Morning brain fog solutions please?

__Dolly__

Hi everyone.

I’m new to this forum and this condition of my DH who has been waking up at 3:00 AM (regardless if we sleep at 9 PM or 1 AM) for the past 2 days and very confused. Today, he didn’t even recognize me. He went back to sleep after half an hour and wanted to go to bed in the guest room but I somehow managed to convince him to sleep in our bed. He won’t remember this when he wakes up again in the morning.

My DH refused to take any cognitive tests so we really don’t know the stage of his dementia. He is not taking any medication too.

He is still independent and can even cook dinners and household chores for both of us. I still let him do what he can.

For now, it’s just the morning brain fogs that I’m worried about. I just wish I know how to stop him from waking up at 3:00 AM. I tried to keep him busy during the day with activities and he’s not having any behavioral problems or moods.

Thank you in advance for your thoughts.

fmb

Sleep fragmentation is common in dementia. There are medications that can help with this. One emeritus poster, M1 (a physician), made specific suggestions in some of his posts. Search the discussions for "sleep fragmentation". If your DH won't cooperate with taking his meds, there are ways to sneak them in. Some can be crushed and added to food (applesauce, pudding, etc.) Some are available in liquid forms that may be more palatable to him. Good luck.

Biggles

This sleeping thing is another awful part of this disease. My DH constantly wakes from 2.30 on the hour every night and it makes no difference if we stay up late, go to bed early, go for a tiring walk nothing changes this pattern, He also reacts badly to medications with hallucinations so I am very reluctant to try much. I give him 8mg Melatonin at night which seems to take him through to 2.30 then he is up and down but I've locked the house and he just wanders around and then wanders back to bed for the next hour. I am training myself to sleep through this. We got a new puppy that sleeps, caged, in our room and I have strongly told my DH he must not wake the puppy ……. so far so good fingers crossed until the next change. Good luck.

__Dolly__

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/230776#Comment_230776

Hi Fmb,

thank you very much for your reply. I’m worried that this might be an indication of his dementia. He doesn’t resist meds…he takes whatever I give him. It’s just that we haven’t been tested yet for the staging of dementia and his recent MRI scans have been stable from last year when he had a couple of TIA/mini strokes.

__Dolly__

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/230794#Comment_230794

Hi Biggles,

Thank you for answering my post too. My mom also suggested to me that I sleep when he sleeps. I’m not a light sleeper and I’m afraid that he will go out of the condo when I’m asleep so I keep myself awake.

I tried getting us a puppy but he vehemently said no to it.

We have a scheduled check up with a Nurse Practitioner today and will discuss this sleeping dilemma with her today.

Warm regards,

dolly

__Dolly__

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/230776#Comment_230776

Hi again fmb,

I just read about sleep fragmentation and will definitely ask about this to the nurse practitioner that we will be meeting today. I really appreciate you for this.

Warm regards,

dolly