early morning blues

[brizzleychris]

My wife is 55 and diagnosed with alzheimers disease.
Normally (not a good word) things are ok ish, but recently she has started to get up at 0530. Ive kept very calm and gently suggested she returned to bed as it was early, but she then gets quite upset and wont settle.
Shes been to the toilet; its not something shes done before; she didnt ever get up at that time as norm.
By 0800 she has returned to her usual self and most days is very apologetic for getting up early but cant explain what she needs at that time and I havent got a clue.
She goes to bed most nights at 1030pm.
She has always (three years) taken her aricept in the morning between 0800 - 0900, thats because at the start we did go out a reasonable amount and bed time was sometime after 1000pm and not consistent.
Has anyone dealt with this and any idea if by changing the medication time, would it help ?
I appreciate any advice and thankyou.

[2jays]

Hi. Just seen your post and I am sorry you have not had an answer to you request for advice. Unfortunately I haven't experienced this, but I do know there are others on here who have. I'm not sure if there is anything that can help with this type of behaviour, but I understand it does soon pass - i can only suggest you visit the GP to see if there is a suitable sleeping tablet to help her to settle again after waking

Here is a link to a thread that may help

http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showt...ing#post581271

Thinking of you

[sunray]

When Mum lived with me, as soon as daylight saving started, she would get up as soon as the first light lit the sky although she too had always slept till 8am prior to that. We tried all kinds of things but in the end I put up heavy curtaining and that delayed the timing by half an hour or so. Sometimes I could talk her back into bed but she was up again within twenty minutes or so.

Mum usually finished up having a couple of breakfasts, one as soon as she got up (tea and one slice of toast) and a second one when my husband got up at 8.30am.

Unfortunately in Mum's case this was the beginning of her getting up at all hours which led in the end to her going into a nursing home earlier than she would have as I couldn't manage to get up to her all night and then look after my invalid husband all day. That and her running away from home really made her hard to look after.

Sue.

[Vivienne3]

My husband is 53 and has been diagnosed for over 3 years now. He has been getting up very early for the last 6 months and now it is as it comes light. He goes down stairs and sits on the settee with the blanket over him and nods off. He seems quite content so I don't worry.
The problem I have now is that he hates to go to bed. He says he is tired when sat on the settee and happy to go to bed but once I get him up the stairs he is shouting and swearing at me. I normally just say goodnight and leave and after 5 minutes or so he settles down.
It is an odd disease in the fact that things can change so quickly. One minute there is a routine and then it can change overnight to something else.
As long as your wife is safe and comfortable then just go with it. Lets hope the weather picks up and then you can sit in the garden and watch the sun come up !!! (You will be shattered in the evening but never mind).

[Bodensee]

I have to say I am sitting here completely in shock at what I am reading 53 & 55 years of age diagnosed with AD, this is so young, so very very young, the more I read about AD the more I realise that a definite diagnosis is very difficult, years ago AD was considered an older persons disease 'senile' was the word we used, today we have dementia nursing homes full of 'senile' people of all ages.
If anyone is in doubt that they have not had enough tests for the symptons of their disease you can ask your neurologists to take a blood test and they will send it to Professor John Collinge, he is a UK government scientist at the Prion Clinic. If my husband developed memory, anxiety, depression symptons this is the first thing I would do, it can rule out other similar known diseases, and this should be offered to everyone under the age of 80 years imo.

[brizzleychris]

Thanks Vivienne, you are of course quite right, I have learnt to go with the flow, but I guess less sleep plus I was concerned that we are going away with my daughter and young children and waking them early would not be ideal have just lost sight of that a little. It is an odd and horrid disease for sure.

My husband is 53 and has been diagnosed for over 3 years now. He has been getting up very early for the last 6 months and now it is as it comes light. He goes down stairs and sits on the settee with the blanket over him and nods off. He seems quite content so I don't worry.
The problem I have now is that he hates to go to bed. He says he is tired when sat on the settee and happy to go to bed but once I get him up the stairs he is shouting and swearing at me. I normally just say goodnight and leave and after 5 minutes or so he settles down.
It is an odd disease in the fact that things can change so quickly. One minute there is a routine and then it can change overnight to something else.
As long as your wife is safe and comfortable then just go with it. Lets hope the weather picks up and then you can sit in the garden and watch the sun come up !!! (You will be shattered in the evening but never mind).

[stanleypj]

My heart goes out to all the carers who are having their sleep disrupted in any way. I went through a period where I could not get Sue to come to bed at all. If that had continued, I don't know how I would have coped but fortunately she started to improve in various ways and we managed to establish a bedtime routine which works. She often wakes earlier than I think she should (by that I mean that she is sleepy during the morning) but will usually get back to sleep again with minimal encouragement. I know I'm lucky in this respect, but hope it may encourage others to hang on in there.

Read more at: http://adventureswithdementia.co.uk