Aseptic Meningitis 101. Everything you wanted to know, and a bit more.
Does Viral Meningitis hurt? Well, it really depends on what your definition of "hurt" is. If you consider the sensation of having your head caught in a collision between oil tankers painful, then yes, Viral Meningitis would fall into that category.
How is viral meningitis diagnosed? The best way is with a lumbar puncture. Yes, it's every bit as awful as it sounds. When they tell you it feels just like a blood draw, THEY ARE LYING. It really feels more like they are crocheting with your sciatic nerve, all the while telling you to be still, don't move, not an easy feat when you are running a 103.8 fever and trying not to shiver. My personal view on this procedure is that it really serves no purpose other than to flush out what the medical profession calls "malingerers". Or, in laymans terms, fakers. See, anyone with any survival instinct at all, will see that needle coming at theiir back, and positively dance back out the door. Unless, of course, you really are sick. Then, they have to go through with it to save face. Then they take the fluid, and try to make it grow bacteria, thus proving you are sick.
Does it kill you? Viral meningitis is not usually fatal. Like any other virus, it has to run it's course. This is not to say that you will not wish you were dead, but the morphine may help with that. If it helps at all. See next question.
How is it treated? Time. They may try to help you with the symptoms, like the pain, but when the morphine doesn't help, well, you are, as they say SOL.
Also, I have a few helpful tips for those in the medical profession, but you'll have to wait until next time, as I am off to survey the damage one FIL can do with a pile of laundry and the singular intent to get every smidge of it done, handknit wool and all.
How is viral meningitis diagnosed? The best way is with a lumbar puncture. Yes, it's every bit as awful as it sounds. When they tell you it feels just like a blood draw, THEY ARE LYING. It really feels more like they are crocheting with your sciatic nerve, all the while telling you to be still, don't move, not an easy feat when you are running a 103.8 fever and trying not to shiver. My personal view on this procedure is that it really serves no purpose other than to flush out what the medical profession calls "malingerers". Or, in laymans terms, fakers. See, anyone with any survival instinct at all, will see that needle coming at theiir back, and positively dance back out the door. Unless, of course, you really are sick. Then, they have to go through with it to save face. Then they take the fluid, and try to make it grow bacteria, thus proving you are sick.
Does it kill you? Viral meningitis is not usually fatal. Like any other virus, it has to run it's course. This is not to say that you will not wish you were dead, but the morphine may help with that. If it helps at all. See next question.
How is it treated? Time. They may try to help you with the symptoms, like the pain, but when the morphine doesn't help, well, you are, as they say SOL.
Also, I have a few helpful tips for those in the medical profession, but you'll have to wait until next time, as I am off to survey the damage one FIL can do with a pile of laundry and the singular intent to get every smidge of it done, handknit wool and all.
