter of hours.My symptoms progressed in the next few days.I was vomiting profusely...everytime i tried to move from my bed,i felt like i was pulled back...i kept falling down everytime i tried to stand or walk...my mom rushed me to hospital when i was not able to breathe. I felt perfectly fine if i lie down without moving my head...the second i move my head,i started vomiting.Doctors were not able to zero in on what's happening with me.

I had severe vertigo,104 degrees fever and doctors found out that my right leg was paralysed... i wasn't able to move my right leg.Fever didn't reduce for more than 10 days.Finally, they said i have viral meningitis coz of chicken pox virus.Slowly, my right hand's function slowed down.I looked like i was shrinking.I was jus getting worse day by day.I didn't let it get to my head,the only thought in my head was to get better and get home to my pup who was waiting for me to get home.

I heard doc say,if there isn't any improvement i will fall into coma anytime....By that time,i was so numb to feel any pain...i refused to take sleeping pills and pain killers.I didn't care what docs said,i jus knew i will be fine.After like 2 weeks,my health showed some improvement.But still i was speech impaired and unable to walk.

Slowly,vertigo reduced and i was able to move my leg.After almost a month,i got homr from hospital. I thought it's all over and i will back to my oldself.But things got worse.The virus affected my certal nervous system and cerebellum. I had unbelievable pain all over my body...it felt like my nerves were fighting with each other to get out of my body. It hurt like hell.It took me more than 6 months to walk normally. I was out of breathe after taking 10 steps.The pain didn't seem to stop..i wanted to chop off my hands and legs...i was not able to sleep due to the pain.I started losing my hope,that's when i started taking pain killers.I took pain killers whenever i was not able to control my urge to chop off my hands and legs.I was dealing with pain on one side and imbalance on another side.I was not able to focus on anything...i was confused all the time...i was stammering...i was not able to process what people spoke...all the words entered my mind in slow motion...loud noises made me anxious.I didn't understand what was happening to me.

My family didn't try to understand,they jus made it worse.My friends didn't visit me coz they were scared of getting sick.I was all alone,i wanted someone to understand and help me through it but noone did.I was interchanging words while i spoke,my family thought i was trying to be cute. They didn't understand the struggle i was going through.

I explained everything to my doctor,he jus told me to be happy that I'm not in a coma.He didn't think i will ever walk but i did.I understood i can never be who i was...i jus have to accept and live with who i am. That disease completely turned my life upside down.I was dealing with all the changes all by myself.

My body pain didn't reduce even after a year...i checked with a neurologist and foud that the sheath covering my nerves are damaged.There is no treatment for it,i jus have to take pain killers for the pain.I was blanking out often,i was not able to do my work properly...my brain will go fuzzy if 2 or more people talk at the same time.I was not able to understand when someone spoke to me...i couldn't reply.I didn't wanna explain my condition to everyone, so i started isolating myself from everyone. I was embarrassed when i couldn't get the words out of mouth to reply to people...it took sometime to respond. It was tough...slowly i started getting used to it.

Now, i don't have the pain.I can breathe properly...i don't space out often...my focus is better...I'm able to walk normally.But still I can do only one thing at a time...I'll completely forget what I'm doing if I'm interrupted.I'm tired all the time,I've gained more than 15kgs.Most of the time i don't know what I'm doing, I'm still not able to respond when I'm in a group.I'm not able to drive.I'm moody for no reason,i forget stuff.I still stammer sometimes...i can't continue a conversation for long coz i can't find words to use.My vocabulary has become short.Even if something good happens to me,I'm not able to feel happy coz it takes me time to understand what happened. By the time,i understand the moment is over.

My memory is bad,my brain is functioning slower,my body is tired.As if i don't have enough to deal with,i started vomiting blood.I have hiatus hernia and it got worse.Few months back,i stopped feeling sorry for myself and started living my life again.I'm trying to make friends and focus on my job.

I will never give up...i will live my life and enjoy it as much as i can.

[Lippistix]

You poor thing, you have really suffered severely. I don't know if this may help at all but here goes.

Please give my 28 year old daughter's story a read on this site. Rosie S's Story. Here lies sugnificant success (from what we know so far), for complete recovery from VM.

She suffered for near on two years before discovering meningitis now, subsequently trying cranial massage by visiting an independant cranial osteopath in her area.

The symptoms you are experiencing are pretty much similar to what she suffered, all be it yours are far worse. It seems the key, and recent breakthrough, is releasing the spinal fluid which VM leaves a blockage for...and enabling it to flow again through your body, particularly your head.

There are some on this sight who have now given it a go after reading about it, and after just a couple of sessions, felt considerable relief.

