| |
My name is Lynn. I'm from Pittsburgh and I had Encephalitis and meningitis in 2002. I then had re-occurring meningitis in 2004. The first
time I contracted Encephalitis was the worst. I got up for work and didn't feel well. My stomach was turning, I had a slight headache
and a stiff neck. In a matter of thirty minutes, I was doubled over in pain. My intestines right below my diaphragm were in spasm. The
doctor's called this a "gastric episode" common with Encephalitis. I had a fever that was about a hundred degrees.
My doctor's office told my husband to bring me in. When they saw me, they told my husband to take me to the emergency room. I walked into the emergency room doubled over and the nurse asked me where I was hurt! (She thought I was stabbed; it was a city hospital) Then another nurse came to get me because the doctor had called ahead. I was in the emergency room for hours. They started to do tests on me thinking that the problem was inside my mid section. They called in a surgeon who also scheduled tests. He wanted to do an exploratory surgery! I was given lots of Demerol for the pain.
The ER doctor would not release me, he said that I "did not look good." Thank God!, I would have died. I didn't remember much from the experience. I think I was in the hospital for five or six days. I had no solid food for three days. I could not sit up, for the pain in my head was great. I have never had a headache like that! My whole family panicked. I am Catholic, and a priest came in to give me communion and last rights. I woke up to see him and I thought I was dead! It was better than a cardiac defibrillator!
I was given IV solutions to flush my system. It probably saved my life.They finally diagnosed me after doing a lumbar puncture. Unfortunately
for insurance companies, they sent me home still unable to sit up. My husband drove me home with the seat reclined. The nurse that wheeled
me down to the car said that if I passed out, she's was taking me right back upstairs. Even she knew that I should not have been discharged.
I did not even see a neurologist until three months later. It only goes to show how little is known in treatment. I could not walk upright
for about two weeks.
The second time, two years later, I had the same symptoms. They were less severe and the lumbar puncture came back clear instead of cloudy.
Apparently, the spinal fluid may take days to turn cloudy as in the first case. I was diagnosed by symptoms alone along with a prior history.
I also had a stiff neck this time, too.
I still have many medical problems since then. Mainly autoimmune diseases. I am a walking calamity! My short term memory has been badly
affected, I forget names, directions, nouns, etc ...Every day is a pain day. The joke is that "if you look fine, you must be fine". Think
again. It's a struggle to try to be close to "norma." Depression is still a major factor five years later. I thought I was supposed to
get "better." Thank God for this web site.
Lynn
Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Posted: February 29, 2008
|
|
|
