Talking in sleep

Cosmic · January 5

I haven't seen this addressed here. 77 yr. old wife is early stage7. When she falls asleep at night she talks in her sleep, dreaming? Words are somewhat mumbled but the inflection and sentence structure are there. This goes on right after she falls asleep, REM. later she calms down but gets up 3 - 4 times during the night for bathroom breaks. finds her way to the bathroom which is about 10ft from our bed but she need help finding her way back so she just sits there until I help her back to bed.

gampiano · January 6

Hello.

My husband did the same thing, in stage 7. When he was awake he could barely put a sentence together but seemed to be carrying on a conversation in his sleep. I saw a research paper about this, but it seems to be a subject that needs more research.

JDancer · January 6

Would she be able to use a bedside commode?

Cosmic · January 6

Commode not really necessary yet. She has no problem going to the toilet but she does not know what to do when she's "finished" so she just sits there. She's sat there for an hour sometime before I notice she's not in bed.

mommyandme (m&m) · January 7

Are you saying since your wife gets up 3/4 times a night that she then talks each time she falls back to sleep? I’m surprised that she’s considered stage 7 but can still manage getting to the toilet and successfully eliminating in said toilet. But that’s just me.

My mother started talking constantly in later stage 7, couldn’t understand a word but she still did it. At night while in bed it happened too. Not sure who she was talking to, of course. I was a little worried it was some sort of stress she was dealing with at night. I upped her evening Ativan dose a bit which helped. Then came the time she no longer spoke at all, oh how I missed her voice.

Sometimes the disruption in a caregiver’s sleep demands a bedroom change. It’s so sad and I’m sorry.

BassetHoundAnn · January 8

My mom, who's in stage 7, has also begun talking in her sleep. Quite animatedly as if she's carrying on a conversation with someone. It startled me the first time I saw it. I was going to post a message asking if others had witnessed this sort of thing.

DCCEPEK · January 8

My mil chatters while awake and sleeping. Always reaching or picking at pee pads. She's just here. Hospice comes does vital says she's fine see ya next week. How long does this go on. We're so exhausted.

Cosmic · January 8

The talking in her sleep only seems to be when we initially go to bed. She falls asleep almost instantly but in about 1/2 hour the "conversations" begin, only last a few sentences and then sleep for a few hours before she gets up. As I said it's just a short distance to the master bath which is connected to the bedroom so she does a slow gate/shuffle holding on to things. Failed to mention she has spinal stenosis and is on heavy meds. She manages to sit on the toilet but in the process takes off her pajama bottoms and underwear for some reason, always does that. I go in and clean her up , put on clean undies and get the PJ's back on then lead her back to bed, falls asleep right away but does not talk anymore. Just something I imagine will pass like every other stage. During the day she barely talks at all only small noises. No attention span at all, still manages to feed herself but must be shown how to hold a fork or spoon. Sleeps pretty much but only for short periods during the day and then wonders around the house turning on lights, picking "no-see-ums" off the floor, just general activity that is just habit than anything else. Frustrating but it's what she does and not hurting anything.

mommyandme (m&m) · January 9

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/193978#Comment_193978

My mom was a picker of things like none other. She’d put terrible sores on her face and arms when someone wasn’t watching. Fortunately, later, she would focus on picking at stuffies a lot after her finger nail polish was all picked off. I’d paint them because she’d have something to pick at (she liked it too). Her cuticles were a mess. She wouldn’t use fidget blankets. I used many different things to try to satisfy her need. When she was bed-bound and didn’t wear pants any longer, at night while “alone”, I’d give her little round hand sized stuffed toys for her to fidget with, under the blanket, and tucked the sheet up under her with her hands between the blanket and the sheet so she didn’t pick at her chux or adult tabbed brief. Eventually she started mouthing and/or biting things. I even resorted to a baby teething ring. She used it. It’s very difficult, it goes on for however long it goes. It’s another thing to “accept and adjust” to. My moms picking went on for probably four years and I expect it would have gone on longer if she hadn’t suddenly succumbed to covid.

Im very sorry for these struggles.

Talking in sleep

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