Can any long term side-affects appear after suffering from viral encephalitis?

I know what you are going through. My husband is 48 years old and got a tick bite last spring. He was diagnosed with encephalitis and almost died. Now he is having same residual affects, loss of balance and falling , sometimes 3 times a day. He has broken 3 ribs, his nose and almost his good leg.we are desperate. Unable to work, unable to pay bills, takes 2 years for long term disability in nj. I’m working full time and doing everything around house. Just afraid when I come home one day he will be dead. It’s really bad. Going to NYU Langone again in 2 weeks for more testing. They have him on Synemet for Parkinson’s. Showing some sign of small improvement. Also seeing dr. Sage at Robert Wood Johnson.

I had measles encephalitis in 1973 at the age of 14. Convulsions followed by coma. In hospital for 3-4 weeks. I'm 59 now. Spent my years fighting confusion, fatigue, headaches. But I continued with life. No followup neurological testing. No therapy for help walking. I was just expected to push on through... and I did. Spent that summer riding my bike... a lot... which helped me get my strength and balance back. Lots of memory issues. Sequencing is very difficult to this day. I was a C-D student my last 3 years of high school. Worked in the trades a while. Then worked in maintenance on a school campus for 21 years. Many, many, many headaches through the years. But I still managed to work through them eventually managing a school campus and working as a firefighter end. Earned a Masters Degree in Public Safety with a 4.0. Now oversee safety part time for a school district. I still can't sequence. Still get headaches... but manage the headaches better now. I take Wellbutrin and Lexapro to manage depression, anger and anxiety. I'm pretty normal w those meds
Been on them for 7 years. Big difference for me. Life is good. Some help early on would have been very welcome. Like others have said... u just were supposes to be 'over it'. So, like me, many suffer in silence. It became a fight to survive and not let anyone know how i really felt. In time i learned many 'tricks' to get through life. It's nice to know that people understand... but I'm sorry for their suffering. My advice to people recovering from encephalitis.... get a neurologist and a counselor to give u the validation that what u r feeling and what has happened to your brain/body is real... and not to be taken lightly. Thank you for this opportunity to post my experience.

I had this disease when I was 8 years old I am pretty sure I was bitten by a mosquito and then developed chicken pops also had a temperature of 104 for 2 days I was rushed to the hospital. This was in 1959. It was the 1st case in 20 years I was put in an Iron lung to be able to breath since I couldn"t breath on my own. I had to get a tracheotomy. I was in a coma for 4 days. But this is where it changes. There was a little young girl that came down with it also after I recovered. They did a blood transfusion for her or they took blood from me to give her. I don"t remember if it helped her or not all I know is that my mother father and my older brother and sister prayed for me for 4 day"s straight and I woke up in that Iron Lung on Thanksgiving morning. I believe I have had long term effects from this terrible disease. Including memory loss depression, learning disabilities concentration. and such all I know is that GOD had a plan for my life, so he let me live....

My daughter could have written your statement word for word! I am relieved that my concerns may truly be related to encephalitis as suspected. But aside from relief that we are not 'crazy' or 'hypochondriac' please share with me any resources, info or doctors that specialize in this and can help her to manage her issues.

I got encephalitis when I was 3, in 1958. Went into a come for several days. After leaving the hospital I continued to show symptoms of "Dream states", headaches,and reality. they put me on Dilantin and phenobarbital. I can remember very few things from 3-18. The things I do remember are vivid. I had to learn to compensate by repetition. I have a slight stuttering problem, tic like movements when I'm tired or stressed, loss of word usage and adult ADHD. I'm very outgoing and learned early that helps hide some of my problems. I wish there were groups and studies to advance the understanding of this disease Long term.

I had this condition when I was three. I am 61 now and have always had trouble learning and have ADD. I too have problems in social situations forming thoughts. After reading these posts it all finally makes sense now!

Yes, I feel like I am always in pain one way or another. Body is very sensitive to body aches even though I am quite healthy, active and exercise ~ I wondered if I have fibromyalgia because sometimes, not always I would feel an itch on my arm or leg and go to scratch it and when I would scratch just regularly like any other time it would hurt so bad I would holler/scream out loud. There was no pain unless I scratch but then other days I could scratch my leg or arm and no pain whatsoever. I have asked so many people and no one seems to know what I am talking about . . .

