My wife is not having nightmares, fortunately, but has recently started talking in her sleep. She never did that until these past few months and what began as an occasional outburst is now happening virtually every night. After sleeping a few hours I'll wake up to hear her talking aloud. Sometimes a few sentences, sometimes a paragraph's worth of dialogue. No screaming; no evidence of nightmares at all. Just dialogue. I've even heard her laughing aloud. She has no memory of any of this when she wakes up. Anyone else experiencing this?
I have a son who has always done this. It's weird, huh? Can also be very amusing, because sometimes the tone is very normal and conversational, but when you listen carefully to the content, it is nonsensical. Other times the conversation is quite normal. I always figured sleep is when we perform our file maintenance on our brain. All the images & sensations we encounter that day, have to be filed away - and my son was just vocalizing bits & pieces along the path to storage.
Maybe medication is causing it with your wife. Even if there is no new medicine, you can get new symptoms with existing meds...
My hb has always talked once in a while in his sleep. He does seem to do it more now, especially when he has had a busy day. It sounds really funny now because he wears a CPAP which means when he talks the air is rushing out too.
acvann, yes we are. DH doesn't talk much during the day, but at night he talks up a storm! I can ask him questions relevant to the topic and he will answer. A few nights ago he spoke of buying a Toyota at the local dealer because he had a discount card. He "took the card" out of his pocket and handed it to the sales person (all while sleeping). I asked him what model he wished to purchase and he told me "A Camry, of course". Sometimes a few sentences and sometimes an entire dialogue. He doesn't remember either.
I am glad to hear some ome else has seen this too, my husband has never talked in his sleep the whole 22 years we have been married. Now he talks but his mouth is closed so it is a very loud mumble you can't understand a thing he says, but he sounds upset. He has an alergic reaction to Aricept so he is only on Namenda.
LFL ... I haven't tried engaging my wife in dialogue yet while talking in her sleep. I just may do that one of these days just to see if she remains asleep while I 'enter her dreams' or not. She has absolutely no recollection of talking in her sleep ... or the subject matter of her dreams ... when she wakes up.
Sherizee ... next month will mark 43 years for us and until last month Clare never spoke a word aloud in her sleep ... never!! And just as you noted, sometimes the dialogue is so mumbled I cannot understand anything ... and yet at other times she rambles on clear as a bell!
I am SO glad for this site where I can learn that others are experiencing the same thing!!
So glad I came on this morning. My dh was talking and laughing a blue streak. I was afraid to interrupt but may do so next time. Wish I knew who he was speaking to. Yes, it was clear as can be. During the day I am lucky if he says one or two words.
My husband has also begun speaking in his sleep. Never did this before. I haven't tried to talk to him during this. Thought it was best not to wake him. As you said, Acvann, no signs or distress or nightmares, just words. Interestingly, he is not on any medication, so it must be due to something else going on in the brain. He also has sleep apnea and that's pretty scary.
Most times during the day he is unable to make any type of logical conversation. Just strings unrelated words together. However, I am struggling with bronchitis right now, and when he hears me coughing a lot, he'll say, "Are you alright, love?" It's funny how every once in a while he can come back from wherever he goes and actually make contact with me.
Since I still work full time, I haven't really paid too much attention to what he is saying in his sleep (trying not to wake myself up if I can help it), but maybe I will tune in more.
I haven't posted for some time but this topic struck a chord with me. My husband has been talking out loud in the night for many nights now. It is almost the same topic over and over and it goes on and on. One night he was laughing outloud too. When I tell him it's the middle of the night he denies having talked and agrees to be quiet. I'm no sooner back in my bed when it starts all over. It seems he is awake but still has no awareness that he is talking or shouting. During the day he hardly puts two words together. Sometimes this starts as early as 2 A.M. and goes on intermittently just as I'm dropping off to sleep. I plan to talk to the doctor to see what might help him sleep in longer stretches. He was on Zoplicone for some time and that worked but then it stopped working. He was having difficulty falling asleep and becoming angry and aggressive if I went in to his room. Melatonin then worked for a long time but now we are into this new phase. We have to find something that will allow us both to have a restful sleep. As it is I'm losing patience and I don't like it. If anyone has found a good sleep aid I would love to hear about it.
It's now 6 months since I started this discussion thread, and in these past 6 months my wife has talked more and more in her sleep. Happens every night now ... and still the same. Sometimes she is laughing, sometimes she is engaged in dialogue with someone, sometimes it sounds like she's trying to reason with someone, and occasionally she hums tunes. She never has any recollection the next day! This is one weird disease!!
my husband talks every night in his sleep also...once he eats dinner takes just 25mg of Seroquel the talking starts but it is always about the military..he was in the army for 22 years and that is what he talking to his soldiers...etc. I even once asked him a question and he answered but was asleep and said he was talking to his troops
My life partner is gone now, 10/10/10, but she used to talk in her sleep and I used to engage her in conversation, which was very funny. The interesting thing is that while she had a lot of trouble finding her words while awake, she spoke fluently while asleep. Love to see a study on that some time.
Thank you so much, mary22033 for bringing this topic to the top. It's good to know others have had this problem and maybe it's not too serious. The only medication change for DH lately is an increase in Cymbalta two weeks ago. I asked his psychiatrist if it could be increased since it has been approved by the FDA for pain. She gave us a month's supply of 60 Mg instead of the 30 Mg he had been taking. It seems, though, from reading this thread that it doesn't matter whether they're on medication or not. It's just something that happens with this disease and sometimes to others who don't have the AD.
Oh yes my dh has been doing this for several months, but thank Goodness he does not wake up. I would rather him talk and fight and scream in his sleep that be up roaming around!!!!!!!!