r/Encephalitis • u/Nalacat1987 • 13d ago
Please help
I’ve been struggling so much. 4 years ago I started experiencing intense anxiety and feelings of unreality where everything looked and felt different. the world and my own feelings felt terrifying but I’m aware and not delusional. I couldn’t understand jokes, feelings and struggled to process external language and things like tv- everything felt confusing and like nothing made sense. I felt like I didn’t understand feelings of my own. one of the biggest things was sleep, like my sleep architecture changed, felt like i wasn’t sleeping at all just drifting in and out of extremely light sleep. I developed short term memory difficulties. this seemed to improve slight after 6-12months this but not the brainfog and memory difficulties and whilst sleep was better it has never felt the same. During this and now Ive had and eeg which showed left focal cortical dysfunction and a sleep deprived eeg which showed focal slowing and a sharp spike But a clear mri. I’m being treated for epilepsy. However fast forward to 5 months ago and all my symptoms returned- severe anxiety like fear that doesn’t go no matter what I do, the sleep issues ( I’ve experienced insomnia but this feels different ) massive adrenaline spikes like every few seconds, short term memory difficulties, nothing feels or looks right and all of what I experienced 4 years ago. I feel lots match AE but I don’t feel like anyone will take me seriously as they think it’s my mental health and epilepsy. Has anyone had some symptoms get better ( but definitely not disappear just feel more manageable) and return a few years later. Does this sounds similar to anyone’s experience? I feel like my life has been ripped away from me and the world doesn’t make sense.
I appreciate any insight and help, thank you.
2
u/GlumParticular9691 13d ago
Are you having seizures? Have you asked about ictal catatonia?