My DH has been sleeping way too much. Over the last 6 months the condition has gotten worse. Dh would stay in bed all day if I let him. I did let him stay untill 4PM a couple times but couldn't stand that he received no water or even go to the bathroom. I know this is not healthy but I just wanted to see if he would get up on his own. We went to the Neuro and he thought DH might be depressed. Dr. gave him citalopram HBR 20 mg. After a couple months at 20mg. his sleep just got sounder {harder to wake up} I have decreased the dosage to 10mg a day. So far even after a week his sleping has stayed the same. DH was DX Dec. 2005 and could be in stage 6. He has stopped brushing his teeth very good and shaving is sporadic.
My question is "Do you think this is normal digression(sp) or medication enduced? I so hope he bounces back some. I hate so see him so down and slow in movement. Sweet Pea
My wife, in stage 6, also sleeps a lot. I put her to bed at 8 PM and get her up at 8 AM. Some of that time she is awake, but stays in bed. Then in the afternoon she often falls asleep in her chair. I don't know what she does in the morning since she is at day care, but she is usually asleep when I go to pick her up at 2 PM. She also does not do well on brushing her teeth, sometimes flatly refusing. None of this is medication-induced since all she is on is for diabetes and hypertension.
My dh has been doing this sleeping thing for at least 3 months. It is the same every single day for at least 3 months unless we go someplace. I think he is all of stage 5 and some early signs of stage 6.
Goes to bed at 10:00 pm...............Gets up between 11:00 am and sometimes it is 1:00 pm before he gets up. Back in bed within two hours of getting up and sleeps between 3 to 5 more hours.
He only has time to eat two meals a day. He snacks when he gets up from his major nap in late after noon or early evening.
His neuro says very little about this when we have been there. I have quit worrying about it...nothing I can do. Dr. has taken him off meds. that might be causing this and hasn't helped. He is not depressed.
marsh thanks for you input even though your advise is what i was fearing. I was hopeing he would hold (as-is) until after Jan 2012. We are in the insurance gap now and the cost of the namenda and exelon is way too much for our budget. The Dr. wanted him to stay on the same meds for a while longer but I think it should be time to let them go [just my thoughts]. OH HOW I HATE THIS DISEASE!
Sweet Pea: The most frightening thing about this was when he first started doing it I was too frightened to go in the bedroom to check on him because I was afraid he was dead. And, then when he got up he was all smiles and I finally decided I was the one that was having a problem with this sleeping and it didn't seem to bother him at all. My dh is 64 and was dx in 2006. He has to be told to shave and shower. He is still mobile accept walks very slowly. When we go shopping I have to keep check on him that he is behind me. He use to unload the shopping cart for me at the store..now he just stands there unless I prompt him to do it and I also have to prompt him to put the filled bags, after clerk has checked our items, in the cart.
I think they just tire out. Seems like just part of the disease to me. Jeff doesn't actually sleep all day (just from 7:30 pm to about 6:30 am when I get up,) but he does doze or just sit in a chair for vast quantities of the day. And it doesn't take much "activity" (such as one trip to the store and a dog walk) to use up his day's energy.
I think this disease is hard work for them. They have to work so hard to concentrate and try to keep up front what they have been told..or to keep track of what is going on with a movie. My dh is doing more of the snoozing thing, the shower and hair cut battle is familiar..and so is the help..wants to help but then doesn't...walking is slow and sometimes seems unsteady. Eating is a heck of a chore for me to just find something. This afternoon I gave him his left over sloppy joe sandwich..it was half a sandwich..he could not finish it, too much..then next thing I find he is eating the coffee cake..all of it.
Sweet Pea about what stage is he in?? My hubs is prob stage 4 sometimes stage 5, but he is VERY tired!!!! He hates being so tired all the time. I wonder if it is just because his brain has to work overtime to keep up with our busy family life and it just wears him out. We do have two teens at home and life is busy. He went off of Aricept since it didn't seem to make any difference, and is now on a anti depressant since he was getting so angry easily. I wonder if it's the anti d that makes him so tired. It's 20 mg, I have thought about seeing if we could decrease the dose. But like others have said I wonder if it is just part of the disease.
My Dh falls asleep around 7pm while watching TV..he won't go to bed unless I go with him..that's way too early for me, but I can't stand seeing his head hanging, looking so uncomfortable, I end up going to bed too, watch TV in bed. It's spring coming into summer here, it's still daylight till 9pm! He usually wakes about 7am...12 hours sleep is a lot I think, but he must need it.
