Does anyone have 1st hand experience of someone having meningitis?

Question

My partners mum is 50 and has justbeen diagnosed. She's in a very bad way. What are we to expect? Please give any advice. x

It took 4 days to diagnose it in hospital but they say the pressure on her brain will cause perminant damage

Answer 1

I am a nurse and have looked after alot of kids with it moreso than adults. Did she get meningococcal meningitis, which is the infectious one? Sounds like it if they think her brain has suffered. the infection passes through the barrier into the brain and causes disease. it is hard to know what kind of way that will leave her. depends how well she recovers. when the brain is affected, various things can happen, depending on the area affected. She will certainly be alot more dependant, and will feel very frustrated at this I am sure. It could cause some behavioural problems if that part of the brain is affected. She could lose speech or the ability to walk. its hard to know. You really need to talk to the specialist looking after her as they will have an idea of what area is affected and be able to prepare you. There should be a liason nurse in the hospital as well to be a support to you. I hope she makes as good a recovery as possible. Thinking of you all.

Answer 2

There is 3 types of meningitis. A type b and c. I think. My mum had meningitis about 3 years ago. It just comes out of nowhere they still don't know what causes it.
What happened was my sister was in town she saw a friend kissed her hello and spoke for a few seconds and they were on their way.
When my sister got home she found my mum at home with a very bad headache, acting a bit weired. At night my sister wanted to call the doc my mum refused she said she wanted to go to bed. She went up to sleep but could not. My sister called the doctor anyway the doctor came before my mum went to sleep when he looked in her eyes he new immediately it was meningitis, he said if my mum went to sleep she would have died. And that one in a million get this virus. And it can be transmitted from person to person.
They tested my mum and found out she has meningitis b or c which is not fatal she was very lucky.
But my sister's friend was not so lucky the one she saw in town died 3 days later from kissing my sister some how my sister infected her but she was not infected by it. Very strange virus. I wish you all the luck and hope your mother will be better soon. Things will go back to normal. But their is some sort of pill everyone was in contact with my mum had to take

Answer 3

You need to find out from her Dr as there are different strains of meningitis. I really wouldn't like to say and either should anyone speculate without knowing the facts. I was diagnosed with a form of it when I was 16. By the time they had figured out what I had it had gone. I wish her all the best, big hug sxxxx

Answer 4

My niece had the (bad kind viral) when she was 3 monthes old and it left her deaf.

My son had what the doctor called the not so serious kind (bacterial) when he was 14. The doctor said it was bad but causes less serious long term effects.

His symptoms were flu like with a bad pain in his neck and back of his head he could not bend his neck so that his chin could touch his chest.

my son so far has had no lasting side effects. One side effect the doctor said could happen with boys is that he could become sterile. He is 20 now and so far no grandbabies, which is a good thing right now. We will have to see what the future holds.

I wish your mom the best.

Answer 5

my son had virial (< prob spelled wrong) meningitis, it was an extremly scary time, we got lucky and cought it very early which is the trick to beating this. the older the person is the more serious the effects can be. but again if cought early enough there is good hope for recovery but if not cought early some damage would have been done and may not be reversable.

always have hope for the best outcome there is no point in sadness yet for there sake.
best wishes.

Answer 6

I used to work in a hospital and many patients there had it...like the first answerer said it depends on what type. But most people I saw had the viral kind and they were put on isolation and given a lot of meds...most had a fever and body aches, but with the medication they made a full recovery

Answer 7

depends on the type. . there are two, bacterial meningitis and the other one (don't remember what that's called). .

my mom had bacterial, and could have died, but my dad got her to the hospital in time

(at home she said she just couldn't warm up. . was covered in several blankets and still freezing, so they knew something was wrong, that's why my dad took her to the hosp )

Meningitis is very serious, and can be deadly (my understanding is that the other type (the type my mom didn't have) often results in soon death.

I hope and pray that's not the case in her case.

That said, I hope she's ready to die if that should be what happens to her. I hope she is right with God (has made her peace with Him through Jesus Christ and the salvation He offers to us all through His death on the cross).

It's a terrifying thing to enter Eternity as one of God's enemies (which is how we are all born into this world because of our being sinners). Only through belonging to Christ can we enter into Eternity as one of His friends, whom He will then welcome into Heaven, instead of the other place.

good luck and God bless you.

Answer 8

I had it almost 10 years ago 3 months after my last child was born I was extremely lucky it just left me with trouble hearing on my left side and really bad neck aches from time to time.

Answer 9

can be extremely serious and lead to lifelong paralysis (not usually total paralysis). that's all i know.