Wellness

[gardenman]

My 87 year old mother is now suffering from dementia, but has good days and bad. On her bad days she'll wake up after just a few hours of sleep (2-3) and stay awake (wide awake) for the next 18-21 hours and have her most extreme symptoms. (I call these her antsy days.) She'll hallucinate, hear things that aren't there, and be constantly fidgeting and restless. This is always followed the next day by a sleepy day where she'll sleep for 21 or so hours and be difficult to rouse, but reasonably lucid when roused. The next day and for the next several days she'll be back to her normal self with minor dementia/confusion, a couple of naps during the day (one in the morning and one in the afternoon) and normal bedtime habits (waking up around 6:00 AM -8:00 AM and going to bed around 7:00-8:00 PM). Then the pattern repeats starting with another antsy day.

I don't have a lot of experience with dementia so I don't know how "normal" this is. It feels like a metabolic issue to me where her body dumps a weeks worth of adrenaline (or something) in her one day and then she burns it all off and has to sleep for a full day to recover to a normal level, but her doctor largely dismissed that when I raised it the other day. Is this pattern (frantic one day followed by a full day of sleeping the next, then normal behavior for several days) typical for a dementia patient or is it time to see more specialists? Thanks.

[Sunnycorle]

I don't know what is 'normal' with dementia patients but what you describe sounds like what we went thru with my Mother. Same kinds of ups and downs and issues. We unfortunatly lost her 3 years ago and I miss her so much. Maybe you should reach out to some specialists to assist you. If you can get her to go. My Mom fought her illness the whole time and it was difficult and heartbreaking. Best wishes for you and your Mother! Big Hug!!!

[Johnnyeager]

I think that one very common symptom among dementia patients, which we experienced with my mother, is the loss of a conventional biological clock. In her early stages of the illness she would sleep during the day fitfully, having auditory hallucinations and phantom conversations. She would then awaken at night (what is called Sundowners syndrome) and wander around. If that occurs, someone must be on watch and careful of throw rugs, stairs, etc. I wish you and your family the best, as this is difficult for everyone.

[luvmyteddy4]

You need to find out what stage she is in, that would help. I took my mother in almost from the beginning stages to the end and she never had days like you describe. I'm sure every case is slightly different. Do you have her in your care? You can have a home care nurse come in and evaluate her. They will ask her a ton of questions.

My mom would have her good days and bad days but was always wide awake in the mornings and barely took a nap. When she had a fit she would forget and go on like normal. She lived to be 92 and was in her mid 80s when it started. It took me awhile to figure it out since she didn't live with me at first and lived on her own. She was falling more than I knew about and finally ended up in ER. Now I feel like I could write a book about it. Good luck. This forum really helped me cope when it started.

[2cockers1cat]

I'm approaching your question from a layperson's point of view. Yes this is what happens to our elderly who live long enough to reach the dementia state. My Dad's came from many years of TIA's. My FIL lived to 97. His last months were a frenzied psychosis of OCD fixations: to list a few; bills, mail, Kleenex, toilet paper, names of visitors, medications ( their names an purpose), followed by exhaustion and insomnia. At night, he wandered around checking locks, eating, falling from exhaustion and calling his Lifelock service for help. And he had caregivers. Family and paid help most of the day and night.

Is your mom home? My dad was in a good dementia care facility because eventually, monitoring him was a full-time exhausting job. FIL was at home, so I've experienced both options. The sad part about family becoming care managers is we are no longer spouses or children.

I think you are right about metabolic changes contributing to her condition. Our bodies aren't as efficient in self regulation as we age.

Best of luck as you and she cope with the cascade of changes to come.

[qualitygal]

This sounds like the merry-go-round we were on too. Dad had what we came to refer to as his good days and his bad days. Days he was awake, were the good days. His sleepy/bad days, were just that. It was harder when his care giver for baths came on a bad day. Those were the most horrible for us all. At the nursing home, it went so much better. I did finally see his pattern of awake and asleep and his was about 48 hours apart in his cycle.

There is a section or more on line to see the 7 stages of Alzheimer's and you can see how they overlap. He was diagnosed as having Alzheimer's. I don't know about Dementia and the differences in them, I know both are hard.

He too would talk about some things and it didn't make sense, but we 3 and our 2 husbands learned how to just go with his flow. He also couldn't talk right, sometimes he realized it and later he went on and on and one time just laughed away, so we all did too. It isn't easy, but if we got through it, I'm sure you will too. God bless you all. It isn't easy, but you aren't alone. Dad passed going 3 mos. ago now. I know he's in a better place.

[2cockers1cat]

Afterthought. Eventually, she may have very real hallucinations and relate them to you as fact. Don't contradict and correct, just accept them as very real to her.

[Jeremiah 2911]

What you've written about your mom's behavior sounds somewhat normal, in my opinion, especially if your mom is on any medications. Medicines kick in and cause one type of behavior and then when they cycle through the body, another type of behavior takes over.

The older people in our family displayed the same type of sleeping pattern you've described even without being diagnosed with any type of dementia. I think this might be due to diminishing amounts of natural melatonin from a worn out pineal gland.

Just a precaution to you: In my experience with elderly people, each time the doctor prescribed a new medication we had a new symptom to deal with. Some of these medications that elderly people are routinely prescribed can cause more side effects than the original problem.

For instance, my MIL was doing fine until she was prescribed ARICEPT. About one week into the medication she lost her memory and has never fully recovered. We attribute her demise to this drug. I've read several other accounts where people had the same outcome. Of course, there are others who say that Aricept helped their loved one. I would just caution you about some of these drugs.

Here is a link to www.mmlearn.org which posts a lot of helpful videos for caregivers; they are about how to deal with all types of elderly issues, including dementia. They've been very helpful to me. Just click on the link to videos and find the ones that you think will be helpful. The "Ask the Geriatrician" series is excellent. One of those videos deals with the over-drugging of elderly and that one is very helpful. Don't be concerned about signing up with your email, they will never contact you. They are an excellent organization.

Hope this helps you. All the best to you and your mom.

[donovan]

It could be a form of dementia called Lewy Body Dementia, especially with the hallucinations.

Good Luck Gardenman.

[Gooday]

She may also have an infection. My mom had Parkinson's and dementia. She had a bad UTI that brought on visual and auditory hallucinations. Also, she would sleep all day and stay up all night, begging my dad to give her pills. She even developed bed sores. She was 71 years old. Take her to her PCP.