Bacterial meningitis

[raqi]

My soul mate suffered bacterial meningitis over 10wks now. Only close family are allowed to see him. The last I heard is,he is moving his arms and legs and is aware that ppl are there. When his hand is held he squeezes but he won't open his eyes.....why???. :((

[SilverCharm]

so sorry to hear about your soul mate. meningitis is evil nasty and attacks the brain of each person differently. your loved one appears to have a rather bad case. pray for them and be there for them.

[raqi in reply to SilverCharm]

Thank you sivercharm. Great name.

[welshfarmer]

Sorry to hear about the BM but glad to hear he is pulling through . Everyone who has ever had this will react differently, so whilst you may find common ground with many of us on here with BM post recovery there will always be some individual intricacies with recovery so don't get too alarmed.

My guess is that your soul mate is still photo phobic and is afraid to open his eyes. I couldn't have the lights on in my hospital bedroom or the curtains open for a good three months because the light hurt my eyes so much. The doctors were not sure if this was psychosomatic (and it could well have been) but what they were sure about was that the light actually caused me physical pain and caused my eyes to water so they didn't rush me or tell me to pull myself together ..... they just let me decide how best to adjust to the light again.

I really was "afraid" to open my eyes and although it's hard to explain it's a sort of safety coping mechanism to keep your eyes shut in these early weeks of recovery. I know that may not make any sense ... and that may not be the reason why your friend is not opening his eyes ..... but hopefully I might have allayed your fears that this is not altogether a recovery anomaly. Hope his recovery continues xx

[raqi]

Thank you so much welshfarmer. I do understand what your saying. My friend is a private person and doesn't like fuss so i can imagine his feeling of over whelment. I was saying that myself that he is properly scared to open his eyes. You have made me feel so much better. I know he is fighter. Its just unfortunate that i can't get to see him.

[viola78]

Does he have real sensitivity to light. I had to be in an almost dark room before I could open my eyes without pain. If the light was too bright or intense it triggered very bad head aches almost instantly.