My husband spends about 12 hours in bed each night and then sleeps in his chair most of the day. I keep wondering if it would be of any benefit to try to do something that would be stimulating each day. Would that slow down his decline or doesn't it make any difference?
Judith KB, You husband sounds just like mine. He walks behind me wherever we go. He needs help with clothes, shaving, brushing teeth. I have to remind him about everything. Today. I took him to a tailor to have pants altered. He did not know what to do, to change the pants, then to take them off and put on his pants. Everyday, something is different. He sleeps a lot.
For me, one of the best features of this site is the ability to' go back in time' and read postings on topics that I didn't pay much attention to when they first appeared because either I or my wife didn't have to deal with that issue yet. I seem to be reading old discussion threads more and more lately as my wife proceeds at a faster rate through stage 5. I have just re-activated this 'Excessive Sleeping' thread from last October because I am now among those watching their spouses sleep for 12 or more hours each night. Up until a month or so ago, I'd wake my wife after 9, 10, or 11 hours of sleep on a given day and she'd be fine for whatever activity I had woken her up to do. But a few weeks ago, she complained of feeling tired all the time and started taking 2-3 hour naps in the early afternoon on days when I had to wake her after "only" 9 or 10 hours of sleep. Last week I decided to see if some 'catch-up sleep' would help, so I cancelled all our activities and let my wife sleep as long as she wanted to sleep each day. For 6 consecutive days she slept for 12 or more hours ... but as soon as she'd get up, or shortly thereafter, she'd complain about being tired! We'd go out a few hours later just to do some quick shopping, or go out for lunch, and as soon as we'd come home she would say that she felt exhausted and had to lie down. I had expected to return to our normal activities this week and I would wake her each morning so she could meet with some other seniors at a local community center twice a week, etc. I tried waking her this morning after 10 hours of sleep, but she said that she was just too tired to get up. She's now been asleep for almost 13 hours.
I have commented before on other discussion threads about how this is such a crazy disease and have nodded my head in agreement so often when someone has quoted that phrase, "If you know one person with Alzheimer's, then you know one person with Alzheimer's." I have been dealing with this disease for 6 years now ... 3 years prior to my wife's diagnosis and 3+ years since diagnosis ... but I still find it amazing how each of our spouses goes through this horrible journey so differently. Most people with Alzheimer's have problems sleeping at night, or sleep a lot during the day, but my wife is wide awake in the late afternoon and throughout the evening and, instead, now sleeps for 12+ hours each night! She talks constantly in her sleep now but she stays asleep. Not a day goes by when I don't learn something new about this disease. And yet another thank you is due to to Joan for her keeping previous discussion threads archived so they can be readily accessed when needed by anyone. Thank you, Joan!
I suppose those days will come for dh. Now I'd be thankful if he'd sleep more than 2 hrs. at a time at night. He was up just about every 2 hrs. last night and always tells me he is going to the bathroom so then I'm awake and can't go back to sleep. Then I'm thankful he knows to go and can go alone - so I say to myself "self, quit griping and be thankful".
My wife is similar to acvann's, although she is in late stage 6. I put her to bed at 8 PM and get her up at 8 AM. She is at day care from 9-2. When I pick her up at 2 she is usually asleep. When I get her home she promptly goes to sleep in her recliner chair. She does wake up occasionally during the afternoon, primarily when she needs to go to the bathroom (she doesn't know that's what she needs. I just take her and usually get results). I sometimes have to wake her up to go to dinner at 6.
On weekends, DH will sleep 8-10 hours at night, get up and have breakfast, go back to bed for a few hours, get up and have lunch, then back to bed. He'll be up for a few hours in late afternoon, have dinner, then go to bed around 8 and watch TV.
I think he is bored. On weekends I have to do the bills, housework, laundry, etc. so I am busy. He can't find something to amuse himself, so he sleeps. Sometimes he will do crossword puzzles - he is still very good with those - or read the paper or a magazine.
I've been reading some old threads about excessive sleeping and decided to bring this one to the top for anyone else who may be dealing with this. Just the last 3 or 4 weeks, DH has been sleeping from 7:30 PM until around 9:00 AM. He also takes some short naps during the day. He is late stage 6. After reading some of the threads, I think it must be the progression of the disease so I let him sleep. It gives me more time to get things done around the house and maybe relax a little.
