Excessive sleeping in mid stage of dementia

radom

My husband is into his disease about three years now from diagnosis and is 83 years old. His physical health is very good despite his memory and confusion problems. He walks, talks, toilets and dresses himself (same clothes, though, if I don't insist on a change). He takes medicine only for high blood pressure and cholesterol, and they are both well managed, and Aricept for his dementia.

What I am curious about is his excessive sleeping. He sleeps about 18/19 hours at a time. There is no agitation and when he is awake, he is pleasant enough. He will wake up, have something to eat (he always initially thinks it is breakfast time) and then after a short time, go back to bed. He definitely is not in end-stage and that is what confuses me, as all the information I read is about end-stage sleepiness.

Can anyone give me any more insight on this? Is this happening with others?

M1

Welcome to the forum. The amount of time sleeping may relate to the parts of the brain affected, this can be like narcolepsy.. There is probably not much you can do about it; you could ask his doctor about prescribing medications like Ritalin or modafinil, which are sometimes used in true narcolepsy, but I suspect they would be reluctant. Sometimes caffeine is a safe alternative.

mrahope

I am wondering if the excessive sleepiness is making him lose weight or otherwise making him less healthy. If not, and he has no pressing appointments during the day, I might check with his doctor, but otherwise simply allow this to run it's course.

sawman3211

I recommend you get on youtube and watch some the videos about this subject. There are some good videos with information about this. Also, for your possible well-being, I recommend looking up Dr Amen about your brain health.

radom

thank you all for your insights.

BPS

My wife went through a time when she slept that much or more and the doctor said if we were both ok with it and she was getting enough nutrition and water that it was probably fine. It was not every day and it lasted for a few months and then she got on a better schedule but was still sleeping about 12 hours a day.