Feeling tired

[Christo72]

Hi all, any feedback would be great. I was diagnosed with VM in 2018, (age 45), was in hospital for a 3 weeks, took me a long while to get back to normal but 3to4 years later i still get tired and just not functioning as good as before. Was told should be back to normal after 12 months, have had blood tests but nothing detected, is this normal? Thanks

[Jonad724]

Is this normal? In a word, yes. Unfortunately the medical profession doesn't really understand VM and this is based not only on my experience but also from what other people say on here.

I had near fatal VM in 2002 and was told I would be better within 3 weeks because that's what doctors are told in training and also what the medical text books say. As far as the medical world is concerned, VM is the same as all the other types of meningitis and it just isn't. Whilst recovery varies from person to person and also the severity of the attack it can take a long time to fully recover and it sometimes means that there are after effects which can be permanent but for most people tiredness is enduring trait.

Unfortunately, the only thing to do when you feel tired is rest, even if that's the last thing you want to do. If you try and push through it then you will just feel worse and it will, in my experience, slow down your recovery. I tried pushing through it and it made me feel worse for the next few days so I learnt that if your body is saying that you're tired then you have to rest.

I am privileged to be a Community Ambassador for Meningitis Now with a specific interest in supporting people going through what I went through and so if I can help further, please DM me on this site and I'll happily share my contact details with you.

Good luck and take care, Jonathan

[TheBillman]

Hi Christo-

I agree with everything Jonathon said below. I have had problems with reoccurring headaches since I had VM back in 2006. When the headaches strike, I get very tired. I just had an incident last week. Got headaches, went to bed at 8 PM, slept the entire night until 7 AM, did nothing the next day (and did manage to take a nap), and slept 10 hours the following night. The headaches were gone that following day and my life got back to normal.

When you get tired, it's best to rest! Don't try to push through it for you will feel even worse. You just have to listen to your body and it really stinks when you have to put everything on hold. It will get better with time (fewer incidents and less duration per incident) but you will have some surprises every now and then. Sorry I can't offer more advice but this has been my experience thus far.

I hope the healing progresses quickly!

-Bill-