Incredibly deep sleep that you can't be woken from. Has anyone else experienced this?
- Thread starter Bidle
- Start date
My mother hasn't been diagnosed either. I have been having issues waking her also. She gets into such a deep sleep. I can shake her, yell at her. She will barely open her eyes and quietly respond then fall back to sleep. She will not rember the incident. She will sleep for a few hours then wake up fine . To be honest I really don't know how often she goes into this deep sleep as I don't live with her but I check on her often. She is 76 years old and independent. I'm very worried.
This has happened a number of times to my Mum, the last time resulted in being admitted to hospital where she "slept" for about 6 hours before she woke up. During the time in A & E she was undressed, prodded, poked, shook, had blood taken, CT scan, ECG and she was completely oblivious.
Once she was admitted to the ward she woke up - the CT scan showed little change from her last scan, the ecg was ok as was blood pressure, oxygen SATS etc. The only thing that did really show - apart from a possible chest infection - was a low potassium level. She was in hospital for 5 weeks and there were 3 or 4 instances where neither we or the nurses could wake her and were told by the nursing staff that they usually let people come round on their own accord. We have also been told that it may be to a drop in blood pressure, but each time she has had blood pressure checked whilst "asleep" it has been normal so I'm not sure that that is right.
A gp at Mum's doctors think she may have suffered TIA's but this couldn't be confirmed or denied and I would have thought that something may have shown on the CT scan.
Sorry can't be more helpful, but you are not alone
Once she was admitted to the ward she woke up - the CT scan showed little change from her last scan, the ecg was ok as was blood pressure, oxygen SATS etc. The only thing that did really show - apart from a possible chest infection - was a low potassium level. She was in hospital for 5 weeks and there were 3 or 4 instances where neither we or the nurses could wake her and were told by the nursing staff that they usually let people come round on their own accord. We have also been told that it may be to a drop in blood pressure, but each time she has had blood pressure checked whilst "asleep" it has been normal so I'm not sure that that is right.
A gp at Mum's doctors think she may have suffered TIA's but this couldn't be confirmed or denied and I would have thought that something may have shown on the CT scan.
Sorry can't be more helpful, but you are not alone
My Mum went into residential dementia care in December 2018. She was admitted to A&E a couple of weeks ago because she was unresponsive. The doctor there told me that she had 'days or at the most, weeks to live' and discharged her back to the home with drugs for end of life care. This diagnosis seems to have been given on the basis that blood tests and other observations showed that there was nothing medically wrong with her. She ate very little but the carers and I managed to get Mum to drink (when she said she was thirsty) and within a few days she was up and eating and drinking by herself. Today, I have been told that Mum was again unresponsive and the paramedics were called however, she came around again. I'm not sure if an increase in these episodes is something to worry about.
My Mum (almost 88) has been in RC for 3 years and was diagnosed with mixed dementia in 2010. For the past few months she has been going to sleep in the daytime a lot more and a lot more deeply. When in these deep sleeps she usually twitches quite a lot and it is very difficult to wake her. She is usually put to bed, monitored and allowed to "sleep it out". When she wakes, sometimes after many hours, she is back to her normal behaviour. Last week she forgot she needed help to get out of her wheelchair (she is unable to walk any more) and tried to stand up. The resulting fall left her with a hip fracture and a hospital stay. The hip has been stabilised but not replaced and orthopaedically she is doing well. They are very concerned about her "sleep episodes", she's had 3 in 5 days, she's had a CT scan which showed nothing they were worried about but despite how many times I tell them that "this is what she does" they are persisting in trying to find the cause. When this kind of behaviour is quite well documented why can they not just leave her alone and as soon as she is well enough get her back to her familiar surroundings in the care home?
@OurLass, if no one has said, hello and welcome to Talking Point, please allow me to say it. I hope you will find it welcoming and helpful here.
I am very sorry to hear about your mother, especially her recent fall and hip fracture, and all the worry and stress you have had.
I am in the States and things work differently here, so apologies in advance if I say something not applicable in the UK (if that is where you are), or something downright stupid.
I hold Power of Attorney for my mother (dementia, in a care home) which allows me to make decisions about finances and health care, among other things. So in your situation, I could refuse testing like the CT scan, or a hospital admission, or so on. I gether that is not always the case in the UK but could you have some frank discussion with the persons in charge, to let them know how you want your mother's care to go? So often in caring for someone with dementia or other illnesses, we reach a point where automatically treating or diagnosing everything, is no longer in their best interests.
I hope one of the experienced UK members can better advise what I have not terribly clearly tried to suggest.
Very best wishes to you and your family.
I am very sorry to hear about your mother, especially her recent fall and hip fracture, and all the worry and stress you have had.
I am in the States and things work differently here, so apologies in advance if I say something not applicable in the UK (if that is where you are), or something downright stupid.
I hold Power of Attorney for my mother (dementia, in a care home) which allows me to make decisions about finances and health care, among other things. So in your situation, I could refuse testing like the CT scan, or a hospital admission, or so on. I gether that is not always the case in the UK but could you have some frank discussion with the persons in charge, to let them know how you want your mother's care to go? So often in caring for someone with dementia or other illnesses, we reach a point where automatically treating or diagnosing everything, is no longer in their best interests.
I hope one of the experienced UK members can better advise what I have not terribly clearly tried to suggest.
Very best wishes to you and your family.
