Sleeping a lot. It’s new

French

My partner sleeps a lot  for 3 days and doesn’t want to have dinner. After the daycare he sleeps about 3 hour (from 5 pm to 8), when he wakes up in the evening, he doesn’t want to eat. And he sleeps a normal night of 8 to 9 hours. One morning I even had to wake him up at 9am for the daycare.

This is very strange. Suddenly he sleeps about 12 hours per day. 

Did you experience this ? (Beginning of stage 6, I think)

Lynne D

My HWD (mixed dementia, vascular and Alzheimer’s) sleeps at night, and takes lengthy naps in the morning and afternoon. Generally, he is usually only up a few hours around meal times.

David J

French-

My wife is early stage 6 and sleeps about 12 hours, but doesn’t usually nap. Some of it is the meds, but also I have noticed a reduction in stamina. If we have an unusual activity, like going to dinner, she may get exhausted leading to sleep or super anxious leading to sleeplessness. It actually has influenced my thinking about day care. 

M1

French after a longer than usual outing on Saturday night (friend's house for dinner, gone about six hours) my partner slept for most of Sunday and Monday and was very out of it.  Some better yesterday and her usual self today.  No clue except the outing.  She falls asleep on the couch after dinner every night and (so far) sleeps pretty much through the night (I wake her up off the couch to go to bed).  Like David, I've thought about day care programs, but with her bad back, afternoon lie-downs are frequently a necessity.

Ed1937

My wife sleeps 9 - 10 hours per night. Then when she gets up, she's up for an hour or two, then falls asleep on the couch. Usually sleeps another couple hours or so.

Jeff86

My DW, late stage 6, sleeps 10 - 12 hours overnight , rarely getting up. Sometimes longer.  Not unusual for her to fall asleep sometime during the day, too.

There was a point in time last autumn when she was sleeping even longer, 14 or 15 hours.  Her neurologist felt that might be due to cumulative long term effects of her anti-psychotic med.  Reduced the dosage and overnight sleep returned to 10 - 12 hours.  

Stuck in the middle

I think PWD often sleep more because mental function becomes much more an effort and they need the rest.  My wife typically sleeps 12-14 hours per night, and it is not unusual that I wake her for lunch.  If I wake her at 9 AM she is visibly tired.  If I wake her on two  consecutive days, she is irritable.  Three consecutive days and she is exhausted.

Beachfan

DH sleeps 10-12 hours, uninterrupted, at night. I wake him around 7 AM to use the bathroom; he is totally groggy, but complies.  Usually, I put him back in bed.  I wake him up by 10 AM for the day, if he doesn't wake by himself.  Breakfast, then to the sofa with quiet music and he will sleep, but not always deeply, until I get him up for lunch (about 2 PM).  About 4 PM, he starts pacing, talking to inanimate objects, sometimes will sit if I lead him to the sofa.  Dinner around 7 ish, then he will pace, chat, sometimes sit with me with TV on (doesn't watch it).  I put him in bed around 10-11 PM.  Sadly, we share absolutely no companionship at this point, but at least I can get things done as he sits quietly.  He grows more lethargic with each passing day.  Outings are few and far between; he seems to not have much stamina anymore.  I often wonder if he would get out of bed in the morning if I didn't make him do so.

Doityourselfer

My husband will stay in bed sometimes for 14 hours.  Most times if he's awake he talks to himself while lying in bed, falls back to sleep.  He gets out of bed when he's ready.  I've never had to wake him.  He doesn't take naps but sits on the couch quietly.  His pacing days have passed.

Battlebuddy

   My husband sleeps from 7:30 to 7 am .By 7:30 I am “ off the clock”  During the day I would say it is variable. There are periods where he eats breakfast and falls asleep on the couch for a nap. Some days he is sad and crying by 8:30 and miserable. Same with the afternoon. 

   The sleep times are a blessing and I try to get a lot done or watch a favorite show,  catch up on my reading etc. , as I don’t know how long the nap will last. Take it as a gift of peace in the midst of this stressful journey

    

French

So, reading your answers, this is not rare. 

What surprises me is that it seems sudden.  

But thinking more, I remember that on Friday, I organized his birthday, inviting his colleagues (when he was still working). We went to bed at 1:00 am and as usual I waked up at 7:00, so he did the same. The weekend was quite busy and perhaps he was sleep deprived. 

Moreover I now go back to my office so that when he comes back from daycare, he is alone between  1 and 2 hours and goes to bed.

We will see if it continues.

In fact I find this better. If he goes to bed when I am not at home, no risk. And when I come back I have a moment for myself before playing my caregiver role. It’s better than preparing the dinner with him pacing around me.