Hi. I found this site last year and meant to join then, but life interfered. I had a horrendous case of West Nile in August of 2004. I live alone, and when it
hit me, my temperature spiked to the point I was having hallucinations..I lay there all night, in terror and "watched" wolves tearing at my arms and
legs.
Towards morning, I got some of my sense back and managed to call a friend. She took me to a clinic...I couldn't even walk by myself. I KNEW it was West Nile, but couldn't formulate the words. They decided it was a virus, gave me a shot...and sent me home.
And there I lay for the next week, with only my cats taking care of me. I managed to drag a broom to the bedside, and using it as a crutch is the only way I could get to the bathroom and back. After a week, I managed to get out to my car and drive to a doctor's office. I told them I wanted a WN test...they thought I was nuts, but accommodated me. The test took a week, and it came back with sky-high levels. I realize now it was West Nile encephilitis.
For months, I could do nothing...day after day, I felt so horrible. I well remember that first day I didn't have that terrible pounding headache. I remember the first day I felt decent again...and those days were few and far between that first year.
Then, just as I thought I might get over it, Hurricane Rita hit my area in 2005. Not only was there tremendous storm damage to cope with, the storm blew in all the toxins from Katrina that had hit 250 miles from us three weeks before. I ended up in the emergency room twice.
In short, it seems to have left me with severe asthma and deadly allergic reactions to many things...most of which I have discovered by trial and error. There also was a lot of memory loss....it was like I still had the momory, but just couln't access it. That has slowly improved with time.
But this year, I ended up in critical condition from a botched kidney stone proceedure. That was a month in the hospital and many months of agony...THEN we were hit by Hurricane Ike, which really devastaed much of this area. My point is that with all these other disasters, it is very hard for me to tell what part of my physical problems are a result of West Nile.
But I am convinced of one thing....I think once you get it, it never really goes away.
Towards morning, I got some of my sense back and managed to call a friend. She took me to a clinic...I couldn't even walk by myself. I KNEW it was West Nile, but couldn't formulate the words. They decided it was a virus, gave me a shot...and sent me home.
And there I lay for the next week, with only my cats taking care of me. I managed to drag a broom to the bedside, and using it as a crutch is the only way I could get to the bathroom and back. After a week, I managed to get out to my car and drive to a doctor's office. I told them I wanted a WN test...they thought I was nuts, but accommodated me. The test took a week, and it came back with sky-high levels. I realize now it was West Nile encephilitis.
For months, I could do nothing...day after day, I felt so horrible. I well remember that first day I didn't have that terrible pounding headache. I remember the first day I felt decent again...and those days were few and far between that first year.
Then, just as I thought I might get over it, Hurricane Rita hit my area in 2005. Not only was there tremendous storm damage to cope with, the storm blew in all the toxins from Katrina that had hit 250 miles from us three weeks before. I ended up in the emergency room twice.
In short, it seems to have left me with severe asthma and deadly allergic reactions to many things...most of which I have discovered by trial and error. There also was a lot of memory loss....it was like I still had the momory, but just couln't access it. That has slowly improved with time.
But this year, I ended up in critical condition from a botched kidney stone proceedure. That was a month in the hospital and many months of agony...THEN we were hit by Hurricane Ike, which really devastaed much of this area. My point is that with all these other disasters, it is very hard for me to tell what part of my physical problems are a result of West Nile.
But I am convinced of one thing....I think once you get it, it never really goes away.
Feel free to write whatever, whenever. It's good to just get it out in writing.
