daytime sleepiness

Deanna_M

Hi all- I suspect that this is part of the disease progression, but the last couple of times I visited my mom in her nursing home, she has dozed off while I was sitting with her (trying to engage her).

As a bit of background, she is solidly in stage 6 and mostly in a wheelchair because she is a fall risk. She has no short-term memory, cannot carry on a conversation, but can answer easy questions (e.g. how are you doing? "fine"). She does not know my name, but seems to know I am someone special. She will ask me "now, who are you?" and when I answer, she seems satisfied.

She has always been a high energy person, even as the disease has progressed. When she first got to the nursing home a few months ago, she really kept the staff on their toes. She kept trying to walk (she can't) and was scooting herself all over the place in her wheelchair.

I asked the nurse about her dozing and seeming sleepy, which is so out of her character. She has no infection and they have not changed medicines. The nurse did say that she is starting to sundown, so probably the daytime drowsiness is because of the nighttime agitation.

But, I assume that this is all typical progression, right? I guess that I am just a bit sad to see yet another change. Even a few months ago, she was such a spitfire.

Rescue mom

My mom was also in ALF and MC facilities with dementia. That’s very typical disease progression, from what I saw with my mother and other residents. You actually described my mom really well.  For months I heard staff comments about how much she changed, how fast, and how sad. Yes. It was. There always  *could* be some medical problem, but sounds like the staff there considers that and checked for infection.