Viral Meningitis long term effects of mood change?

[BethBrown0203]

Hi. My 21 year old son had a diagnosis from hospital of ‘probable viral meningitis’ 2 years ago. It has recently come to light that he’s been very low and flat for the same period of time. He’s also very lethargic and tired. He’s managed to do 2 years at Uni despite this but now it’s come to a head. I’m starting to think that the meningitis is responsible for affecting his mood and wondered whether anyone else has experienced this? We have seen a marked change in him, but hadn’t really thought until now that there might be a link as no one really gave any info at the time. The doctor has started him on SSRIs. Can these symptoms really be related to/caused by the meningitis? Thank you for any help and advice you can share.

[Amrita-A]

Hi.

It has been 5 months for me and I think anything is possible. The fatigue that follows is unlike anything I have ever felt, and I would imagine him going through university while experiencing the fatigue must be gruelling. Exhaustion looks like depression. He deserves a medal! I hope he feels better soon.

[Gnugoo]

I agree with Amrita-A that your son has done amazingly well, given the post viral fatigue he has likely had to manage. I hadn’t had Meningitis back when I was at university but did suffer depression and chronic fatigue. It was hard to be sociable in those circumstances, and that just made matters worse. I was, however, blessed with a few friends who demanded nothing more from me other than that I join them for walks. Getting out into the open air, a bit of gentle exercise and the occasional hug all went a really long way to countering my depression. If your son can’t motivate himself to take those steps, can you have a quiet word with friends or classmates that may be wondering how they can help? Or with someone at the university who might best know who to speak to?

He’s at a critical point in his studies, and it might even be worth taking a year out if things are really rough. I certainly wish I’d had the resources to do just that.

It may be that the right dose of SSRI will do the trick and get him through - but I’d definitely recommend combining those with CBT and fresh air and views of the far horizon.

[Starry]

Just a thought but vm is sometimes known to trigger Myalgic Encephalomyelitis or ME/CFS a physical condition with proven neurological and muscle cell driven fatigue in particular and often accompanied by depression. ME is very easily misdiagnosed as straight depression by busy generalist gps (and there are residual pockets of misperception as historically it was wrongly theorized to be psychological). If the fatigue has persisted that long it might be well worth pushing for a referral to your local cfs/me specialist service. If nothing else they require the referring doctor to run a thorough set of exclusionary tests to rule out other physical causes of fatigue which might be a good idea. actionforme.org.uk/what-is-...

Hope this is helpful Ive just been diagnosed after 16 months, and knowing why ive not recovered properly has helped me a great mentally, stopped me pushing when i shouldnt and means i can start to adapt my life.

[MIAH2000]

I’m only 18 and have been in recover for about 14 months now and have definitely felt a change in myself. The fatigue feels much like having glandular fever which I had previously however after the tiredness goes away the mood swings took over. I have started counselling due to being diagnosed with depression and PTSD aswell as being on anti-depressants. I believe meningitis can have an affect on every aspect of the body however my drs did not give me any of this information. I really recommend finding an appropriate counsellor, even if it’s only once, there is nothing to lose.

[Hexy]

Hello Beth, yes it does change personality, I had this 25years ago. Took me a long time to adjust, mood swings, depression, suicidal, as feelings over whelming confusion, mixed up sentences, people who treat you differently because they don't understand what you are talking about. Though to us it's normal. Apparently it's the brain's way of coping. Makes perfect sense to us, but not to anyone else. Your brain has to relearn. Some memories are lost forever, hence the confusion if a topic is discussed and the patient has no memory of this, or a different memory to other people. I felt very alone and isolated, have a who husband, who came up with flash card's and old photos and old memories to see what I remembered. Didn't always match. But he taught me to just laugh at my crazy brain. Took a while as it's very frustrating. I got there. I still have missed memories, so I've made new ones. Diary helps a lot too. Hope this was helpful.😊

[WNVYKW in reply to Hexy]

How do you handle the mood swings? 5 years post-VM for me but the mood swings seem bad. My family and others notice. I don’t see it coming many times. I feel so bad about it.