Why is he sleeping so much?

sammyb

Registered User
Sep 19, 2007
126
0
Nottingham
This will seem such a pathetic concern when compared with Les's huge worries over the last 2 days so I am sorry for that. It is now a full week since my husband came home from hospital and things are going pretty well. Such has been the progress in the hospital's eyes that they have now fully discharged him. I have got him back eating (mainly weetabix, soups and fortisips) and drinking so I am managing to get the calories and fluid in which is a huge improvement on hospital. I thought at the beginning of the week that he just lacked motivation but he is actually sleeping round the clock. He is pottering around a bit upstairs, getting to the bathroom OK and feeding and dressing himself most of the time. But then he just flakes out on the bed. It appears to be proper sleep - he's snoring! We had fun and games mid-morning when I went into his den and he was snoring and he'd closed the curtains. I opened them again and when my back was turned he closed them. And so it went on all day. Open, shut, open, shut. Out of the last 7 days I think he must have been asleep for 6.5 of them! Whilst he was in hospital for all those months he was like this but I thought that was to block out everything around him. I don't think he is poorly at all as everything else seems OK. But is sleeping like this normal in AD or is it just his settling in back at home? He got in his pyjamas at 4.30pm and, although I woke him for tea and supper, I have no fears that he will be awake in the night because that is highly unlikely. Oh, but how good it is to have him home!

Love from Sammyb
 

elaineo2

Registered User
Jul 6, 2007
945
0
leigh lancashire
Dear sammyb,i am so glad you have your "laddo" home.
as for the sleeping a lot,were there any medication changes made whilst he was in hospital?If so then this may account for it,there may be side effects of this nature.If there wasn't any changes then i would speak to the GP,for reasurrance that there is nothing wrong with him sleeping as he does.I hope you are worrying unnecessarily.
love elainex
 

sammyb

Registered User
Sep 19, 2007
126
0
Nottingham
Because they believed him to be depressed they put him on cytalopram which is supposed to be a something or other inhibitor but shouldn't make people tired. Occasionally it does. He has come home still having that prescribed.

Love from Sammyb
 

elaineo2

Registered User
Jul 6, 2007
945
0
leigh lancashire
dear sammy.citalopram is used as an anti depressant,perhaps the dosage or strength is to high.is it 10mg or 20mg.it a selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor to give it the full title.can cause drowsiness but also insomnia.
love elainex
 

connie

Registered User
Mar 7, 2004
9,519
0
Frinton-on-Sea
Sammy, cannot comment on his sleeping but just have to say I just love your comment:

[QUOTEOh, but how good it is to have him home!
QUOTE]

It lept out at me when I read your post. So very pleased for you, and you seem to be coping so well.

Special hug to you both.
 

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sammyb

Registered User
Sep 19, 2007
126
0
Nottingham
Elaine02 - The dosage ranged from between 20 and 40 on the ward and he was sent home with 30mg a day. When he was on 40 he was well out of it!
And Connie - thank you for the Mr Tickle hug!

And what are we all doing up at this time in the middle of the week?!

love from Sammyb
 

Grannie G

Volunteer Moderator
Apr 3, 2006
81,455
0
Kent
Dear Sammy,

The sleeping could be from the medication, it could be depression, it could be escapism and it could be just because he feels so relaxed and relieved to be home.

He was in hospital a long time and it will probably take a while to adjust back to being at home.

I hope that`s the reason.

Love xx
 

sammyb

Registered User
Sep 19, 2007
126
0
Nottingham
We have had the open and drawn curtains scenario again this morning. Four times I've opened them and three times he's drawn them again behind my back. I have explained it is daytime and they need to stay open and that if he closes them once again I will taken them down for the day. Cruel aren't I? With no end of new and 'official' people coming today I am feeling a little apprehensive and not in the mood for a battle over curtains!! My usual sense of humour over such things is not quite there today but I have left his den mooing seeing as he's told me I'm a cow!! Hope it's the Highland sort because I like them a lot.

Love from Sammyb
 

Skye

Registered User
Aug 29, 2006
17,000
0
SW Scotland
Sammy, John's sleeping a lot too. I think it's possibly partly the medication, partly the progression of the dementia. Many of the people in John's NH sleep a lot of the time, even though the staff do try to stimulate them. Even before he had the infection, he was always wanting to go to bed.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about the curtains. If your husband wants them closed, is it worth fighting over? It could be that his eyes are especially sensitive just now.

I'm not trying to make light of your problems, you're doing such a great job having him home. But if you try to relax and go with the flow, it will be easier for both of you.

Love,
 

sammyb

Registered User
Sep 19, 2007
126
0
Nottingham
Indeed Hazel. I thought I had won the battle - silly me. He toddled off to the loo after lunch, looked out of the window and said 'It's raining' and promptly drew the curtains to shut it out. At least he'd has a morning of daylight.

love from Sammyb
 

Skye

Registered User
Aug 29, 2006
17,000
0
SW Scotland
Sammy, just another thought -- if your husband is depressed, maybe he just wants to shut the world out.

And who can blame him?

