My Aunt used to have episodes infrequently where she would go into an aroused state hallucinating and physically active with no awareness of her limitations and she was in constant danger of trying to walk or do something she can no longer do. She would go until exhausted and then sleep for days, and recover. These were defined episodes with normal periods of six months or more in between.
Over time the episodes diminished in intensity to days of wakefulness and days of sleep, still hallucinating and attempting to do things she shouldn't try to do because of safety reasons, but with less energy and urgency.
Now the cycle of waking and sleeping is constant. Usually 48-72 hours awake and 24-48 hours asleep. She eats with tremendous appetite when awake, but cannot be roused or take medicine or water when sleeping..
What is this stage of Alzheimer's? Is it a stage? The memory care facility cannot manage her on noc shift because they only have one caregiver on duty for 14 residents. I have to just hope she doesn't fall. I used to try to stay with her at night when she was awake, but I work and can't do that regularly.
Is there more information I could find? We understand she has her own reality and we respect that. She "works" at the bank mostly, and is in a good mood and mostly enjoys her hallucinations. She has a full social life in her world, seeing all her loved ones. But I've not known another elder with this extreme wake and sleep cycle. Can anyone explain this to me? I thought deliriums were separate from dementia, but it seems she is in delirium the whole time.
My Mom was in her final stage of dementia which she didn't have until she had a very serious fall, and she accelerated into the final stage within a week. Yes, Mom did fall out of bed quite a bit during those 3 months as she was so very restless, so the Staff had her bed down as far as it would go with rubber fall mats on both sides of the bed.
It was fascinating watching the "social life" of the other residents who were in this long-term-care facility. The residents were happy doing whatever it was in their world. One lady was busy using her finger nail to get what she thought were dried food off of the dining room tables.... another lady was the hall monitor, and the staff would allow her to move a chair to the middle of the hallway to direct traffic at night because she wasn't ready to retire for the night.
I really don't believe there is a good answer. I tell her I love her and do the best I can to comfort her (try hugging a moving target).........and then I get some peace on the days that she finally sleeps. This is our life together.