Your Stories
Your Stories
Here, our members and volunteers share their stories and experiences of encephalitis.
If you are in any way affected by these stories please do get in touch with our support team.
Many of the stories and videos below were filmed as part of the My Brain and Me project which is proudly supported by the National Lottery Community Fund. The videos can also be viewed on our YouTube channel.
Share your story
If you would like to share your own story, please visit our Submit Your Story page.
These stories are incredibly valuable for others to read. They can help people, directly or indirectly affected, to understand more about encephalitis and deal feelings such as loneliness and isolation.
We usually ask for written stories with sub-headings relating to things such as diagnosis, treatment and ongoing recovery.
We ask that you do not name individuals or medical centers without their consent. Please use generic terms such as friend, parent or doctor.
If you have any questions please do get in touch.
Autoimmune Encephalitis Lived Experience - George's Story
George was diagnosed with autoimmune encephalitis in April 2021 after 9 months of living with the condition. He writes about his illness, diagnosis, the impact of his encephalitis and his ongoing treatment.
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Autoimmune Encephalitis Lived Experience - Freya's Story
Freya talks about her lived experience of autoimmune encephalitis which she was diagnosed with when she was 25. She later went on to have further seizures. She shares her story of diagnosis, recovery and relapse here.
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ADEM Lived Experience - Erin's Story as told by mum, Michelle
Michelle shares her story her daughter's diagnosis of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) and cerebellitis secondary to influenza A virus. Five year old Erin and her brother both had flu like symptoms. Unfortunately, they became far worse for Erin.
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Viral Encephalitis Lived Experience - Elissa's Story
Elissa shares the importance of sleep, mental health and her family and friends in her ongoing recovery from viral encephalitis. Diagnosed in 2019, Elissa talks about the struggle she went though in hospital and the relapses she has experienced.
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Autoimmune Encephalitis Lived Experience - Elisabeth's Story
Elisabeth shares her experience of being diagnosed with autoimmune encephalitis. The confusion it caused and how and how she spent Christmas, New Year and her 20th birthday in hospital.
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Autoimmune Encephalitis Dave's Story - Part Two
Part 2, February 2018 (aged 68): An update on my progress after I fell ill with autoimmune encephalitis in January 2016. General I feel that I have come a long way since my illness in January 2016 and I am sure my family and friends would agree on this. Some days I feel 100%, […]
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Autoimmune Encephalitis Dave's Story - Part One
Part 1: January 2016 (aged 66) I have no recollection whatsoever of the initial stages of contracting encephalitis, nor the early stages of my diagnosis and treatment. Therefore, the first part of ‘my story’ has been compiled from the experiences of my family and friends, together with my medical team. The first sign that there […]
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Herpes Simplex Encephalitis Lived Experience - Corinna's Story
The HSV encephalitis had caused the amygdala to dysfunction, sending me on an unpredictable emotional rollercoaster ride. When I first arrived at the emergency department, doctors couldn’t find a clear cause to my symptoms of feeling disoriented, dizzy, nauseous and suffering a severe headache.
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ADEM Lived Experience - Charlie's Story
However, on the morning of the 6th February, he woke at 4am, told us he felt sick and rushed to the toilet and immediately vomited. He felt hot to the touch and his temperature was over 40. This is a high temperature, but we were used to Charlie having fevers as he had suffered from recurring tonsillitis for six years before they were finally removed in July 2018.
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Viral Encephalitis Lived Experience - Paula's Story
This is Paula's Viral Encephalitis Lived Experience. She discusses how encephalitis affected her childhood and how she is doing now.
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Anti-NMDAR Encephalitis Lived Experience - Ger's Story
Ger tells the story of his three experiences with Anti-NMDAR encephalitis and how it affected the course of his life.
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Herpes Simplex Virus Encephalitis Lived Experience - Audrey's Story
Audrey discusses herpes simplex virus encephalitis lived experience, including the early signs of her illness and long term effects encephalitis has had on her life after being diagnosed at age 58.
