There were many things I experienced that was difficult to find information on. One was extreme skin sensitivity. I had shingles about ten years ago, and if you have had them, then you can relate. My skin was extremely sensitive to touch. Just anyone coming near me was excruciating because although people don't know it, a breeze is made. Anybody who has had shingles knows that just to wave a hand in front of the affected area causes excruciating pain. I couldn't speak at the time, so I really couldn't communicate the pain I was experiencing. When I had shingles, I suffered through it without any prescription pain medication. But this experience, I really wanted some strong stuff, but either it wasn't approved, or I couldn't communicate it strongly enough - I don't remember. Sometimes, the nurses would rub lotion into my skin, which would hurt when they applied it, but it soothed the skin for a little while after that.
The one annoying thing, as little as I remember during my stay in ICU, and in Critical Care, was the commercial for shingles vaccine. The spokespeople in the commercials related how much shingles hurt. Everytime I saw the commercial, I thought, yeah, but I had shingles, and the skin sensitivity I feel now is 100 times worse.
I don't know if this is a common symptom of meningitis. I didn't come across this. It was a viral infection I experienced. Most likely a common cold virus, but could my meningitis have been caused by Herpes Zoster - the same virus that causes shingles and chicken pox? It would make sense, to me, as a layperson, that it would go on and wreck havoc throughout my nervous system and spinal cord.
The extreme pain lasted for about two to three weeks. It went away during the month I spent in the rehabilitation unit.
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