sleeping all the time

topsy1

Registered User
Apr 22, 2014
18
0
Ireland
My 88 year old mother was diagnosed with Alzheimers 4 years ago, the progression has been fairly slow and gradual, she is pleasant and manageable, has been on the GP's Seraquel, an anxiety tablet for about 2 months now. Likes her bed and gets up late. Sometimes she sleeps for an hour after breakfast (noon-time) after her morning tablet. But recently she has been sleeping more and more during the day. Is she mercifully slipping away I wonder or is this just a phase?
 

Tin

Registered User
May 18, 2014
4,820
0
UK
Topsy, please don't misunderstand me, but if I could have a little of that for my mum. In my household, our biggest problem is lack of sleep. Without a sedative, mum just does not sleep. She takes the medication every other night and it at least gives her minimum 4 hrs and therefore me a little longer. I do understand your thoughts/worries, hesitating pressing the submit key.
 

ElizabethAnn

Registered User
Jan 4, 2014
189
0
Northumberland
Mum (82 Alzheimer's) sleeps quite a bit too - it seems to us that she sleeps more when she's having a bad/confusing day. Is it her way of seeking a release from her confusion ?

May be worth asking her GP if you're worried ???

Elizabeth.
 

Sonas

Registered User
Jul 13, 2014
15
0
It's worth investigating. Don't want to miss something else going on just because she has alzheimers. It could be that she isn't actually sleeping that well at night?

My mum can be very drowsy and sleepy by day, but when I spend the night with her I realise she is often restless by night (down in the kitchen making tea, in and out to the loo) so she is having bad quality night sleep and making up for it by day
 

Margarita

Registered User
Feb 17, 2006
10,824
0
london
With this diesease is does effect the chemicals that control the motervation then a combination of the medcation if side effect say medication can take the person feel drowsy and that don't t help.

My mum would of slept all day if I had let her .

As a carer I found I became my mother motivation.

I had to organize day centres for her, things we both could do together during the day.

Sorry I have not read your profile yet .
]so am wondering what activity has you mother to do during the day .
does your mum live alone or with you?
 
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Jessbow

Registered User
Mar 1, 2013
5,679
0
Midlands
I used to struggle to keep my Mum up until the 6 O'clock news '' I think i'll go to bed now'' <<her choice.

she would them sleep thru until I woke her between 7-7.30am, ready for carer.

After breakfast she'd sleep again, 2-3 hours deep sleep too, and would often nap in the afternoon

I estimate she would regularly sleep 20 hours out of 24
 

MReader

Registered User
Apr 30, 2011
191
0
essex
My husband also sleeps for England - if there were sleep Olympics, he would get a gold medal!!! :)
His psychiatrist told me long ago that as only a proportion of his brain works normally, he wears himself out just living so he sleeps to recover.
Put like this it makes sense.
However, I think that he sleeps to escape from his illness - if he is asleep then he doesn't have to deal with things - however he knows I will!! (Or is that just a man thing?) :confused:
 

dumpygirl

Registered User
Nov 20, 2013
115
0
derbyshire
My husband also sleeps for England - if there were sleep Olympics, he would get a gold medal!!! :)
His psychiatrist told me long ago that as only a proportion of his brain works normally, he wears himself out just living so he sleeps to recover.
Put like this it makes sense.
However, I think that he sleeps to escape from his illness - if he is asleep then he doesn't have to deal with things - however he knows I will!! (Or is that just a man thing?) :confused:

I found this very helpful and thank you for posting it. My husband (82) sleeps well each night. Gets up at about 8.30, has breakfast and then at about 10 oclock goes into the lounge and sleeps in his chair until I wake him for lunch (usually at about 1)
After lunch he goes back into the lounge and sleeps again until it is tea time.
However if we have anything planned like a visit or weekly day care or shopping he can stay awake quite well and only sleeps when we return home. I have come to the conclusion that it is lack of stimulation that makes him go to sleep but the explanation that your psychiatrist gave was really good and helps me to understand the very complicated mind of an alzeimer sufferer.
I feel lucky that he will sleep so much and when I read about other people who have partners who are agitated and restless most of the time I consider that I am fortunate that he is like this.
 

MeganCat

Registered User
Jan 29, 2013
358
0
South Wales
My mum is in a care home now - but whenever I visit she's most often asleep. The carers noted how much she was sleeping. Been checked over by GP. You can wake her and she will be happy to go on a trip out.
She does seem peaceful - prior to this she was very restless and awake all night - they haven't mentioned her not sleeping at night. She has settled more recently so it's good she feels safe enough to sleep now.
 

Oxy

Registered User
Jul 19, 2014
953
0
I think it must be a manifestation of dementia. My caree sleeps for England too.have found when not sleeping a.m, day can be not so good as result. Heat caused night to be agitated and didn't sleep because worried about some woman who doesn't exist having just gone without a goodbye. Only myself was there. Did go through house checking in middle of night primarily to ensure no falls occur. Nasty illness!
 

JTSA

Registered User
Jan 29, 2011
19
0
I have early stage VD, CADASIL

I want to sleep a lot too, more and more. Studies say the normal brain uses 20% of the body's energy... but what of us who struggle just to comprehend the day? Brain clutter, noise distractions, constant frustration and irritation. Doesn't that mean we use more energy just being awake? I want to be left to sleep, when I can, and I only know I have slept if I have dreams and remember them. We need much peace and quiet, low lighting. Our nervous systems are in flux. Sleep may be seen as a cowardly escape or avoidance, but what difference does it make? Nobody can save us. You may miss her presence, but this is probably the best she can do. I say, let us sleep.

