My boyfriend who I have been dating for 2 months and spending every day with was intubated for 9 days with COVID. He woke up but does not remember me or even recognize my name. He woke up thinking he was still married to his ex-wife to whom he has been divorced for the last 10 years. He is slowly remembering some things but nothing about me or the time spent together. Why did this happen and is there a possibility that he will never remember the last 2 months?
#coronavirus #memoryloss
My own experience: six months on, memories from about a week before induced coma and intubation (the period when the virus was taking hold) are fragmented and lost. After two weeks in a coma, during the following week in High Dependency I experienced significant delirium: complete disorientation, extremely weird imaginings, and violent feelings related to past emotional situations in my life. I also believed myself to be in a sequence of completely improbable places which, significantly, were all to do with places I had previously been in and people I had been with. This period of delirium seems to be normal, and can be very distressing for close family and friends. Be patient, calm and supportive - the pieces of the mental and emotional jigsaw will come back into place.
Completely agree with @Rach2Sym
I have still lost a couple of days running upto me entering ICU. I guess I was so ill already ( and possibly delirious even then - I’d go on about an incredibly bright green bird in our garden - which, incidentally, I’ve never seen again). I dreamt of people & places familiar to me ( but very altered) - I also travelled to places I’ve never been - often they were nightmare scenarios. ICU delirium is very confusing because of this jumble of reality & fantasy. I wasn’t sure who I was married to at first & whether that person could be trusted. I righted very quickly.
Hi @Irenium1
I too agree with @Rach2Sym & @Sepsur but to answer your specific question about memory. I am not a covid patient but memory issues are not uncommon with icu patients. I am 72 with all my faculties.
I first went into hospital on 27/11/19 I was sent home after a week and then rushed back in finishing up in icu just before Christmas I was sedated / ventilated for nearly 2 months and came home mid March.
I have lost my memory for about 2 months or so before going into icu. Before going to hospital the first time I have one partial memory as a result of being reminded about it. I can remember going to my GPS and being told off for not calling an ambulance. And at the hospital I can remember queuing in A&E and a couple of other events but not any of my visitors and I had quite a few. When I came home the first time I have no memories of those days other than being taken in the ambulance and the crew making the advance call. That loss of memory continued in the local hospital although I do remember being blue lighted off to Birmingham. Then from my admission to the QE and being moved to icu I have no knowledge.
I found this loss of memory very difficult however I am on a course of CBT which helps resolve the issue but not the loss.
Once sedated/ventilated the drugs take over your mind and I have no memory of that period at all. The hallucinations were horrendous the difficulty here is that it becomes difficult to distinguish the difference between what might be real, what is real and what clearly isn’t real but very realistic.
Once I came off sedation my memories started to improve.
Now on a day to day basis it is much better although I do forget things said to me this tends to happen with what might be called trivia significant memories don’t seem to be such a problem.
Your partner clearly had significant trauma in the past and this may be at the root of the problem
Look after yourself during this difficult time.
I feel so sorry for you.. I was in induced coma in icu for a month in May this year after a cardiac arrest and heart attack and I have no memories of the 2 months previous to going into hospital. Little flashes of memory are returning but there are still lots of big chunks missing. I feel so frustrated by not remembering anything so i can only imagine how you are feeling. I would say stick with him and try to jog his memory with events you did as a couple before he was admitted.. stay strong
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