sleeping all the time

[tulip]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new here but have been caring for my Mother with AD for several years now.
In the past two weeks she has started to sleep all day and night. Has anyone any experiance of this? Mum will wake up for meals and will stay awake for a short time when visitors call then she nods of again. GP has done bloods and everything is ok. I am wondering if she is moving to another stage------she needs help with everything except eating and toileting.

Tulip

 

[janew]

Dear Tulip

My mum sleeps a good lot of the time. As I work full-time mum goes to the Day Centre or Nursing home while I am at work but as soon as she comes home - unless I keep her occupied she always wants to go to bed.

Like you the Doctor could not find anything wrong with her, I have just put it down to part of the illness and where she feels more comfortable and content.

Best wishes to you both
Jane

 

[Jude]

Hi Tulip,

Welcome to TP.

You don't say how old your mother is, but elderly people do tend to snooze quite a fair bit of the day. I think it's a natural progression of getting older, as well as part of AD.

Jude

 

[Mjaqmac]

My mum went through this stage too. Sleeping all day, then she would go for a while awake most of the day, then back to sleeping.

 

[chrissieL]

My Husband is 82, he is sleeping a lot too, he snoozes on and off all day and will go to bed at 9.30 to 10.00pm and sleep until 8.00am in the morning. I'm just making the most of it for now as he has had periods when he hasn't wanted to go to bed and I've been exhausted. At the moment it's doing us both good.

 

[Sheila]

Hiya Tulip, welcome to TP. Yes, we had this too, it came and went for a while. Then, as she got worse, so it became more often. In a way, it is a kindness to all. If you look at old pets, they tend to do this too. I think it is just part of the age process, possibly accelerated by the disease. Love She. XX

 

[tulip]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I agree with you Sheila-----the contant sleeping is kinder for us all. Mum had been very anxious a few months past, also lots of wandering, trying to go home! It was very distressing watching her suffer so. She is 82 so I expect it is age and AD as mentioned.

Many thanks again everyone

Tulip

 

[Canadian Joanne]

Sleeping

My mother has gone through 2 extended periods of sleeping. She would spend something like 14 + hours a day in bed. One time she lost quite a bit of weight (which was okay, she was about 40 - 50 lbs overweight) because she refused to get up for meals.

We adjusted her meds (the time she took her anti-psychotic) and that helped her get out of the first sleepy phase. The second time we had Ritalin prescribed for her. It's ironic - I had a very long battle getting a specialist who was willing to give it a shot. It helped her for about 5 months so that was worth it.

I think the sleeping thing is part of the disease. My mother is now 68 so she's not that old. I think sleeping & staying in bed may have been a way for her to hide from the disease.

We have now put her on Ebixa (memantine) and it is working very well for her, she's much more engaged with the world, responsive and social. Also seems happier and more secure. It's all we can hope for.

 

[connie]

Hi all, can identify with this scenario.... Lionel goes to day care now 3 days a week. However when he is home, unless I keep him fully occupied, or we have visitors, he goes to sleep. He is not yet 64.

Lovely day today, went to the beach hut. Had several visitors there.. As soon as we arrived home tonight....asleep. He rallies when I rouse him, but if I leave the room....asleep. Answers please, on a postcard (Ha, ha) Connie

 

[angeluz]

hi tulip,

I recognized this scenario way back... when my grams was on her earlier stage of AD..... I was alarmed at first because she does'nt do anything but to sleep day and night. i bought her a transistor just so she can listen to it whenever she is awake. it keeps her mind focus since she loves listening to news and hear people's ideas and opinions over the radio. when she's awake i make it a point to spend time with her, talking to her and telling her stories of my day to day activities. but as her AD progresess her sleeping patterns has change too. now grams rarely sleeps. she sleeps only when she is too tired. now, i wish she can sleep a lot because it somehow affects her behavior.

try to spend a lot of time with her when she is awake..


angeluz