Advice

Is it typical for people with dementia to sleep a lot during the day?

My spouse of 54 years has dementia. he now is bedridden and sleeps night and day. I never go out for fear of soomething happening to him while I'm out doing errands. Is there anyway of telling how long he or others will live?

Can someone please put my mind at rest. My darling dad who's 90 has Alzheimer and is now sleeping a lot. I understand this is normal he has become very frail and now shows no interest in leaving his room not even for his meals which he enjoyed in the care home. My mother who is a very suspicious person by nature and has never even visited him in the home we chose for dad is implying the only reason he's sleeping is that the care home are drugging him. He was given some antidepressants to try to help his low mood but only for a few days as they took him off because he couldn't wake up easily but unfortunately he's still sleeping and my mother is insisting they are lying and he's still on them to keep him quiet. The care home is lovely and Dad's been so well cared for by the staff and has bonded well with them and we are confident and see that all his needs are being met but she still insists his sleeping is due to him being drugged so I wondered if you have any writings I can show her on the sleeping pattern of people with alzheimers please. Thanks

my mother i law has stage 5 alzheimer’s. She sleeps all night and during the day she’s likes to take naps throughout the day. I think this is normal at her stage but my husband (her son) insists she gets out of bed and not take naps. he thinks it’s bad for her. i know if i wanted to sleep i’d be bothered by someone forcing me to get out of bed. I’m i wrong or is my husband doing the right thing waking her from her naps.

My mom is Going to be 88 diagnosed with dementia at 80. She lives with me and sleeps 20 hours a day . She can barely walk but still can get to the bathroom(sometimes) others I will have a mess to clean. She talks if spoken to still. Remembers things from the past but I don’t think she knows who I am. My question is. At this point how much longer will she live? I am drained. Can it be several more years or from your experience is it close. I just don’t know if I can continue not having a life for years to come.

My wife has, what we believe, is whole brain radiation induced dementia and is sleeping nearly 22 hours a day, somewhat awake during daylight hours and eating very little now. She is basically bedridden and has a hospice hospital bed in our home. Her radiation was in 2016 and now it is May, 2020. The progression was fairly slow until the last 8 weeks or so. What should I be looking for next? The hospice nurse has said that less than six months but I wonder if it will be much sooner. Thank you..

Very helpful information.

Coping with my second husband with dementia. My late husband John had mini strokes from the minute bubbles from the heart/lung machine he had when he had open heart surgery. A problem called "pump head", generally not mentioned by doctors. My current husband Don had a left thalamic stroke 5 years ago caused by arterial plaque which couldb't be removed. He still has aphasia, perseverating, cognative and behavioral problems, sleeps mostly during daytime. Jekyll-Hyde behavior, sometimes sweet and almost normal, sometimes angry and nasty. He is 82, I'm 68. I get tired and discouraged, sometimes angry. But I try to remind myself that he won't get better, but I can change how I see him and how I cope.
That he's I'll and that this is beyond his control, and I should not take his bad behavior personally. In addition to the stroke and dementia, he is high functioning aspergers, which has problem behaviors of it's own. My late husband died in a nursing home which was short-handed so I"m trying to keep him home. I'm grateful for a chance to talk with others facing the same things

My wife of 51 years now aged 77 has dementia and now sleeps until mid morning and has very dizzy spells when she gets up. Gets better after shower and breakfast but it is an increasing problem. The doctors haven’t been particularly helpful in advising me. I am glad that others are experiencing the same problem. It has been depressing me lot.

Mum can have period of cat naps of 10-20 minutes then awake for an hour, this can last 24, 36 or even 48 hours. So she's awake all night and all day. Is this normal? What can be done, no medication seems to help.

Hi. Thank you for sharing.
My wife who is 55 has Alzheimer's. She is unable to do anything for herself. She sleeps 14½ hours in the evening.
Until recently she was extremely agitated during the time that she was up. But this last week she has started to fall asleep more in the daytime as well. This can happen even whilst eating a meal, I will add that she has a very good appetite, and eats all that is fed to her. This means that of the 10 hours that she is up she is now probably sleepy 3-4 of those as well.
At first it was extremely worrying, but I guess we thought at least while sleeping she was not hallucinating and agitated. It has not affected the evening sleep at all....
Stay safe all of you 😭💙

Thankyou so much.. this helped alot because my grandfather suffers from dimentia and he has started to sleep alot so we were really worried.. definitely going to consult our GP now for more guidance.

We’re having sleep issues with my mom right now. I’m trying to figure out how to get her to sleep at night again. She’s sleeping all day but awake all night and I worry it increases her disorientation :( she’s relatively young at 73 and has been facing dementia for 10 years now. She’s on peg tube feeding which I carefully use and clean. Are there any suggestions? We do not want to ever put her on heavy meds like antipsychotics. I don’t believe she needs them. She’s pretty manageable.

This was an excellent article and comments from others. I have had to give up work abroad to come back to look after my 91 year old parents. My dad has declined very rapidly and now sleeps 18-20 hours every day and night - he only wakes up to eat. My mum is ok mentally but physically very frail. They are both deaf which adds to my frustration. Life is very very hard and its having a huge impact on me, particularly now with "lockdown" MY life has stopped for the last 3 years - I have no escape or respite. These comments have helped in that I now understand things better.

My Mother is 75, and she has finally been diagnosed with dimentia. I say finally because for hears she has been a different person - aggressive physically and verbally, mean and distant. Now that we know what’s going on, she has been sleeping a lot, no motivation for activity, and drinking soda quite a bit. It’s definitely been difficult to see my mom grow down hill so fast. She gets up in the morning to her usual chair and immediately falls asleep and continues to sleep most of the day. Sad how much she’s missing out on. It’s like I’ve already lost her the first time when her personality changed, now I’ve had to deal with losing her again to sleep. So many events in my life that I need her to be around and active to be a part of but I don’t think that will happen.

My mum is 85 and has dementia, and has been bedridden for about 5 years now. She lives with me, I'm her carer. Until 2 days ago she was awake quite a bit, eating, and using the commode next to her bed which she could use on her own (with difficulty). Then she slipped as she tried to get into bed, and ended up sitting on the floor. We lifted her up, she said she didn't hurt, just a bit shaken, and she went to sleep, I gave her paracetamol as she's had toothache as well. Since then she hasn't been able to get in and out of bed, so I've had to put pads in her bed, she hasn't had a bowel movement, and she is sleeping just about 23 hours a day, and not hardly eating (which is very unusual). I'm really worried now, but am thinking as she's had dementia for a few years, is this the last stages? She has no quality of life, and doesn't know who I am most of the time anyway. I haven't liked to contact her GP yet due to the current virus, but am not sure what to do. To be really brutally honest, it's been so nice to have a break, and some peace, after 15 years of caring, first for my dad and now my mum. Any advice please? Thank you