What can cause my Mom to say strange things when she wakes?

Hi Kathy - restless leg is often caused by a mineral deficiency especially magnesium. I give my mother 500 mg of magnesium daily. It also helps keep the bowels open. Due to the many food products that have added calcium (which causes muscles to contract) and too little magnesium (which causes muscles to relax) we find heart and other muscular problems, especially restless leg. If you try it, the only thing to watch out for is loose stool. If this occurs, cut back.

To answer a few past comments - yes, she does have congestive heart failure - and many other health problems. Her neurologist said the confusion/weird things she says upon waking is likely due to all of the many many meds she takes. It doesn't just happen when she wakes in the mornings. She falls asleep many times a day - during meals, in the middle of a conversation, church, Dr's appt, whatever. Her Drs also say THAT is due to meds. They tend to blame it on her Mirapex she takes for restless leg.

As for her tumor - it is behind her retina and cannot be removed. Despite yearly eye exams, it went undiagnosed for about 7 years!! It was only caught when she had to reschedule her annual appt, due to being in the hospital. She had to see a different eye Dr. He started to question her about her vision, and she said yes, she was having problems, but the previous Dr. said it was due to aging. This Dr. said NO, it most certainly was NOT due to aging!! She has had many injections in her eye, but the tumor has remained and robbed much of her site in that eye.

For gawd sakes, my husband is 71 and works 7 days a week running our retail business while I work from home, I'm 67 and take care of my 103 year old mother. It's not about age here. It may be medication. Please have her meds checked. My mother sometimes wakes up confused, but she's on only a beta blocker and dozens of vitamins. It sounds like to me that she needs to be OFF the meds before any assessment of her mental condition. What's with the tumor? Can it be removed?

I have a disabled brother with dementia. He was admitted to the hospital with urinary canal infection. He can't turn in his bed or sit up without help, he had blisters in his toes and butt. He is sensitive to touch in those areas? He frequently asks to go home and insist on it. He kept saying there is nothing wrong with me, when he is in reality being under treatment for his toes and rashes around his butt. Unfortunately his home is a nursing home. The problem is that when you tell him that he can't go home he would repeat the same sentence that there is nothing wrong with him. How would you deal with a situation like this to get his mind out of such depressing mood?

Helpless!!

Kathy31 please have a pharmacist evaluate her full list of meds. They're the only ones who are trained to look at the interactions and possible negative side effects of medications.

You can find one who specializes in the elderly by googling American Society of Consultant Pharmacists. Since it's a dotcom website, if I put a link here, they'll take it out. Many doctors prescribe medication dosages that are appropriate for younger people without understanding the effects on seniors, who metabolize meds more slowly. A senior-care pharmacist can assess all of that.

Naturally as women through our lives, we go to bed with worries and wake with things on our mind, add to this medication, fear of forgetfullness that happens with aging, dreams, and possibly a memory illness such as Alzheimers and dementia, you could be seeing a number of things that are contributing. Have you asked her upon this happening why she is feeling the need to mention these things? It is really under many of these circumstances not uncommon.

Kathy31, it sounds like your mom may be dealing with very serious congestive heart failure. It's a delicate balancing act. You're right: it's an endless cycle. She needs the diuretics to get rid of the water, but the diuretics damage her kidneys. As her kidneys get more damaged, she has more and more of a problem getting rid of the water and keeping the potassium, sodium and other things that our body needs.

Yes, it's an endless cycle. Mom is getting close to end stage right now. Give her too many diuretics and she's a little mummy; don't give her enough and she's swelling and putting on 10# of water weight. In a matter of a few days either way.

Thanks, everyone. Her Neurologist things its just from all her meds. And now they took her off all but one of her water pills. And now her legs are swelling again. It's just an endless cycle. Despite all of her Drs being in the same clinic - they definitely do NOT communicate. One puts her one something, another takes her off. This drug helps her heart, hurts her kidneys and on and on.

This is for Kathy31 first have mom checked for UTI infection if ok there it is most likely dementia or Alt.good luck

I have this same thing with my mother, especially if I awaken her from a nap. She insists that there are people in the house, usually they are family members, but in their childhood forms. She thinks someone slept with her and can give a vivid description. Just yesterday, she was angry. insisting that an entire family was in the house visiting and that she didn't want to leave and go home (even though she was home). That family that was in the dream are mostly dead or moved away now. I think she was angry because in reality nobody ever comes to visit and she was having such a good time in the dream that she wanted it to be real. She has not been diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer's. I will try the O.J. that sounds reasonable. Mother has had blood sugar drop issues for years. Thanks for this tip.

Odd behavior in the elderly can be caused by a urinary tract infection so have that checked out too.

It could be all of the medicine and combinations. It could be a lot of things. It could be that she is not quite awake. Talk with a professional too.
I woke up from anesthesia one time many years ago after having my wisdom teeth removed...all four at once. I woke up cursing everyone out asking why they didn't take my _______ teeth out. Then I felt the gauze. It was the anesthesia. Many people wake up mean. I wouldn't have known that it the professionals didn't tell me.
I hope this helps if even just a little bit!

Im with Pam on this one. I took Chantix to quit smoking and often woke up, still dreaming. Absolutely see a neurologist. But if they agree that no scary stuff is going on then I wouldn't worry. Good luck

it could be related to any or all of the above mentioned things. If you are noticing other signs that she could have dementia, get her into her PCP and have them give her a referral to a neurologist.

Could be the result of vivid dreams (and those could, of course, be drug induced given that she's taking so many), but look for the other early symptoms of dementia, too – how she's handling her money, hygiene, housekeeping...and if are other behavioral clues (she laughs at different things and more often, she blows off things she would have given attention to, etc.). If your sister sees mom often and she suspects it, there's a pretty good chance she's right. My father's dementia started long before we recognized it and in those years he created a shambles of his finances that can't be undone. I have a friend whose father did the same thing. His mishandling of his finances was the red flag, then the family thought back to all the subtle changes they didn't pick up on.

I completely agree with Pam Stegman. Mom has SUCH vivid dreams and often wakes up still IN them. Sometimes it's creepy. This time it was hilarious...overheard before I got her out of bed one morning...please impute southern drawl:

"Chicken Little!! Is that really you, Chicken Little??? Oh, my! Well, let me tell you THIS, Chicken Little. YOU'RE A LIAR!!!!! LIAR!!!!! Know what happens to liars, Chicken Little??? They go straight to h*ll, Chicken Little!!! Good. Bye."

ROFL!!!

Sunrise Syndrome,(sun?riz) a condition in which there is unstable cognitive ability upon rising in the morning. The mind is filled with delusions that are frequently observed in people with Alzheimer's and may include include beliefs about theft, the patient's house not being their home, a spouse is an impostor, belief an intruder is in the house, abandonment, spousal and paranoia. The person may carry over content of a dream. Sunrise Syndrome conversations may involve the production of unintentional false statements,(i.e. confabulations).

People say things comtaining information that is blatantly false, tell of actions that inaccurately describe history, background and present situations. They are coherent, internally consistent, and appear relatively normal. This despite contradicting evidence. This is distinct from lying because there is typically no intent to deceive and the person is unaware that the information is false. It seems that Alzheimer's / Dementia is fraught with confabulation speak.

I was told that they wake up with low blood sugar and you need to give her a small glass of OJ before she gets out of bed! It could help and is better than giving her drugs. Give it a try. I learned this at a recent caregiver's conference. It was so great and very informative.

Thank you. I will try to get a list from her.

More likely she has polypharmacy induced vivid dreaming. Go to drugs and enter all the medications on their drug interaction checker.