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He goes to sleep at 9 pm and does not get up until 1-3pm on the afternoon, I check every hour he says he just very tired. He has no other major illness and meds have remained the same for over two years now.

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My 96 yo MIL goes to bed at 8:00 p.m. Not by choice. She would stay up til 1:00a.m. if we let her. My husband gets her to put pj's on after dinner because it takes her so long to get ready for bed. She will slee
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oops.... She will sleep til 4:00-5:00 p.m. if we don't wake her up.15-18 hours would be normal for her. I try to get her up at 10:30-11:00a.m. I asked doctor if I should let her sleep. He said to try and get her up for two meals a day. Some times I feel bad because she just loves to sleep. I never know what to do. Does it really matter?
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I guess it really doesn't matter, if they are content, evidently they need the sleep. I get my husband up too but unless he's ready he nicely replies just another 1/2 hour. Being in late stage 6 AD I would rather see him sleep than awake an getting himself agitated over something he has no control over.
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By any chance did he have a flu shot recently? Last year my mom had the high dose shot, she slept most of the next three days! As Alzheimer's progresses they sleep more and more, just part of it. I too would rather have them sleeping than getting agitated about something that they are misinterpreting.
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No did not have a flu shot this year. Thanks for your input
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Based on my experience with my late husband, I would say let her sleep. One of the women on an Alzheimer's support group I belonged to had Alzheimer's She described the experience of being drawn into the sleep state. It was not unpleasant.
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We are having the same experience! My husband who has been diagnosed with dementia (they didn't say ALZ) has always slept more than the average person. He goes to bed at 7:30 p.m. and doesn't really want to wake for breakfast at 8:30 a.m. I have the instinct to get him up then for breakfast and later for lunch. So glad to read the message from ii3221 re. doctor's suggestion for two meals a day. Makes sense for our situation. He is awake from about 3 pm on, and good company until the 7:30 bedtime.
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That is too much sleeping. He needs a regular schedule. Have his thyroid checked. With dementia organs start malfunctioning. If he goes to bed at 9 p.m., then he can rise at 7 a.m. Wake him up, get breakfast and start your days. Again, get his blood work done to check first to see if something else is going on. Also, have his Vitamin D levels and B12 checked which must be asked for by the doctor.
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My mom would sleep regularly from 6:30 pm until anywhere between 7:00 and 9:30 am. On occasion she would sleep as late as 10:30 or 11:00. She slept well because she is ill with AD and needs rest. Nothing makes sense to her and it just plain wears her out! Sometimes she would nap two to three hours in addition.

