“I now want to spread as much awareness of this as I can. I was lucky, but many people haven’t been.”
Sophie was enjoying a day’s shopping when she began to feel unwell. What started as a headache got progressively worse until the next day when she was admitted to hospital with suspected meningitis.
Sophie had contracted viral meningitis, which has left her with a new perspective on life, as the 20-year-old, from Lichfield in Staffordshire, tells us here.
“It was a Thursday and I was on my own doing some birthday shopping in the Bullring in Birmingham for my best friend’s birthday. I was coming to the end of my shopping when I suddenly didn’t feel too well, starting off with a headache. I decided to head back home. I have had migraines often from a young age, so I just thought initially that this was a migraine.
“A few hours later the headache had got worse and I also developed a temperature of 40 degrees. I told my parents and said I was going to go to sleep. My mum told me to wake her up in the night if I felt unwell or became worse.
“I woke up in the morning, still with a very bad headache, a very high temperature and now a stiff neck. My mum came into my room and saw that I was deteriorating. She walked to the local GP, who told my mum to take me straight to A&E.
Number of tests done
“Once I arrived at the hospital within one hour I had been put on IV antibiotics and had a number of different blood tests done and was put into an isolation room – I was told I had suspected meningitis, although they were unsure as to what type.
“As I had been put straight onto iv antibiotics it was decided by doctors that doing a lumbar puncture would be of no use as this would affect the results. Instead, I was treated under the suspicion of bacterial meningitis to be on the safe side. I was treated with iv antibiotics in hospital for four days and then sent home with oral antibiotics for a week.
“Around two weeks after being discharged from the hospital I was back in A&E with reactive arthritis in my knees. I was told this was a consequence of the meningitis – my immune system was in overdrive and now attacking itself. The reactive arthritis caused extreme fluid build-up in my knees, leading to me having to have them aspirated, as well as joint pain in various other joints which can last up to a year.
Lingering headaches and fatigue
“In addition, I also have lingering headaches, fatigue and sometimes find it hard to remember things as well. I am always apprehensive that I am getting meningitis again.
“I was very lucky that I went to the hospital when I did – I have my mum to thank for catching the meningitis early, otherwise I was told that things could have ended differently.
“It has left me with health anxiety and reactive arthritis. Having meningitis has had a massive impact on my life, giving me a completely new perspective that your health is paramount and that you never know what’s around the corner in life. I now want to spread as much awareness of this as I can. I was lucky, but many people haven’t been.
“I am now a volunteer for Meningitis Now. The charity has helped me through speaking to the nurses from the Helpline and its social media channels.”
