Alzheimer's disease often affects a person's sleeping habits. It may be hard to get the person to go to bed and stay there. Someone with Alzheimer's may sleep a lot or not enough, and may wake up many times during the night.
For some people, it may be that their internal 'biological clock', which judges what time it is, becomes damaged so the person starts to feel sleepy at the wrong time of day. There are also other parts of the brain which control whether or not we stay awake, and these may also not work properly if they become damaged.
Even though a person with dementia may end up sleeping more than a typical person of their age – even as much as 14–15 hours a day – it is unlikely to all be good quality sleep.
Patients with dementia might be tired during the day, but not be able to sleep well at night. It is best to keep the same sleep/wake times and routine as before the dementia began. Some drugs used to treat dementia may also affect sleep. It is good to nap during the day and the best time for this is before lunchtime.
Sleeping more and more is a common feature of later-stage dementia. As the disease progresses, the damage to a person's brain becomes more extensive and they gradually become weaker and frailer over time.
needing help with most everyday activities. eating less and having difficulties swallowing. bowel and bladder incontinence. being unable to walk or stand, problems sitting up and becoming bed-bound.
The average life expectancy figures for the most common types of dementia are as follows: Alzheimer's disease – around eight to 10 years. Life expectancy is less if the person is diagnosed in their 80s or 90s. A few people with Alzheimer's live for longer, sometimes for 15 or even 20 years.
In the final stage of the disease, dementia symptoms are severe. Individuals lose the ability to respond to their environment, to carry on a conversation and, eventually, to control movement. They may still say words or phrases, but communicating pain becomes difficult.
Introduction: The five-word test (5WT) is a serial verbal memory test with semantic cuing. It is proposed to rapidly evaluate memory of aging people and has previously shown its sensitivity and its specificity in identifying patients with AD.
The late stage of Alzheimer's disease may last from several weeks to several years. As the disease progresses, intensive, around-the-clock care is usually required.
As people age, they tend to sleep more lightly and often awaken during the night from achy joints or the need to go to the bathroom. Many people compensate for this lost sleep by catching a restorative nap during the day.
In the earlier stages, memory loss and confusion may be mild. The person with dementia may be aware of — and frustrated by — the changes taking place, such as difficulty recalling recent events, making decisions or processing what was said by others.
Encourage the person living with dementia to get plenty of rest. Schedule activities such as doctor appointments, trips and bathing in the morning or early afternoon hours when the person living with dementia is more alert. Encourage a regular routine of waking up, eating meals and going to bed.
As dementia progresses, so does the likelihood that patients are experiencing pain. Between 50% and 80% of patients with moderate to severe dementia experience pain daily. Many patients receive inadequate treatment due lack of recognition. Alzheimer's disease causes the person to develop a mask-like facial expression.
The Mini-Cog test.
A third test, known as the Mini-Cog, takes 2 to 4 minutes to administer and involves asking patients to recall three words after drawing a picture of a clock. If a patient shows no difficulties recalling the words, it is inferred that he or she does not have dementia.
A person in the late stage of Alzheimer's should always be treated with compassion and respect. It's important to focus on preserving quality of life, dignity and comfort. In the late stage of Alzheimer's, the person typically becomes unable to walk.
The middle stages of Alzheimer's are typically the longest and can last for many years. As dementia progresses, the person with Alzheimer's will require a greater level of care.
If the person's mental abilities or behaviour changes suddenly over a day or two, they may have developed a separate health problem. For example, a sudden deterioration or change may be a sign that an infection has led to delirium. Or it may suggest that someone has had a stroke.
Don't correct, contradict, blame or insist. Reminders are rarely kind. They tell a person how disabled they are – over and over again. People living with dementia say and do normal things for someone with memory impairment.
Often when a person with dementia asks to go home it refers to the sense of 'home' rather than home itself. 'Home' may represent memories of a time or place that was comfortable and secure and where they felt relaxed and happier. It could also be an indefinable place that may not physically exist.
The most common cause of death among Alzheimer's patients is aspiration pneumonia. This happens when, due to difficulty in swallowing caused by the disease, an individual inadvertently inhales food particles, liquid, or even gastric fluids.
Stages 7: Very Severe Decline
Stage seven is the final stage of Alzheimer's. Because the disease is a terminal illness, people in stage seven are nearing death. In stage seven of the disease, people lose the ability to communicate or respond to their environment.
Shuffling of the feet in a person with Alzheimer's or dementia typically occurs in the moderate to severe to later stages of the disease. Shuffling is a common cause of falls in affected people because sliding feet can more easily trip on rugs, door thresholds or even slightly uneven surfaces.