Questions posted in the Neurology and Neurosurgery Forum have been answered by doctors from The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Question Title: Meningitis/encephalitis & vision

Forum: Neurology Forum
Topic: Meningitis


After a 2 day stay in the hospital for what the GP thought was an allerigic reaction to droperidol (severe shooting pain in leg of injected side", we sought a second opinion.
Our neurologist believes that my wife had viral meningoencephalitis. We are still waiting on the results of the lumbar puncture but since it was taken 4 weeks after the episode
we don't hope for conclusive evidence. We have been told that the leg pain was probably thalamic pain. The disconnected feeling and the dizziness continue to improve. Her left
side continues to get stronger. The strangest thing has been the vision problem. The opthamologist said that her astigmatism was suddenly much worse in the left eye.
After unsuccessfully trying an astigmatic contact lens, he is now having her wear a regular lens that is a decent bit stonger than the old one.

What is the connection between the meningoencephalitis and the physical change in her eye?
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Dear Jim,

Visual changes are not a typical presenting symptom of viral meningitis or
encephalitis. A typical patient with viral encephalitis would present with
progressive confusion, lethargy, fevers, headache, nausea and a stiff neck.
It isn't clear from your story whether this is indeed encephalitis or meningitis,
thought the spinal tap will shed some light on this. One can get visual changes
with focal lesions in the brain such as tumors and strokes, for example, but
these are called 'field cuts' where a particular area of the visual field has
lost vision.

Speak to your physician as to his thoughts on the spinal fluid and visual change.
The two issues you discussed are likely not related.

Good luck.
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