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Anti-NMDAR - Cerys' Story told by mum, Kerry
We called an ambulance and she was fully recovered by the time they arrived with no recollection of what had happened. She was taken to A&E where a CAT scan and observations all came back clear. They even considered sending her home because she was alert and well. She was only kept in because I mentioned the changes in her over the past week or so.
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Herpes Simplex Encephalitis Lived Experience - Bruno's Story
My encephalitis started suddenly from one day to the next. I was 16 at the time, and I was half way through my lunch hour when it happened. All of a sudden and without any warning, I felt very dizzy and lost all sense of balance. I spent a good deal of the afternoon with friends in the school library sitting down not being able to move much.
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Herpes Simplex Encephalitis Lived Experience - Brie's Story
In November 2019 I started to feel run down. Initial diagnosis was an ear infection. However, after a week of antibiotics and steroids I wasn’t any better. I was lethargic, sleeping for hours of the day. I began to become unsteady on my feet. The GP added in another antibiotic and some more steroid ear drops. He still felt it was a bad ear infection and advised me to continue.
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Measles Encephalitis Lived Experience - Barbara's Story
Although I feel that my life has been affected by many events, even small ones, one specific event had a major effect on the direction my life took at the time. This event occurred when I came down with measles encephalitis at the age of six.
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VZV Meningoencephalitis Encephalitis Lived Experience - Annette's Story
When I developed the mother of all headaches, it was not surprising that I was discharged from A&E after a night of observation, with the diagnosis of a tension headache. They had done a CT scan and a chest X-ray but results were normal. However, they had not really taken into account the fact that I was confused, light-sensitive and vomiting. I had lost my appetite and found drinking water difficult as everything tasted revolting and made me feel even worse
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Anti-NMDAR Encephalitis Lived Experience - Ana's Story
Ana was a happy 10-year-old just finishing the 4th grade when she came down with flu-like symptoms. Terri (Ana's mom) describes Ana's Anti-NMDAR encephalitis lived experience.
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Encephalitis Lived Experience - Anais' Story
I was 15, going into 4th year, and it was September so at this point school had been in commencement for about 2 weeks. The first sign of encephalitis, I only realised AFTER the entire ordeal. I was in class and suddenly I felt my body go still - I felt a wave of nausea hit me full force, my hands were shaking and I couldn’t move. I remember thinking “I need to leave, what is happening?” but I couldn’t speak - it was like I had gone catatonic.
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Encephalitis Lived Experience - Amy's Story
I was finally given a diagnosis and treatment was commenced. I was sent for a PET scan to check for tumours/cancer which thankfully came back normal. I had a central-line inserted, and I was administered several rounds of high dose steroids, and started on monthly cycles of plasmapheresis as an out-patient. I am on monthly intravenous immunoglobulin, and immune-suppressing tablets which I take daily. I've also had Rituximab infusions.
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Measles Encephalitis Lived Experience - Zanna's Story
It's a shock to be this ill. It changes your perception, your place in your own life, your relationship to others. Perhaps you feel cast adrift by the virus whose greatest threat is past; you’ve survived; but you feel physically and emotionally exhausted. You may not be able to get up or down stairs. You may not be able to get out of bed at all.
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Viral Encephalitis Lived Experience- Betzabé's Story
Although we -as Betzabé’s family- knew that she was not able to live the life that she lived before the brain injury, we were still fighting very hard to help her to build a worthwhile new life within her capabilities. We hoped that she could recover at least and have the independence as a person to look after herself and her youngest son.
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A letter from your brain
A Letter From Your Brain by Stephanie St. Claire may help you understand what happens with your brain after encephalitis.
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Anti-NMDAR Encephalitis Lived Experience - Hannah W's story
On September 4th, I was initially admitted to a psych ward. I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder Type 1 with psychotic features and mania. After no improvement was observed, I was admitted to another hospital on the 15th as it was suspected my condition was not psychiatric, but medical. After several weeks of assessments, tests, and procedures, I was diagnosed with Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis a rare auto-immune disorder where antibodies attacked the receptors of my brain.
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