I the last few weeks Rosie and I have been contacted by the media, news papers and radio to tell our story of this potential breakthrough!

We now feel we want to help as many poor people who have suffered this dreadful illness for which before now seemed there was no light at the end of the tunnel.

Good luck and please keep posed how you get on if you try this amazing treatment. Rosie coupled this with acupuncture, having alternate treatments once a week and has just completed her 10 sessions.

It seems you have added symptoms from what Rosie experienced, but this treatment may help you in some way. Xx

Reply Like (0)

[Nandhinii in reply to Lippistix]

Thanks a lot for your suggestion...I live in India,I've never heard of cranial massage.I will try to find if there is any clinic or hospital near my place.

[Lippistix in reply to Nandhinii]

Good luck..try and look up cranial osteopath

[DonnaGnz]

You are more than a survivor, your a warrior & I totally feel for you & am inspired my you too. Thank you for sharing, I needed your sharing right now.

This place, this group has been a lifeline in my darkness & deeply appreciate everyone's sharing.

May you continue to grow stronger & be able to cope more as each day goes by ❤️

[Nandhinii in reply to DonnaGnz]

I felt so alone all these days...i wasn't sure if i was jus going crazy or it's the side effects of VM...after joining this group,i feel stronger...I'm not alone in this,now i know there are people who can totally understand what I'm going through

[Mishqueen]

Wow, and I thought I had a hard time with mine. I got sick in January, and I'm just now seeing my old self start to come back. I got my VM through a vicious bout of influenza. I'm still not at 100% now in october, but I'm so grateful to be here and not back there. It's been such a hard road, and it sounds like yours has been even harder. But I'll tell you the things that have helped me the most:

1) Steroids. They have yukky side effects (like internal bleeding) but I never started any real improvement until I finally got on steroids. I was on them for a month, starting out at a high dose and tapering down quickly.

2) As was mentioned above, Cranial Osteopathy helped me tremendously! I would feel significantly better after each treatment, slowly increasing over time. My therapist even has this one position that I would call a "brain hug", because when she was holding my head that way, all the pain and crackling and pressure would all go away for that moment, feeling relaxed and painless as a regular brain should be. It was marvelous, even if only for a few minutes.

3) Cranial-Sacral Massage Therapy - it's a different therapy modality than Osteopathy, but frequently a good therapist is highly practiced in both. You want to ask a potential therapist what percentage of his or her practice is spent in Cranial Sacral and/or Cranial Osteopathy. You don't want to go to someone who is certified but doesn't do it that often. If you can find someone who specializes in both, all the better.

4) Sleep. I still sleep over 10 hours every day, and more if I can get it. Your brain has to run your body, fix damage, and try to grow new nerve endings all at the same time and it's hard, hard work. You can probably already tell when you've used your brain too much for the day, and at that point you really should stop and give it a rest. I'm a person who prefers to push far past my fatigue point, but I learned with my brain I just canNOT do that. Respect the signals it sends you.

5) Brain rehabilitation therapy. A lot of my cognition is back, but I'm still a little low on name recall, details, and have almost no creativity yet. It also helped a lot to use the online apps called Brain Yoga and Elevate. Also crossword puzzles and Sudoku. Even though I failed each game on a regular basis, it still helped to get my cognition back in order. I had big collossal fails in the games even as I started to remember names and calculate time again, etc etc. If you can find a good rehab therapist, I recommend going.

All this stuff is pricey. Maybe just because I'm in the US and everything is through the roof expensive. But it's so worth it to not lie there like a dead woman day in and day out, suffering. I feel for you! I love your positive attitude and yes, you need to make new friends. Many of your old friends will probably come back, but you can't wait that long to be loved. Your life has a New Normal, you just need to be patient and let it develop. Meet people who know from the beginning what your struggles are, so that you don't have to feel like measuring up to who you used to be. You are losing (or have lost) parts of your identity that love deeply, but you will find that you are developing other parts that will be just as valuable, if you can change your mindset to accept that. But don't stop fighting, don't stop being positive, and don't stop knowing you can and will get better. I'm proud of you! Check back in after trying some of these things, and let us know if they help. We'll be wondering until you do.

[Nandhinii in reply to Mishqueen]

Thank you so much for your recommendation...i was on steroids for a month,that did help a lot.I am trying to find a therapist,but no luck yet.

Before all this,i could sleep through an earthquake(i actually did that)...but now I'm not able to sleep for more than 4 hrs straight.Doc has put me on anti-depressants now,since i had a really bad headache for 3 weeks straight...it happens on and off...sometimes, everything is fine and sometimes I'm back to square one...it's unpredictable.

Still getting used to the new me...