QUOTE=topsy1;964865]My 88 year old mother was diagnosed with Alzheimers 4 years ago, the progression has been fairly slow and gradual, she is pleasant and manageable, has been on the GP's Seraquel, an anxiety tablet for about 2 months now. Likes her bed and gets up late. Sometimes she sleeps for an hour after breakfast (noon-time) after her morning tablet. But recently she has been sleeping more and more during the day. Is she mercifully slipping away I wonder or is this just a phase?[/QUOTE]
 

martinjohn

Registered User
Jan 2, 2012
7
0
My 88 year old mother was diagnosed with Alzheimers 4 years ago, the progression has been fairly slow and gradual, she is pleasant and manageable, has been on the GP's Seraquel, an anxiety tablet for about 2 months now. Likes her bed and gets up late. Sometimes she sleeps for an hour after breakfast (noon-time) after her morning tablet. But recently she has been sleeping more and more during the day. Is she mercifully slipping away I wonder or is this just a phase?

hello i was diagnosed with alzheimers about four years ago i am sixty years old i could sleep for england as they say my wife knows when i am not having a good day i tend to sleep and not communicate much its very difficult to motivate ourselfs why i dont know just part of the alzheimers i guess but i would ask her doctor to check her over for peace of mind i am lucky i have a nurse that comes out once a week to see me and my family i would be lost without her and may i say thankyou for looking after her its not easy being a carer for someone with alzheimers as we change so much and dont remember things yours sincerely martin
 

moonshadow

Registered User
Aug 22, 2013
16
0
My mom (84, AD, heavy stage but still can walk) sleeps a lot. Sometimes 20 hours out of 24. As she stays with me for a week, I realized she has good days and bad days (whatever the reason).

In "bad days" she sleeps a lot -she even eats with eyes closed all through the meal :cool: Bad days can last 36-48hours. Sometimes it's a pain somewhere, some kind of disturbance or just plain tiredness. I think she needs that sleep to 'recover' as mentioned above. The long sleep days occur independently of the outside stimuli.

In good days, she is more vivid in the mornings after a 12-hour sleep. She talks (OK not clearly) and smiles and points to the cat ("This!") or a pillow on the floor ("Up!) or fallen plant leaves in the balcony ("Dirt!").

it's the disease...
 

Nasus

Registered User
May 12, 2010
21
0
Derbyshire
hello i was diagnosed with alzheimers about four years ago i am sixty years old i could sleep for england as they say my wife knows when i am not having a good day i tend to sleep and not communicate much its very difficult to motivate ourselfs why i dont know just part of the alzheimers i guess but i would ask her doctor to check her over for peace of mind i am lucky i have a nurse that comes out once a week to see me and my family i would be lost without her and may i say thankyou for looking after her its not easy being a carer for someone with alzheimers as we change so much and dont remember things yours sincerely martin

Thanks Martin, I think, your comments are very useful to those of us who care for others.
 

missemma

Registered User
Feb 24, 2014
3
0
Not Sleeping

My grandmother has the opposite problem, she usually stays up and sits in a chair at least three times a week.
 

Helena B

Registered User
Sleeping

My mother (90) goes in phases. During my last visit, (I live at the other end of the country so go to stay every couple of months) I think she was only awake about 25% of the day. She herself was disconcerted by how tired she was. But this happens in phases: there is no constant, regular pattern.

She always sleeps twelve hours at night, but she has long phases of being alert and restless during the day. And during these phases she can walk fairly long distances, or arrive on my sister's doorstep very many times (my sister lives a couple of streets away). In fact, we wish she wouldn't be quite so active, because on some of her restless walks she disappears and doesn't come back for a long time because she's forgotten where she is and where she's going. We have a UPS device on her keys, but sometimes she forgets her keys. And taking her for a walk doesn't work in itself by tiring her ready for a snooze, because during the restless phases within half an hour she's forgotten we've been for a walk and is ready to go for a walk etc etc.

We wonder whether the phases of sleeping nearly all day are connected with a progression of the illness, whether another bit of brain damage has occurred, and she's sleeping in a valiant attempt to repair the connections. All her life she has slept whenever she was ill, and now is no exception.

Sadly, she is easier, in many ways, when she is so sleepy. Her restless phases, especially when she keeps wanting to pack her things and go home (she lives in her own home) are harder to deal with, both practically and emotionally.

I agree that stimulus helps, that there is a kind of sleepiness connected with boredom that the right kind of stimulus can improve. But I'd say that during her sleepy phases our mother sleeps in a different way from that dozy boredom thing. A way of sleeping that's more like half-coma -- a different consciousness from ordinary sleep. She doesn't seem to be ill -- no other symptoms -- but she gets confused when she wakes up because the sleep is so deep, that when she wakes she sometimes thinks it's morning and time for breakfast.

I think as far as possible it's best for people to do what they need to do: sleep if they are sleepy, and walk miles if that's what's required. The difficulty is providing an environment in which people can comfortably and safely do what they need to do.