I have a question about sleep patterns. I used to walk into the room and if hubby was asleep he would rouse a bit..now it seems that even if I make a little noise, he doesn't seem to hear or notice. I am wondering if this is a change with sleep habits or patterns or could he have a hearing change. And speaking of hearing, I seem to have to repeat a lot just to be heard. I would like to take him for an audiology test but will he know what he is to do? Will he be able to push the button when he hears the ping? We have an appt on the 21st with the neurologist. He thinks he can get off the Exelon and Namenda too.. Any input would be welcome.
Mimi, at one point about a year after diagnosis, my husband seemed not to be able to hear me and we had his ears tested. They got a large amount of ear wax out of his ears, and said his hearing was okay.
It seems that what they hear doesn't go to where it registers - it short circuits...some things it hears and responds to, and other things get lost in the AD mesh in their brains. Their ability to respond verbally sometimes short circuits (or at least slows down). All of this is the result of AD and you must just make adjustments. Repeat things in a different sentence or wait a couple of minutes and try again.
This applies to speech as well as hearing...
Also, sleeping habits change big time for a lot of our spouses. Tossing and turning where they didn't before. Sleepwalking. Getting up at 1 or 2 or 4 a.m. and dressing and thinking it is time to get up. Good luck in getting them back to bed!!!!
Flexibility is your new key word. Some of the changes are temporary and some will be permanent and get worse.
Hi, Mary, I'm posting to show you that you have not been up to your old tricks and stopped all comments. Keep them coming! At trick from my audiologist how how we can avoid building up ear wax. Turn your head in the shower so that a good jet of water gets in the ear, both ears. I've found it works. For awhile there, I was almost pleased that I was producing so much ear wax - it seemed the only thing my old body continued to do.
Mimi, I've had a similar experience with the sleeping. A year ago I was afraid to go into the bedroom after he had gone to sleep and had to be very quiet when I went to bed myself to avoid disturbing him. NOW it seems wild horses couldn't wake him. Although he still gets up in the night for toileting, it's hard to get him up in the morning.
My husband has begun to wake up about an hour and a half after he goes to sleep and get dressed for the new day. Getting him back to bed is not easy. In fact I've just had to do that. He was obviously very tired and also obviously very confused.
He does go to bed VERY early, so I'm considering figuring out a way to keep him up for another half hour to an hour. But once I get him back to bed he falls asleep and sleeps for another 10 hours with no problems.
Any good hints on managing this problem? Any good hints on getting him back to bed?
My husband also seems not to hear me sometimes. It seems to me as if he has to concentrate so deeply on whatever he is doing that he is unable to process anything else. I have to make a point of getting him to focus on me and what I am saying. So he might be reading the paper, and I have to say loudly, "Please look at me. Listen to what I am going to say."
I did take him to the ENT and his ears were cleaned out of a lot of goop. I have complained for a long time about the loud volume on the TV. Lately I find I just repeat repeat repeat..so I end up talking louder..then have to be careful not to be too loud talking to others away from the house..
Starling, that is a problem I had for a while. Can't say I found a good solution. It passed. I do find that dh sleeps much better after a bath. Maybe because then he puts his pj top on (I hide all his other clothes after he gets in the tub) and on nights with no bath he gets into bed with most of his clothes on and that can't be very comfortable. In periods when this was worst there was one thing that did help, and that was hiding his shoes. Once he gets his shoes on he just won't take them off, and won't go to bed with them on (which I suppose is a good thing.) I also hide his shoes whenever we sleep away from home, because then he will often get up and get dressed in the night. It's very perplexing to him but thank heavens he never suspects that I am the culprit!
Bama, I'm so glad I'm not alone in this. I always feel so silly and so guilty, hiding his shoes, confusing him even more than he's already confused, poor soul.