Love,
 

jenniferpa

Registered User
Jun 27, 2006
39,442
0
Sammy something that occurs to me. Why did they think he was depressed? Was it, perhaps, because he wanted to sleep all the time? I had this experience with my mother when she was hospitalized - she must be depressed because she wanted to be in bed. The fact that they had failed to note she was ALREADY on anti-depressants was a side issue. However, wnen I pointed that out everything went quiet. Now my mother was a lot older than your husband, but I do think it was her way of coping - in her dreams she could be however she want ed to be andm, to be honest, even before the strokes her mantra was "when the going gets tough, the tough go to bed". For her the sleeping wasn't a sign of depression (when she wasn't on the anti-depressants she was crying at the drop of a hat, and they stopped that), it was just a coping mechanism. I suppose what I'm saying is, if he wasn't depressed and was simply sleeping as a coping mechanism in hospital, might the anti-depressants now be acting as a sedative?
 

elaineo2

Registered User
Jul 6, 2007
945
0
leigh lancashire
Dear sammy,
your post last night about your husband sleeping alot got me thinking.Theres a lady in my home who came to us because her home shut down.Initially she was quiet and a bit withdrawn,we put it down to the move.
A month or so ago,we got the GP to visit as she would point blank refuse to get out of bed and slept most of the day.Fluoxetine(prozac) was prescribed and seemed to work after a week or two.Then the decline started again whilst i was off work for 3 weeks.Can i thankyou for your post as it will hopefully make a difference to this ladys well being.I got her a GP appointment this afternoon and the prozac has been stopped.Apparently it can have the reverse effect on some patients.She has been prescribed something i can't even say let alone spell.lol but can only start taking it on sunday to ensure the prozac is out of her system.
it can sometimes take a person who is experiencing the same problem to alert others.

thanks sammy and i hope you take care of yourself.
love elainex
 

sammyb

Registered User
Sep 19, 2007
126
0
Nottingham
I do think it is a coping mechanism but he is clearly also very tired. I wonder if any sleep he's had on the wards has been useful sleep. After the back and the urology problems there was clearly something wrong with him - confusionwise - so I asked if a psychiatrist could come and assess him. No-one mentioned that I was worried about confusion. The psychiatrist saw him, didn't think he engaged well with her (he turned away and refused to answer her questions) so she decided he was depressed. Not until he was on the psychiatric ward did I get to see the psychiatrist to explain my worries. It was then that they started the organic tests which led to the diagnosis of AD. However, they continued to give him anti-depressants because he was becoming more and more withdrawn in the staff's eyes so therefore must be getting more depressed. Now I know its not the same, but my mum had bi polar and I really did think I would recognise the signs of depression and that wasn't what I saw in him - and still don't - it was something very different. Oh the battles we have to have heigh?!

I have had a wonderful interlude with him tonight though. We've had a proper little conversation - the first since he's been home. I was looking out of the bedroom window at the night sky. He asked if it was still raining and thought that wasn't surprising for the time of year. And all this whilst trying to sort out his fortisips' straw which had gone wonky. Oh wow!

And now the dog is making noises in his sleep and mi laddo's talking in his!!

Love from Sammyb
 

jenniferpa

Registered User
Jun 27, 2006
39,442
0
Sounds like you'll be lucky if you get any restful sleep with all that going on.

I do wonder - it sometimes sounds like the only sign of depression that hopitals have ever been exposed to is a desire for sleep, while I still think it can be a reasonable method for escaping from a distressing and/or boring situation without it being a sign of anything else.
 

germain

Registered User
Jul 7, 2007
342
0
Hi Sammy

Our Mum sleeps as much as possible - always has done and its getting worse - we definitely think its a coping thing. Prozac and stopping Prozac has not changed things.

It must be a big thing for your lad to come home and be a bit unsettling after so long - even tho' its his own home and he's loved etc. It'll possibly get a bit better as he settles ? - but settling with AD can take weeks rather than days !

All the best - we just have to make the most of the few minutes our Mums awake.

And almost forgot - the optician who visited the CH identified that Mum had a couple of ingrowing eyelashes (her lower lid was turning in) - he said that it would be more comfortable for her to close her eyes all the time as the eye wouldn't be so rubbed. This has now turned into habit ? (a tiny bit of micropore tape
on her cheek is curing this)

Regards
Germain
 

CraigC

Registered User
Mar 21, 2003
6,633
0
London
Hi Sammy,

Before dad went into care he did start sleeping a lot more than usual. We put it down to the amount of energy he used to exert in his waking hours. The wandering would wear anyone down.

Now dad is in a care home he has a similar pattern, but much deeper sleeps. We've put this down to the medication (quetiapine) and a progression of the illness. I notice that a lot of people in dads home spend time sleeping and dosing (and not just those on meds).

Unfortunately it is a tiring illness.

However as many wise people have mentioned, it sure is worth getting it checked out, particulary at this stage. All sorts of medications can mess with our sleep patterns.

Kind Regards
Craig
 

Margarita

Registered User
Feb 17, 2006
10,824
0
london
years ago I ask that question to
myself that and did a search on it , did find a lot about AZ and depression , but always felt it was not depression as my mother was on medication for depression when doctor took her of them she still wanted to sleep then found this link http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cach...uch&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=uk&client=firefox-a

then thought god if Scientists don' t understand no one would , am never going to find the answer , so all that was left is for me to look at the leaflet of mum medication of Ebixa
that said side effect is tiredness

Is your husband also taking medication for back pain,as I wonder if side effect could include tiredness, and what does leaflet say on medication for depression
 
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