When Did Your Loved One Start Having Trouble With Nightmares?
When Did Your Loved One Start Having Trouble With Nightmares?
In which stage did your loved one start having trouble distinguishing dreams from reality. My mil is in mid/moderate stage--on the # scale, I think she's stage 5 right now.
Interesting that this question should appear today. I just spent some time sitting with my dad while mom was at mass. He is in the moderate to severe stage of Alzheimer's. We talked about a recurring dream he's been having about my brother and how hard it is to separate his dreams from reality as they leave such strong feelings. These feelings remain vivid throughout the day and don't necessarily disipate as the day goes on. I wish there were some way to help him come to terms with them.
I started taking Aricept in the morning and the vivid dreams have almost subsided.
Yes, my husbands vivid dreams (hallucinations, etc) became very strong when he was prescribed Aricept (Donepizil), to be taken nightly. I had read that may be one of the side effects of that drug, so I spoke with his neurologist and he said that in fact, that could be a side effect with many patients. He said absolutely change to morning dose instead, which we did and it seemed to help considerably. Husband is now in moderate stage, he dreams all night, moans, groans, talks in his sleep, but does not tell me about any nightmares. Always says he slept "really well". Wish I could sleep "really well" but I wake up all through the night worrying about him. I don't want to take sleeping pills because I'm afraid if something happens to him I won't wake up to help him.
@A myALZteam Member I am sorry you are going through this journey yourself. My thoughts and prayers are with you. A great idea to do research and learn all you can!
A myALZte...
Hi Calico, Yes he has. But he has had an MRI and they can't see anything, i.e. no shrinkage of the brain etc., But I understand from a friend whose brother in law had the same thing that it took 3 years to show up. Also I understand from what I have read is that Lewy Body's dementia doesn't show up until an autopsy. My husband does have good days and bad days which are also a symptom of Lewy Bodys. But all of this is just a summation on my part as even the neurologist wasn't very helpful.