Hi Suebe,
Wow your symptoms are so in lined with mine .I am 51. Lately, I have been thinking maybe I have a learning disability I was never aware of. More and more I find myself unable to but my thoughts into words. I find myself loosing words as I am speaking them. I am getting tired of people correcting my pronunciation. I feel like I am completely loosing my ability to articulate. I am also having problems with my vision but the eye doctors say my vision hasn't changed. The latest development is cluster headaches. My instincts tell me this is all from the encephalitis I contracted at 5.

I am 59 and I had chicken pox when I was 2yrs. old complicated with encephilitis. I was told that I was lethargic and not moving w/ a very high fever on the couch and was taken to the ER where I was given a very large shot of gammagloblin [sp]? My mother told me that I had to learn to walk again and to be potty trained again as I began to we the bed again for a few years.

Of course I remember none of this. I can not remember any of my school years except for small blurps and bits and pieces, barely any at all. I married, had one daughter, owned my own business and went on w/ a normal life afterward, all the while wondering WHY I could not recall any of my childhood. I also can not remember a lot of the things from my young adult years now either, as time passes it seems I lose the memories.

Reason that I responded is because in 2014, I had a bout of pancreatitis that was as a result of my gallbladder, so I was taken to the ER and they pumped me full of 3 or 4 bags of an anti biotic called ciprofloxicin which ended up being toxic to my body. Then after they got the pancreatitis taken care of they took me to have my gall bladder removed. In my home recovery I began noticing that I could not lift my arms above my head, i could not get o/o chairs, or bed by myself, I could barely dress myself, let along walk very well. This has gone on for over 7yrs. now. It has gotten better but I had always attritubed it to the ciprofoxicin being toxic to my body. But I am wondering now if there may be 2 different factors at play here that are working in conjunction. I have done a lot of research on being "floxed" as they call it from these type of anti biotics that are of the family of fluroquinonones and I have many of the same symptoms. I have recovered mostly except for chronic pain that mimics MS and fibromyalgia and the inability to walk or stand for long periods of time and extreme pain/neuropothy in my legs.

I am positive my bought with West Nile virus which put me in a coma for nine days due to the resulting enchepilitus and meninigitus has caused all of the effects mentioned here. Amazing that I found this site. Thank you all for helping me get a grip with my struggles!

Hello, I am glad to have found this message board and noticed a lot of struggles I share with some of you. I had encephalitis at age 18. I won't go into all the details so I don't bore anyone taking the time to read this.. but long story short I had mono (mononucleosis) which wasn't correctly diagnosed. Due to lack of proper diagnosis I took a day or two off work and was treated for what they thought was mild strep throat. I went straight back to a strenous physical job I worked at the time as well as schoolwork. I ended up having a seizure during lunch (I remember bits of this like some kind of nightmare) and woke up a few days later in a hospital bed. I was found to have encephalitis. It was explained to me that my immune system was weak due to the Mono and I most likely had a parasite (likely a mosquito or its egs) introduced to my system, delivering the encephalitis. This theory makes sense because I unloaded box trucks by hand with cargo from around the world and would blow black dust from my nose after every shift.
The way the Dr.'s handled my illness didn't raise any concern until I got older and researched this illness on my own. It was explained that I'd be ok soon and things would return to normal. I attempted to go back to school too soon and was over taken by terrible headaches and vomitting. This time I stayed out of school for around 6 months. I am very greatfulI I recovered and I understand things could have gone way worse for me, however the Dr's almost downplayed my situation. I didn't fully realize the emotional and mental issues which started and still continue today in my 40's. I do have problems with memory. I started to become agitated far too easily and my temper became explosive. I was/am able to contain it and work on my temper, but it does plague me still. I would like to exchange some experiences and ideas with someone else knowledgeable on the subject if anyone is interested. Thank you for taking the time to read this and if you'd like to, please reach out, there's plenty to discuss

I had encephalitis at 10 and was in a very bad way with convulsions and hallucinations it was terrifying being rushed into hospital with beeping noises and the stabbing of needles and screams of my mother! Anyway I’ve had a lifetime of concentration problems but had two successful careers one in architecture and the other in teaching! Eat oily fish regular and take supplements Equazen Eye-q tablets were very good for me! Also develop coping strategies to learning, repetition, read out loud and make notes! Don’t despair! You will go on to having a wonderful life! Although like me you may suffer from long term tiredness which is my biggest problem….I eat healthy and go to gym when I can but the tiredness is always there for me! I also think anxiety is a residual effect I occasionally suffer from but I develop my own mechanisms for coping or not with this! I’m 50 now and just can’t wait to retire lol

I had encephalitis when I was 12. I was wondering if I could contact the virus again and if so, would it be as bad as it was the first time? I am 48 years young now.