ENCEPHALITIS CASES

Encephalitis Cases

Nancy

My name is Nancy, I'm 63 and l live in Iowa and almost 2 years ago I became very ill. I was later diagnosed with Herpes II Encephalitis. On August 23rd, 2000, I came home from work with a nasty headache, ate a little supper, and was sick with headache and nausea all night. The next morning, my husband, who is retired, asked me if I was going to get up and go to work. I told him "no" because my head hurt so badly, and he asked if I wanted him to stay home. I told him no, I would call him at the Golf course if I began to feel worse. (Starting in January of 2000 I had begun to get terribly high blood pressure episodes with extreme headaches, which usually required large doses of diuretics and pain meds to resolve.) I thought that I was going to have another of this type of illness again. My husband left for the course telling me to be sure to call in, which is something I would always do. My sister works at the same company and when she stopped to see me, the manager told her she was concerned, as I hadn't called in.

(From here on is what other people tell me, I remember some but very little.) Deb, my sister (and lifesaver) is a former nurse. She called to find out how I was and she said I was talking gibberish and so she drove over to my place and got me to the doctor's office where they called an ambulance. They took me to the University because they thought I had a brain bleed. They did their tests and when it was determined that I did not have a brain bleed they were done with me and sent me home next morning with pain pills. My poor husband who is a big strong man just didn't know how to deal with all of this, and I guess he just followed me around all night. I had my head encased in ice bags and then I would make my way to the bathroom to vomit, next morning, here comes my sister again and she went down and banged on the doctors door saying I need to be in hospital now!!! The doctor caved in and told her to get me to the Mercy.

I had to spend a few days in isolation, first they thought I had meningitis and the end of the first week my husband and my sister insisted that they call in another Dr. My husband said that every time he would ask the Dr, "how long could I lay like that and not have brain damage"?, the Dr would only say "These things take time." So when the neurologist came he did a brain scan, spinal tap and sent a PCR sample, started me on Acyclovir and I was on the way back to sanity.

I guess I had a complete personality change, when they did the scan, I had hallucinations and I was screaming at them that if they thought it didn't hurt to get a little closer and I would show them what "hurt" was like! This is not like me. They had to call my husband at 11 at night to calm me down. I would see schools of seahorses in the shape of a question mark and when I would poke my finger at them they would disperse, but then return to the same formation. I also thought my best friend was trying to hurt me.

The thing that bothers me the most is my inability to do anything with numbers. I had to give up my checkbook as it was getting embarrassing to have to go to the bank to get the books balanced. My husband gives me a limited credit card and a box of money to run the house and have some cash for the kids. Oh yes, I forgot to tell you that I have 2 adopted granddaughters, at the time of my illness one was 14 and the other 16. They were terrified and thought I was dying, and I guess I nearly did. The Dr says had he not started me on the Acyclovir then, instead of waiting for the PCR, I would have a lot more damage.

My coma was a light one as I could do some things on command. I also don't drive as much as I used to. I have managed to keep working, but only because I work for a great company. I was off work until November, and went back half days for a month and then went back full time. This was just too much for me, I was a supervisor for 25 people and the stress was beginning to affect me. I offered my resignation in March and they said that if I wanted to keep working I could work from home in and easier job. I had to take a small pay cut, but I don't have to drive and I can go to work in my nightgown if I want to.

So, I was in the hospital from 08/24-09/17. Recuperated at home for almost 3 months. I do have some memory problems and I am a little short tempered. I went to the Casino boat and had to leave, because of the noise and the flashing lights. I don't think I ever had a seizure, but that day I felt that if I didn't get out of there I was going to lose it.

I quit going back to the neurologist because he wouldn't listen to me, when I tried to tell him about the numbers problems I was having he just kept telling me how lucky I was that they called him in on the case, (and yes I know that) but he didn't want to hear that I was having any problems. So I didn't see any reason to return to him!

Then I found this group and bless your hearts I'm not crazy, and my -problems are average for this type of illness. I found more help here in 10 minutes than I did for all 6-office visits with that neuro.
Thank you all for sharing and caring.

Nancy
Iowa, U.S.A.

Posted: May 2, 2002

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