James Seth Williams's story

I'm a college student and on September 30th 2015 I got a headache that felt like just a stress headache. The next day it got worse and started to feel like a migraine headache. I took some meds and went on about my day but the meds didn't work and by that night the headache got worse. I was at my girlfriend's house hanging out with her and her family and my headache became unbearable. She gave me some ibuprofen which still didn't help and when I got back to my dorm I lay down and fell right to sleep.

I woke up around 4:30 that wednesday morning with a headache I couldn't handle and was feeling sick to my stomach so I called a friend and he took me to a hospital nearby. They said I had viral meningitis. I was in the ER for about 7 hours with the nurses and doctors checking on me. They had to give me three spinal taps to make sure it was VM. I was in the hospital for about a day and a half. 

When I was released it took up to a month to get rid of the headaches and about a week and a half to get rid of the nausea, but now my short term memory is being affected. I can study for hours for an exam the night before and not remember a lot of what I studied. I also forget things that I do about an hour after I do it. On top of it all, it also kicked my ADD into high gear. So, in two words, IT SUCKS. I hate to hear that other people have had to deal with it. but then I'm also glad I'm not alone on this.

James Seth Williams
February 2016