Woman's rare brain condition saw her hallucinating that mum was Boris Johnson
A young woman is raising awareness after Covid caused her brain to swell, resulting in psychotic episodes that made her think her mum was Boris Johnson.
Chantelle Christian, 28, had moved back home to Glasgow from London after lockdown was announced in March of 2020. However, soon after arriving home, she suffered symptoms similar to coronavirus, which soon turned into manic and psychotic episodes.
She had crazy symptoms including, no sleep, a racing mind, pressured speech and major heart palpitations. Her condition soon "escalated" on the night of March 31, when she started to experience manic episodes where she would have terrifying hallucinations and her behaviour became more generally more erratic.
She was admitted to a psychiatric hospital after calling 111 where she was under 24-hour watch. After three days in a psychiatric unit, her condition worsened and her heart rate was over 180 beats per minute, which is when specialists believed that her illness may be physical rather than mental.
Chantelle enjoying a walk with her dad post recovery (Chantelle Christian)She spent the next four weeks at Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital after being diagnosed with encephalitis. Speaking to Glasgow Live, Chantelle said her condition soon bettered however, her recovery was tough due to Covid restrictions and not being able to see her family until two weeks before she was discharged.
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She told GlasgowLive: "It was really tough. Everyone I came in contact with were nurses or doctors and because they had PPE on I associated that with the hallucinations I had of the nurses kidnapping me and having knives so sometimes, even though I was getting better, always being around people with PPE equipment really didn't help."
Discussing the delusion and hallucinations, Chantelle said: "I wasn't sure what was going on. I started to panic and believe the paparazzi were following me or outside my house. I sprayed perfume in my eyes as I thought it all could've been having a night terror. The hallucinations started whilst I was waiting in the ambulance. I was wondering 'Is that my mum or Boris Johnson?', I quickly started to lose grip of reality."
Chantelle who can speak a few other languages, said she would "switch" language while being assessed in A&E, which she described as "totally bizarre". The 28-year-old is "incredibly grateful" for her quick diagnosis and understands not all patients are as fortunate.
Discussing her recovery and being in the hospital during peak lockdown, Chantelle said: "I feel I lost a lot of time in recovery, the whole world stopped for a bit. Collectively everyone was going through their struggles and difficulties and therefore as awful and unique as this experience was for me it happened when the whole world was going through a challenging time.
Chantelle has made a full recovery however, now experiences mental fatigue and anxiety. She is now an avid campaigner for encephalitis and raises money for the incredibly rare condition. She had a few words for anyone going through a recovery from any long-term illness, saying: "Remind yourself that recovery is a marathon, not a sprint, it is up and down, you'll have good days and bad days. Try and stay present as much as possible, I like to tell anyone struggling that 'this too shall pass'".
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