A woman has shared how she was diagnosed with meningitis not once, but twice – and how it has completely changed her life.
Olivia Griffiths was teaching in a secondary school and suffering from severe head and neck pain for hours without realising the issue was cause for major concern.
Less than 24 hours after the pain started, Olivia was admitted to intensive care and her family was told to “prepare for the worst” as she was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis.
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“My body couldn’t work properly – I thought I was going to die and that was the end, it felt like my body was giving up,” Olivia, who is from Bangor, North Wales but now lives in Sheffield, told Need To Know.
“My family came up from North Wales and they were told it could go either way and to prepare for the worst.
“I just remember the panic.”
Olivia was just 27 when her symptoms began in 2022 – experiencing head and neck pain she had put down to a stressful work environment, sensitivity to lights, sharp pain when moving her neck and more.
The now 30-year-old says her symptoms became “progressively worse” throughout the evening – she had become lethargic and confused, the pain “unbearable” to the point that she woke up vomiting.
Olivia called her doctor in the morning and was told to “immediately” head to the GP.
While her doctor suspected viral meningitis, she was told bacterial meningitis is “rare”, and sent to hospital, where she faced a 12-hour wait.
Bacterial meningitis was confirmed with a lumbar puncture, something Olivia described as “the most horrific experience”, and she was sent to ICU.
Recalling the moment she was told of her diagnosis, Olivia said: “I was told when I was in a really bad way.
“My body had given up and I couldn’t speak properly, but in my mind I thought that it was the end.
“I also couldn’t understand due to the delirium and my hearing was getting worse.
“I was also on steroids and this made my eyesight severely blurry and my head felt like it was vibrating with pain.”
Olivia was hospitalised for several weeks and treated with medication for viral and bacterial meningitis, as well as steroids to ease the swelling on her brain.
Olivia’s battle with meningitis left her with profound hearing loss, fibromyalgia/myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), post-meningitis syndrome and various chronic conditions such as severe migraines.
Just two years later, September 2024, disaster struck again and Olivia was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis for a second time.
She claims it was as though her “body and mind knew” she had it again as she experienced the exact same symptoms.
Olivia has recently accepted a full-time teacher role, after spending almost two years recovering from her first ordeal, “sorting her life out”, and teaching on supply to ease back into her career.
However, she was feeling pressure and stress about the job, which she thinks contributed to a drop in her immune system.
She added: “I had the exact same headache, my partner wasn’t home but I texted him saying ‘I think I have meningitis again’.
“He instantly came home, rang 111 and they said go to hospital.
“We went to the hospital and I explained my symptoms – I was almost turned away and was told it wouldn’t be meningitis again as it ‘isn’t something that reoccurs’.”
Olivia took the advice of the hospital and returned home – until two days later when her symptoms worsened and she was admitted and treated with medication and another lumbar puncture.
She added: “This was the worst experience of my life as the lumbar puncture failed three times.
“It was so painful as it felt like there wasn’t enough anaesthetic.
“My partner wasn’t allowed in the room with me and said all he could hear was screams.
“I was told they would leave the lumbar puncture for a couple of days due to my experience, but I said if it is meningitis I don’t want to wait, so eventually had it done again.
“To everyone’s surprise, it confirmed meningitis again, a different strain.
“I was again hospitalised for weeks, but after this I felt my life and identity had actually been taken from me.”
Olivia’s life completely changed after her second battle with meningitis; she was forced to leave her teaching career, while her days were filled with “countless appointments” and being told that she ‘wouldn’t be the same person again’.
She describes the time between September – December 2024 as the “the bleakest of her life”, as she was diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety and depression.
Olivia was placed on seven different medications, which she claims actually made her symptoms, such as brain fog, chronic migraines, inflammation, anxiety and “lack of self awareness or control”, worse.
Olivia says that people often don’t take meningitis as seriously as they should.
She added: “It felt like my illness and the disease wasn’t taken seriously enough.
“I do believe it’s because not enough awareness is made around it and people don’t understand the detrimental impact it has.
“I felt like my life was over because I was practically told it would be.
“I was living with chronic pain, deafness, I couldn’t do anything, I didn’t want to go anywhere, I had no drive which was unlike me.
“My career was taken, my hearing was taken, I felt I had no purpose.”
However, Olivia refused to let this stop her and decided to take matters into her own hands, and researched remedies for people with chronic illness and conditions.
She made a number of lifestyle changes, including changing her diet and cutting out unprocessed and unhealthy foods, that ultimately helped her gain back her energy and even start pilates – which has led to her opening her own pilates and nutrition coaching business.
She said: “I genuinely cannot believe where my life and business is at now.
“I haven’t taken a single medication in over a year, haven’t had a flare up in over a year, haven’t felt much stress or any negativity since putting my health and well-being first.
“I am busier than ever but feel in control of my life now and my feelings and health.
“Meningitis was, weirdly, the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Olivia is now set to run the London Marathon in April to raise funds for the Meningitis Research Foundation.
She said: “If someone told me two years ago you would be running the London Marathon in 2026 I would have laughed in their face as I was in no state to do so.
“I do count my blessings everyday and love life now!”
As the UK faces a meningitis outbreak, Olivia has shared her thoughts on getting the meningitis B vaccine, something she believes people should get if they want to.
She added: “The key thing I believe is keeping your immune system up and healthy through nutrition and exercise.
“Putting this first has evidently healed me from the darkest time of my life, no medication did that!”
Olivia has also offered her advice to anyone experiencing symptoms – don’t wait.
She said: “You know your body, if something does not feel right, do not wait to get it checked.
“If it was a weekend and I had been out drinking, I probably would have thought I had a hangover.
“The fact it was midweek was what raised alarm bells for me.”
