Join now

Already a member? Sign in

Welcome to Inspire!

What - Inspire is a place where you can connect with people who share your health concerns and find information and advice in groups sponsored by organizations you know and trust.

Why - As a member you can use Inspire to let friends and family know how you're doing, contact others who share your health concerns, receive personalized updates and information about participating in surveys and clinical trials, and more.

How - Joining Inspire is completely free and usually takes less than a minute. Join now!

corner corner corner

Where did you receive treatment and what kind of treatment?

concrndsisinlaw
0 Recommendations

Hello Everyone,
My brother-in-law was diagnosed with Herpes Simpex Encephalitis on October 11th after feeling flu like sypmptoms and a terrible terrible headache for 4 or 5 days prior. He was admitted to Beth Israel Hospital in Boston on the 11th and has been there since. They started Acyclovir Sunday night and he is finally showing a little improvement, but has mostly been sleeping and in and out of conciousness since he was admitted. When should we expect to see the medication starting to work?

This is a great name for this website! I have truly been inspired and have so much hope because of all of the posts I have read. Thank you. Wish I knew where you are all from. Look forward to your reply.

Explore topics in this discussion:

Memory Encephalitis Herpes simplex Acyclovir

5 replies

muzzamo

He is in the acute phase now and you should start seeing some progress in days or weeks (sorry can't be more specific). As he moves into the recovery phase progress will be quite rapid-it's normal for people to go from comotose to talking and even walking with family and friends over the course of a month.

But going from 70% better to a full recovery takes the longest, often 2 years or more - it is a real struggle and 100% is something that many never reach.

Sandy_H

Welcome to our group. The medication is already working. I'm a HSVE survivor of 15 yrs. You can read my story, I'm in Australia. I was placed into a coma for 10 days and given large doses of Acyclovir and it was a long road to recovery for me. Sleeping is good as this gives the brain time to heal. I have damage to my right temporal lobe which handles short term memory and this is the common area for the herpes simplex virus to affect. There are lots of things that we can help your brother-in-law and his supporters with. He is in the right hands now and just needs to know that you are there for him. I don't really remember my stay in hospital but I do know that I was never alone. I knew my family and friends were there. We wish you all the best. We are here to help you anytime.
Cheers Sandy

WendyStation

Welcome to EGlobal, concrndsisinlaw.

My name is Wendy... I am 54 years old, and had Herpes Simplex Encephalitis in 1999. You can read more about my story at the Encephalitis Global website ( http://www.encephalitisglobal.org/id16.html ).

I suggest also that you view the HELP! section at Enccephalitis Global and view the first days of encephalitis ( http://www.encephalitisglobal.org/id18.html ).

We're a group of encephalitis survivors, caregivers and loved ones who share information and support here, every day. Please ask any questions! We're here to help each other.

MichelleN

I don't know what happened when I was in the hospital except for what I've been told, but after I was diagnosed it took awhile for me to start showing improvement. That was awhile for my family because it was so hard for them, but it was probably only a few months.

Once they started to see improvement they say it was pretty fast for awhile. Then when the noticable change was done there still was improvement, but it was harder to notice.

Michelle

concrndsisinlaw

Thank you all so much for your responses. Dave had a pretty good day yesterday and took a few steps with the walker. Still needs a lot of sleep though. This site will be a great resource for Dave as he recovers. What a mysterious disease this is with no rhyme or reason to it. I'm truly baffled.

Add to the discussion

Don't have an Inspire account? Join now!

Forgot password?

Group leaders

You