I have read some posts in the past that said it gets easier in the late stages and I thought, at the time, there's no way it's going to get easier but it has. I think it was Sandi who actually brought her DH home from the facility during the late stages.
A couple of years ago, we were dealing with him still trying to do all the yard work and fix things around the house and wanting to drive when he wasn't supposed to. This stage was awful. He kept the lawnmower torn up and would try to fix it. He still wanted to get gas for it. I would go with him but he insisted on getting the gas and put the cans in the back of the truck. He would spill it or forget to put the cap back on. He tore up more things around the house and I had to watch him constantly.
Now we are hiring the yard work and any necessary repairs done. it's wonderful and worth every penny. Yes, it does get easier but more sad.
Dazed, I have read this thread before, but I am glad that you brought it up to the top again. My DH sleeps a lot! He goes to bed around 10 at night, and gets up around 9:30 the next morning. There is often a morning nap, and after lunch, we both nap. And if we go out, he frequently nods off in the car (I do the driving). Then he sometimes has another nap just before dinner. I put him somewhere in stage 5. I don't think he is bored, because sometimes he takes naps in the middle of doing something (like the dishes) that he is still capable of doing. I think it is the stress of trying to think that causes the excessive sleeping. We just returned from a little overnight trip, and I expect that he will be very tired tomorrow, because he has had 2 overstimulating days in a strange environment while having to communicate with others.( I'll probably post more about the trip after I know what the complete fall out from it was - it was meant to be a bit of a vacation, but I'm not sure that it is worth trying again). I don't mind the extra sleeping. I am a morning person, usually up by 7, so I use the time for "me" with my morning coffee, or to get something done around the house or garden. But I have noticed that he is gaining weight from his inactivity. He eats his normal breakfast and lunch, a lighter supper, but has a bedtime snack, and always has room for dessert or a chocolate bar! When I mentioned his excessive sleep to his PCP last September, she just nodded her head as if to say - just another symptom. We'll see what she says about his weight gain when he goes for his next appointment in June.
I too am glad to see this topic again. My DH is sleeping more during the day. He does have sleep apnea but does not use his Cpap machine like he should..no amount of nagging will do the trick for more than an hour or two..the doc said try for 4 hours...since all night is not going to happen anymore. He is having an echo in June and a Holter monitor test as I think his HR is low or lower than it should be and this might be something that has to do with his decline in any energy at all. I get up early and now treasure my quiet time because once he is up, the race is on. I get a little frustrated with myself...in the past I couldn't get things done due to interruptions and no I still don't get things done like I should...I am tired....on Zoloft and the doc just increased my dose so I am going through the adjustments again. He is snoozing again right now...
So after posting about DH's sleep habits, I get up at my usual time, looking forward to my "me" time to start the day, and guess who decides he wants to get up too? Except that he looked so tired. He had a cup of coffee with me, and when I suggested he go back to bed he readily agreed. He told me he got up because he thought he heard me talking to our son, and wanted to join us. O goodie, we are back to auditory hallucinations! I say "back to" because he had hallucinations before his diagnosis and hasn't had any since he started taking Aricept in September. So I wonder which wonderful symptom we will get next!!!
Mimi Dw had totally reversed her sleep pattern. She wears napping all day and wander our home repeatedly throughout the night. (doors have alarms and numerical code locks
My remedy was quite simple and facilliated by our Fl lifestyle. I'll give DW several shots of espresso with bkfst. and again at mid morning. A beach walk or swim relaxing for me and DW burns up enough energy so that her usual late afternoon sundowning behavior, frantic pacing, rummaging, etc. can be controlled with 1 or 2 mg. of Lorazepam. One half to one Zolpidem 10mg does the trick at bedtime
This regimen has worked so well I can even take DW to dinner on a good day. I've found "buffet style " restaurants work well, rather than having to stay seated, taking her up for another plate is an integral part of the meal, far better than her frequent trips tp the ladies room, my waiting to lead her back to the table and cold food that was the norm in a traditional restaurant
Marty. DH has had trouble sleeping for the past 2 years, and we can only change the pattern for a few months and he's up again at night. Tried the strong coffee in am until 1:00 pm, aide takes him walking about 2 miles/day but he gets up after 1 hour of sleep and paces, rummages, etc. and finally goes back to sleep around 3 or 4. We give him ,5 mgs of clonopin at bedtime with 400 mgs of Neurontin and 10 mgs of melatonin. Nothing seems to be working now.