There is nothing wrong with her thyroid.
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Hubby (92) with dementia goes to bed at 9pm and gets up between 7 and 730 am. Sometimes will take 2 or 3 naps during the day. His health is fine. Blood tests and dr's visit every 3 month. Like some of you mentioned, I just let him sleep to save him any agitation. His dementia is worse on him than on us because of his forgetfulness. He is such a sweet man. We both hate to see him like this! But, back to the subject, sleep is ok by me. Some say it is the way the body starts meeting its end of the earthly life.
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Ferris1, what is the point of getting them up in the morning for a much longer day and much more stress for everybody. Are these people ever going to get better? I can tell you definitively, and from personal experience, no!!! Alzheimer's is the ugliest most insidious disease on the planet. It must be so frightening for these poor people who have no idea where they are. I was always so thankful when my mom could sleep long periods of time. She was so confused when she was awake it was horrible I'm sure for her I know it was horrible for all of us. Her doctor literally told me the best we could hope for was that she would die in her sleep. I don't know who you think you're fooling, with all this talk about getting them up in time for breakfast and checking vitamin B levels.and keeping a schedule what a joke! Sorry if I sound insensitive but I can speak to this because I lost my mother who was my best friend for my entire life to this awful disease. All we can hope for is a little bit of grace and a death without pain..people with Alzheimer's don't want to be poked with needles... They don't understand why you're hurting them. Let the patient sleep I beg you. Be kind. If that's the way the body is shutting down, then that's God doing his work....and I thank him for it every day that I can remember my mom as she was before that miserable disease took hold of her and ravaged her brain, and stole her from our lives like a thief in the night. now there is a huge void where once stood a woman of substance, a woman who gave back, a woman of class and composure at all times...who ended up going to the bathroom in front of a room full of people on the floor because she didn't know where the restroom was. I hate Alzheimer's!!! let them sleep I beg you let them sleep.
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One more thing about Alzheimer's and I will get off my soapbox. if I ever receive a diagnosis and I'm sure that's the direction I'm going, I have already told my husband I will run and not walk to where he keeps his .45...and I will put it in my mouth. I am a Christian woman, but I will not put my loved ones through what we went through with my mom. It is the most heartbreaking awful visceral disgusting disease on the planet... I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy if I had any enemies. Perhaps I do now. but how would any of you like to spend your day not knowing the names of your children and not being able to come up with an intelligible sentence? how would you like for the world to be a dark frightening place every single minute that you are awake? and have no recollection of any of the happy memories you have made in your life with your family and your loved ones. how would you like it if you came walking out of your room with your pajama pants on your naked body covering your head and everything else hanging out in front of everybody in the room. There's nothing funny about that. and there's nothing redeeming about trying to keep an Alzheimer's patient on a schedule so they don't sleep too much. There is no normalcy for an Alzheimer's patient.
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Dear Finished,
I completely understand why Robin Williams killed himself. He was looking ahead to a life you just described and decided that was not in his future. I don't blame him one bit. To loose your dignity would be the worst thing that I could think of. I quit a good job because the "boss" falsely accused me of abandoning my patients. I told her she should check out the situation with the patients. There was no evidence and I would have NEVER have done that.
I told her I wouldnt work for someone who tried to ruin my integrity and I quit right then. I don't want to loose it to Alzheimer's either.
I don't know if I could commit suicide. I'm a Christian too but don't have any qualms for people who feel they have no other option.
It will be a great day when they find a cure for this awful disease. I pray that my mother can just go to God in her sleep.
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I agree waking them at 7am to start a scheduled day, scheduled for what? I have been through (9th year) the all day ranting and ravings wanting to leave, I am simply wanting to give my husband rest and solitude. He has all his blood work done every 3 months, all that was mentioned is fine. He wakes smiling with no aggression - what more can I ask for. I hated watching him go all day long into his chamber of horrors. I will not do that to him again. If he chooses to sleep so be it, I am still here and am the first thing he sees when waking & that makes him smile. Finished I'm with you I just hope I know soon enough that I may have AD I could not be so brave as you to take to a gun but hopefully find a companionate DR to help. No one should have to live through this, ever.
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For caregivers who have written about their own wishes if they have dementia: The web site Compassion and Choices gives information that those of us who are still competent to write an advanced directive to express our wishes for our own lives. The web site states, "The following language can be added to any Advance Directive or Living Will. There it will serve to advise physicians and family of the wishes of a patient with Alzheimer's Disease or other form of dementia. You may simply sign and date this form and include it with the form My Particular Wishes in your Advance Directive."
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I have been a caregiver to my mother and to my husband, both of whom suffered from Alzheimer's. I am 84, functioning well, and hope my children never have to deal with me in that situation.
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That is a bit excessive, but if she's tired AND ill that's the reason.
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I have joined Compassion and Choices. Little by little they are opening the eyes and ears of those they serve.
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Let him sleep...you have to pick your battles....the toll of agitation on both of you is worse than a little extra sleep. I would pick a time to make sure he eats but if he wants to go back to bed, let him. I have a client who I make sure she gets breakfast & she'll go back to bed..15 min later, she'll be back out thinking it's the first time she's been up. They need more sleep as the disease progresses.
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I agree with Paradise. They apparently need more sleep as the disease progresses. In the early stages, I might try lots of things to regulate day and night and provide meaningful activity. But in the later stages, I don't see sleep as an enemy. If/when the sleep takes up 20 hours a day, if might be time for a hospice evaluation.

twopupsmom, this is the 9th year for you. I think more sleeping sounds "normal" under the circumstances. Do mention it at your next doctor's appointment, but I don't personally think this is "urgent" and needs immediate attention, nor do I think you need do anything about it.

(Note to those whose loved ones are in earlier stages: one answer does not fit all circumstances. For sleep problems in the earlier stages I have a whole different answer!)
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My wife sleeps a lot but it seems to be a comfort zone for her rather than face life as it is so sad
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Thank you Leaky I believe the same my husband hates that he has no thoughts
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I agree with you, Leakey, but twopupsmom, Hubby does have thoughts and works at them every day via paper work he's saved from the past. I think that Hubby's body is just starting to shut down. Days, weeks, years to go? Just one day at a time. One nap at a time.
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