When will I fully recover

[Jen1993]

Im a lively active 18 yr old student, Nearly 4 weeks ago now I became struck down with a severe headache I thought it was nothing and when I woke the next morning I was experiencing pain I'd neer felt before my baby cousin woke me up and I physically couldn't open my eyes as the light was causing me great discomfort. Painlillers done jothing and as my neck became soar And I got a temp I visited my doc who gave me migraleave. Later that night I was admitted to hospital, with suspected meningitis, I had no idea what was going on. I was all by myself and just wanted home. I received amazing care from my doctor in the hospital and was eventually diagnosed with viral meningitis after several tests. i spent 7days on a drip and iv. Although I am now out nearly 4weeks. After one week I was feeling better. I started to do stuff and it knocked me right back down again. I am so so tired and have a soar back near where I got the lumber puncture, my head hurts every other day or when there is sudden movement. I have been told to take more time off work and college but I am nearing the end of my year ad need to pass everything to get In to university. This added stress of missing college is making it worse. When will I fully feel normal again, I was diagnosed today with post viral symptoms.

[kirklington]

Hi, I am really sorry to hear what you have been through, I suffered from Viral meningitis about this time last year and I am still feeling the after effects I still get bad headaches most days, I was in hospital for 9 days and had a total of 6 weeks off work and went back for the next 3 weeks part time, the first few weeks are the hardest and I really suffered from post viral fatigue, but don't worry things get better you just really need to take your doctors advise and rest, I was sleeping for up to 20 hours a day, I am sure if you explain things to your college and work they will understand. My last piece of advise is to speak to the Meningitis Trust they have a dedicated 24 hour help line to help people and family's suffering from Meningitis. The website is meningitis-trust.org and the phone number is 08 0880 10388 there is also some great advise on the website.

I wish you all the best in a speedy recovery and take care.

[Jonad724]

I had VM 10 years ago and really recovery depends on a number of things but the principal one is in my experience listen to your body. Don't try and 'push through it' as it will put you back further and it will slow down your recovery. Make sure also your doctor has treated someone with VM before as most GP's still think that you have meningitis and you recover in two or three weeks which for VM is definitely not the case. In the end I took in the Meningitis Trust leaflet on the subject for him to read and he finally admitted that he didn't know much about this strain of the disease.

For me personally recovery has been a long road but 1 in 100,000 cases of VM are fatal or near fatal and unfortunately I was one of them so I'm hoping yours isn't anywhere near as serious. I had 6 months off work and even then wasn't really in any fit state to return but my salary had been halved and I had no choice.

Really the best advice is as the previous respondent said, contact the Meningitis Trust as they really do know what they're talking about, can help and support you when it seem no one else understands and their leaflet on VM is invaluable in helping medical professionals understand what you're going through.

So please do rest and whilst I know it is frustrating when you're so close to qualifying do listen to your body, if you're tired then you need to rest otherwise you won't pass anything. The natural reaction from most VM suffers is to try and get back to how they were before the disease struck as quickly as possible but if you try this it can slow down your recovery.

Keep us updated on your progress and if you have any other questions about VM there's enough people here with experience of it to understand and if we can, help.

[chrisdunn]

OK. Firstly listen to what the doctors say! Mine said 'do not underestimate how ill you have been, how ill you are, and how ill you still may be' As my Mother said 'you have had a potentially life ending/ life changing illness so just think how lucky you have been' I am sure you have had the sharp intact of breath when you tell people what you have had. Most people at work (I am a bus driver) know I was ill and do look out for me. You will need LOTS of rest, I am 5 months in and still get VERY tired. Also the headaches are a pain (sorry) mine are still there but reduced a lot after a few weeks. I always carry painkillers with me. read as much as you can about this illness the more you understand the easier things become. I am not sure how your Doctor is but mine was surprising helpful ans spent a lot of time explaining how long the recovery is. We all worry I had the worry of paying bills etc. But at the moment your only concern MUST be your health. Get well first and then everything will sort itself out. Always tell people how you feel, don't reply to 'how are you?' by saying fine. if you feel crap, tell them!!

[murphybrent]

Hello sorry to hear you have been feeling so low and suffering like you have. 12 years ago I had bacterial Meningitis and woke in the morning with severe headache but just thought it was due to stress and tiredness, but by 3pm that afternoon I was getting worse and knew it was something more. I was given 50% chance of survival but my doctor and his team of nurses were excellent and luckily I pulled through (but do suffer now with depression and occasional headaches and backache).

Like the other replies above had said.........listen to your doctor and listen to your body. It takes time to recover fully and if im honest I would say it was at least 18 months before my tiredness eased off and was having severe headaches every few days if I pushed myself too far.

Make sure you look after yourself and rest when your body tells you to.....eat healthily.

But one thing that helped me was looking on the bright side of things ..... I was a survivor of one of the worst types of Meningitis and think my self very lucky to still be here and try and stay positive about that.

I did have PTS for quite a while afterwards and could not watch certain things on tv without crying but that does pass I promise (even though watching or reading anything like this were someone else is suffering the lasting effects of VM or BM does make me feel very sad).

I wish you all the best and a speedy recovery but please listen to your body as it knows best x

[Karl723]

Hi, I had bacterial meningitis back in September, I was in hospital around a month since then I've been struck down with excruciating headaches, severe memory loss, I keep having drop attacks which could be epilepsy, I rarely sleep now. My so called neurologist has come out with all sorts of crap as to what I had, hes said it wasn't meningitis but the consultant in the mau confirmed it was, one of the neurologists registrars also confirmed to me it was meningitis.

At the minute I'm undergoing tests to see if I'm epileptic as a result of meningitis. I'm still off work now & struggle to get through my days with out some kind of after effect.

[CorinneW]

Hi there,

It's so comforting to me to hear everyone's stories. I came down with Viral meningitis in February 2011 and still to this day have the excruciating headaches at the back of my head leading down my neck, halfway down my back. I will go through stage where I won't have one for 2 weeks, I will get excited and think they have gone, only to have two weeks solid of them. I felt extremely tired right up until november last year and my best advice would be please don't push yourself. I tried to go back to working part time a month after infected, and soon came down with another virus as my body was still very ill and not recovered. In the long term it will only slow down your recovery. If you need to sleep, sleep It's a serious infection and your work/college need to be understanding. Keep getting doctors notes until you genuinely feel you can cope with returning. If you have to defer a year, it will be worth it just to have your health

Corinne x

[Tiga]

vm is a pain in the butt, but you will get better, think of yourself as a computer and you have been re booted, you was vista and now you are windows 7, it looks the same but does not feel the same, can do the same things, but you have to find the icons 1st, time to heal, if you had every bone broken in your body from a car crash, you would think, well thats going to take a long time, with VM you cannot see the side affects, but they are there, but you must face your fear, tell your self you did not die, you got threw it and you will get threw this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! time will heal you