Hi Amy, thank you for taking the time to respond and for your welcome. Lasting Power of Attorney works a little differently in the UK and although I have one for Mum's assets and finance, another one would be needed for me to have any say in her health and welfare. My late father wouldn't allow this and by the time he died Mum didn't have the capacity to appoint me. She has had her hip fracture repaired and is now safely back at her loving care home. Despite all the tests the hospital could find no medical reason for her going into such deep sleeps and happily she is still doing this! It's her "learned way" of getting herself put to bed in the peace and quiet of her own room and it seems to be very effective. Thankfully since her fall the staff seem to realise this and pop her back to bed where she sleeps for as long as she needs to. With best wishes. Alison
Hi, I just googled 'how to tell the difference between a deep sleep and unconsciousness in alzheimer's patients' and found this thread and website!
I appreciate the thread is a couple of years old now. My dad has had alzheimer's for around 8/9 years and today we called an ambulance because we couldn't waken him. He was lying on his bedroom floor unconscious. The carer had arrived and couldnt waken him, my mum couldn't waken him and neither could I when I arrived. We were unsure how long he had been on the floor as this was 10am and mum had last seen him at 4.30am.
I honestly thought he'd had a stroke. We couldnt waken him and he was completely unresponsive. Paramedics arrived and took his obs. After about 15 minutes he opened his eyes, said hi and gave them a big smile!
We got him up into a chair and then into the living room. 10 mins later he was sitting eating breakfast and chatting to the paramedics! We decided not to take him to hospital but to just monitor him at home.
I wondered if this was maybe another stage of his alzheimer's and from this thread it looks very possible. It has given me a bit of comfort to know that others have experienced it with their loved ones.
I know just need to figure out how to know that it's a 'safe' sleep and when I should get help....
I appreciate the thread is a couple of years old now. My dad has had alzheimer's for around 8/9 years and today we called an ambulance because we couldn't waken him. He was lying on his bedroom floor unconscious. The carer had arrived and couldnt waken him, my mum couldn't waken him and neither could I when I arrived. We were unsure how long he had been on the floor as this was 10am and mum had last seen him at 4.30am.
I honestly thought he'd had a stroke. We couldnt waken him and he was completely unresponsive. Paramedics arrived and took his obs. After about 15 minutes he opened his eyes, said hi and gave them a big smile!
We got him up into a chair and then into the living room. 10 mins later he was sitting eating breakfast and chatting to the paramedics! We decided not to take him to hospital but to just monitor him at home.
I wondered if this was maybe another stage of his alzheimer's and from this thread it looks very possible. It has given me a bit of comfort to know that others have experienced it with their loved ones.
I know just need to figure out how to know that it's a 'safe' sleep and when I should get help....
@MagsA
My Mum is in a care home and went through a phase like this a few months back after a bout of shingles, UTI’s and a chest infection.
Nurse at Mums care sign a good indication is if you try and open their eyelids. If they struggle against it, or their pupils respond to light its a good sign at least.
How frightening for you though .
My Mum is in a care home and went through a phase like this a few months back after a bout of shingles, UTI’s and a chest infection.
Nurse at Mums care sign a good indication is if you try and open their eyelids. If they struggle against it, or their pupils respond to light its a good sign at least.
How frightening for you though .
My OH went through this in hospital and even the nurses were concerned, 4 infections later it has become obvious that this is when it happens. On 1 call to 111 I was asked to wake him, I explained I couldn't and was told I had 2 choices. I could either wake him or end the call. She just didn't get that I couldn't he just mumbled to me in his sleep and even if I did manage he couldn't answer her questions anyway. When I said I had a 3rd option to ring 999 she changed her attitude and handed me over to the clinician.
Same happened to dad, yesterday. Found unresponsive in the care home, thought he had suffered a stroke. They phoned 999 and paramedics couldn’t rouse him. He was taken to a&e, where he came round, they did a complete set of tests and found nothing. Kept him in overnight for observation and sent back to the home. The doctor told us is was part of the dementia progression. He is at late stage. Very frightening for all concerned, not sure what action the home will take if it happens again. X
While still receiving care at home my mother in law would often sleep for several days at a time and then eventually wake up. Several times we thought it was the end for her but she went on to outlive Dad after they both went into residential care.
So pleased my niece found this post as it gives reassurance that this is not uncommon. Mum is in late stages, big decline in last 3 months. Last week dad called me to help as he couldn't rouse mum to get her ready & into bed. We both tried but no response and as she seemed settled on the sofa we covered her with a blanket and my 81 year old dad slept in the chair. I stayed over and woke at 5.30 am when we managed to wake her and sort her for bed. Dad says same happened last night, it was 12.30 when he got her to bed. Really not sure how much longer he can cope with mum at home
I cant give any medical advice, but I can say my little brother actually gets like this sometimes, you could have a foghorn going off and he wouldn't wake for it. He has no medical conditions whatsoever. I would say though that if that is not typical of your mum and she doesn't usually sleep in such a way, you should look into it more
What is this called??? My mother 87 goes into a unconscious state that’s we can’t wake her from. She gets a weird look on her face before and after she comes out of it. She looses control of her saliva and mucus from her nose! She wakes after a long period of time. We have a new care giver that had not experienced this event until yesterday. Mom passed out on the toilet and it freaked her out. Called the paramedics and they found moms vitals to be pretty normal…. I would just like to know what caused this!!
