7 month Post Viral Meningitis - new phaze? Please help!

[DavidRask]

Hi!

I was diagnosed with viral meningitis in connection with Covid19 infection in March / April. Just over a month ago I entered a new phaze which I do not really understand..

Month 1: I was bedridden.

Month 2-5: Classical VM symptoms such as headache, vision/eye-problems. Pain in the eyes, sensitive for impressions. Tough to look at patterns and color combinations. Difficulty reading, concentrating and looking at screens.

At the same time, it got better and better and towards the end of the summer I could play some tennis again, read for longer periods and train on an exercise bike every day.

Month 6-7: In the middle of september I started to feel worse. Headaches and vision problems had improved, but instead I suffered from severe fatigue and brain fatigue. During the summer, despite my problems, I had had really good energy. Now the energy is blown away, and I get fatigue attacks and literally get drained of energy. It's like the life energy just disappears. Also, I get cold sweats when I try to push myself physically? So now I can not train anymore.

At times, on the other hand, I am totally stressed. It feels like the body is overfilled with cortisol. The restlessness is extreme. It seems that the body can not find the right balance of energy. Either I'm totally exhausted, or I'm so stressed that I do not know where to go.

Is this new fatigue/exhausted-phaze normal to encounter when many of the other symptoms have disappeared?

I thought I was getting better =(

Thanks in advance! Hope someone has similar experience and can calm me down. My neurologist does not seem to understand anything.

Best regards

David

[Jonad724]

I had near fatal VM in 2002 and I think what has happened is that you have been doing too much too soon having started to feel better. Recovery from VM can take a long time and even though you feel like you can do more, if you haven't allowed enough rest time it will knock you back as you have discovered. It's great that you're exercising and getting fit again but please do slow down a bit.

With VM your body has taken a battering and since doctors are taught that VM is no more serious than flu it's not surprising they don't understand the long term after effects. I was told I was better after 3 weeks because 'that's how long it takes to recover from meningitis'. That I could barely walk, couldn't string a sentence together and couldn't work out which one of my children was which didn't seem to factor into the equation.

Please do come back to exercise slowly, little and often is a good mantra to work by, and this shouldn't happen again. I have done 3 half ironman races, 4 half marathons and several triathlons since having meningitis so I'm proof that it's possible.

I am now privileged to be a volunteer community ambassador for Meningitis Now and so if I can help further please just PM me and I will share my contact details with you.

Good luck, Jonathan