Is your spouse sleeping too much?

Hi, we are having a no sleep problem. So far, we’ve seen his primary, his cardiologist and neurologist and his pulmonologist next month. So far his Furosemide and Lisinopril are on hold. We could try taking Aricept during the day and see if that helps. He sleeps all day and all night, with interspersed days when he is awake 3-4 hours. He does manage bathroom breaks and eating but says he is in a daze most of the time. He has had 2 procedures recently with anesthesia and wonder if this has made him sleep more.

Thank you!

Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.

Wishing you much peace, but this is all hard, so hugs too.
My husband S is not sleeping too much. On a good night he sleeps about 6-7 hours with one time up to go to the bathroom. We use an OURA ring to analyze sleep scores.
But on a bad night he is up in the middle of the night brushing his teeth and washing his face taking off his PJs and getting ready for the day unless I catch him and get him back in bed - not necessarily sleep. These incidents happen when he is worried about getting someplace. The other night he got about 2-3 hours of sleep and felt terrible all day and took a short nap.
He is not on any prescription medicine only supplements and at night melatonin and l-theonine.
He has had two clinical sleep studies-very mild occasional apnea but the sleep doc we saw recently said no devices but he may need a drug to help stay asleep and manage anxiety at night.
S is in the early stages. My friend, whose husband is 10 years ahead of S w dementia does sleep all day if he could.
Sleep is so darn important for us too. May we all get enough rest in peace🥰🙏🏻

I do not have dementia but have been very sick over the last 6 years with heart bypass, stroke, leg bypass, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease. I am doing well now but so much trouble sleeping and nothing helped! I now take liquid capsules of Valerian herb by Gaia herbs to help me sleep and wake up fine.

Interesting, how long have you been taking Valerian root?

I wonder about this too. My wife has Alzheimer's along with "paranoid ideation" and the Quetiapine (Seroquel), taken am and pm, helps the paranoia and hostility, but she sleeps 10 hours at night and takes a two hour nap in the daytime. Sometimes she takes two naps. But I haven't looked into this with the Dr since she panics if I am not with her every moment of every day, and her sleeping gives me an opportunity for some alone time. This has been going on for about 8 years now. I often wake her up if the nap goes on more than two hours. I don't think I am a terrible caregiver, but sometimes by the end of the day I am spent. Caregiver burnout, they call it, or a new term I ran across, "compassion fatigue. I empathize with you and what you are going through.
I also think that the after effects from anaesthesia can cause all sorts of lingering issues, as I have experienced some personally, including loss of taste and smell for many months.

Well, here it is a week later and his sleeping is now kinda wonky. Some days he's up by 10am and others its 1pm. I also like the opportunity of alone time while he's sleeping but i have to remind myself to go in and wake him up at some point...to take his meds, eat and to just enjoy the day. Im fortunate in that he doesn't panic when I'm not with him every moment of the day, but he needs to know generally where I am when we're at home. But I know at some point it may get to him panicking.
As caregivers we are doing the best we can and I feel your fatigue as well. We are all experiencing different levels and phases of this journey and i'm glad that we can get advice and support for each other. I have a hard time getting to in-person support group, and am so thankful for this site. Thank you for sharing.

Yes, I used to be able to get to a dementia caregiver's meeting once a month for a couple of hours which was very helpful, hearing how others have dealt with such similar situations. Also surprising how unique each case is also. We moved from Wisconsin to Illinois for closeness to our children and grandchildren 10 years ago but some of them moved back to Wisconsin and the visits have become more and more rare, I assume because they are so uncomfortable seeing their mom/grandma deteriorate mentally. Anyway it's somehow comforting, although sad, that others are fighting this battle too.

When I was up most of the nights I began drinking sleepy time tea but it was not enough and I learned it contained Valarian root so a couple of years ago I tried powdered root but didn’t like the form. I then discovered the Gaia liquid capsules and two at night are just right for ease in sleeping. Have taken them for about 15 months.

Yes, recently my husband was sleeping most of the day and again at night. Went to three of his doctors, but no answers. Then I started looking at his meds and noticed he was on 2 anxiety pills daily. So he stopped one for awhile and he is now awake most of the day, maybe an occasional nap. What a difference! He was being overmedicated!