My DH won't go outside unless he is on his way to the doctor or out to eat...he does not have a lot of stamina anymore. He sits and gets up and goes about the house but there is no sundowning activity..he does not wander and is not likely to either. But I now have to take away his medicare card..I walked in yesterday from outside to find him looking for his wallet. I asked he what he needed and he said he needed to give his medicare no to the person on the phone..I asked who it was...grabbed the phone and sure enough those pesky calls from those Asian sounding accented voices wants to supply him with his diabetic needs....we don't need this. I am so sick of these calls. I took away the check books and keys and credit cards some years ago but now I have to grab the medicare card too. Just quizzed him and he knows his SS Number...oh groan...I was hoping he forgot that number...
Since this thread is back, I'll provide an update from my 7/19/12 posting. We now go to our bedroom at 7 p.m. each night; it takes Clare at least 1/2 an hour to 'get ready' for bed. We then watch TV until 9, when I mute the TV and tell her to go to sleep. She is usually asleep in 5-10 minutes. (Shge also now talks continuously in her sleep, gesturing with her arms and hands at times.) She now goes to day care programs 4 days each week and I need to wake her by 8:15 on those days. It is very difficult to get her up because she is so tired after "only" 11+ hours of sleep. When no day care the following day, I let her watch TV until 10 and then do not wake her the next morning... and she sleeps until noon or later. But even with 14 or 15 hours of sleep, as soon as she gets out of bed she complains about feeling tired! When we get home from day care, all we do is sit and watch TV together. She is too tired to go for walks, sometimes has concentration to play one computer word game for about half an hour or so, most days not, and no desire/ability to read anymore. So, we sit in the den and watch TV in the afternoon, and then we go to bed at 7. We eat while watching TV. And yes ... she is always tired, even while watching TV! Just had her annual physical that includes full blood work, so it's not an iron or vitamin deficiency or anything like that. True, many of her meds list fatigue as a possible side effect, but no new meds have been introduced this year. I think it's just the course of her AD, and as it worsens ... she is now slowly but surely moving from stage 5 to stage 6 ... she is just feeling more and more tired all the time, awake or asleep.
My DH is in an ALF and is sleeping up to 20 hours a day. He is usually awake for only one meal. Today, he ate breakfast around 10:30. He also has a lot of twitching as he sleeps. It is now 1pm and he has missed lunch. He will respond to me as I talk but cannot seem to keep his eyes open. He is snoring right now and is twitching. I'm concerned that this is permanent. I posted about his sleeping in 2011,but it was nothing like this. He is in excellent health is 76 and until now could walk and feed himself.
My DH is also sleeping more and more. For a number of years he has spent about 16 hours a day in bed--with a lot of TV watching in the evening/night hours. Now he is sleeping a good 20 hours per day, and I'm only getting one meal a day into him, plus extra fluids when I can. He still gets up and goes to the bathroom, although I have to assist him a lot, trying to prevent falls. He is really sleeping…not watching TV. And even if I can get him out of bed and dressed, and into his den, he just goes to sleep on the sofa and doesn't even usually turn on the TV. (Although he can't really use the remote anymore, except for off/on.) Must run--he wants something.
I just made him get up and gave him a shower--he said he needed to sleep some more (after spending the last 40 hours in bed, except for up to bathroom). He is getting noticeably weaker and skinny like a stick.It was a real chore trying to keep him safe during the shower, despite grab bars everywhere. I was able to get him and his walker into his den and on his sofa with a soda and the TV on. I have seen that same twitching that others describe, and also lots and lots of talking in his sleep--as if he's holding real, extended conversations with people.
Elizabeth, please call hospice (I know...but they can help). Based on your posting I think your husband may qualify. and if he improves, they will take him off. Just a call, nothing ventured, nothing gained and it may just get him stabilized. ((((HUGS)))
His doctor had said last year that she would make a Hospice referral "when the time came." I, too, am starting to wonder if the time might be now. He is definitely going down hill--it is very noticeable. But I don't know how they arrive at that "six month prognosis" when the diagnosis is Alzheimers. Or maybe they open the case as a "Failure to Thrive." Oh well, I'll call the doctor tomorrow. Thanks, LFL and MaryinPA.