Encephalitis Cases
Elisabeth
I got Encephalitis from a smallpox
vaccination when I was 2 and a half years old (now I'm 46). I was
unconscious for 6 weeks and when I woke up I was like a newborn baby.
Totally lame, unable to even lift my head, and the doctors told my
mother that my brain was totally damaged and I would be unable to
think for the rest of my life. The doctors couldn't do much in 1966
- so after a couple of months my mother took me home. She trained
me intensively (without advice from anyone, it just wasn't available
at the time).
At the age of 5 I could walk and talk - I don't have problems with speech, maybe
because I couldn't speak that much before the illness? I went to a
normal school, but didn't have PE for the first years. Went to high
school and have had office jobs. I have a husband and 3 daughters,
so I've lived a pretty normal life, but it's also been hard. Other
people don't know how much effort I must put into everything - to
accomplish what others do very easily.
I don't know any other people who have suffered from this disease apart from a
few persons in Facebook groups that I have only discovered lately.
Facebook is a great way to meet the few others who have had this extremely rare
disease!!! I've been told that Encephalitis hits 1 in a million people
and only few survive (and even fewer) are able to tell about it. As
Denmark only has 5 million inhabitants the chance of meeting anyone
here is slim. Fatigue and an increasingly bad short term memory are
some of my biggest problems. Right now I'm seeing a neuropsycologist
and a neurologist who have found out that I shouldn't work more than
4 hours a day (and it would be better if I didn't work at all). I
can't see in my head either - the neuropsycologist asked me to tell
what time it was if I imagined a watch showing 10 minutes to 3 - and
I then switched the hour and the minute hand - what time was it then?
I was totally unable to tell, but if I had been allowed a piece of
paper I could have drawn it. Likewise I was told to count backwards
from 100 and deduct 7 - and keep deducting 7, something I can do if
given a piece of paper to write it down. I have problems with films
too! I prefer to watch short news, 30 minute series (max. 60 min.),
or series with the same main characters or DVD's where I can choose
to go back..... I'm almost totally unable to cope with stress and
have difficulties in getting around because I can't seem to find places.
I don't drive our car (luckily Denmark is a very small country with
many trains and buses).
Coordination, concentration and organizing and planning things have always been a problem
I also have problems with sweating a lot and urination. It could stem from a certain gland in the brain that has a lot of practical functions (its currently being examined in my case). And I've always been perceived as a nervous person because of all this sweating.
Hugs to you all from Elisabeth ;-)
ElisabethDenmark  Posted: April 23, 2010 |
