My great-aunt Rose has Alzheimer's. Almost every night she talks in her sleep. A lot of the time she sounds very scared and upset. She yells out and says things like "No! Don't do that" and sometimes just lets out a very scary moan, almost like she is in pain. When I wake her up in the morning I always ask her how she slept. She says almost every morning that she slept well or "fairly good". I'm worried that this is disrupting her sleep and causing her to not get enough rest. When she talks a lot in her sleep I notice that the next morning she is very tired and spends most of the day asleep in her chair. Is there anything I could do to help her? I plan on bringing this up at her next doctors appointment. But I want to know if there is something I can do right now to help.
Meanwhile... what your great aunt's bedtime routine? If you help her prepare for bed, what about spending an extra few minutes talking to her about "happy thoughts" before she settles down. By happy thoughts I just mean anything she'll find agreeable and familiar, that might expose nicer layers of memory for her to sleep on. It's only an idea, I haven't tried this out on a live subject.
My mother did go through a phase of being upset and anxious about long, long-buried memories, but not to the extent of having audible nightmares about them. It must be very distressing. Have you tried holding your aunt's hand if she wakes you during the night? This is the kind of thing I'd take advice on, though - I honestly don't know if it's to be recommended or not.
Hospice has now prescribed ativan for this kind of thing. They tell me its anxiety manifesting itself. I kind of think its the subconscious thing going on. The ativan helps
Also, is there any way this could be terminal restlessness? I have been told by a friend of mine who is a hospice nurse that the older people do this
Doctor prescribed no more sleeping tablets for Mom hence there was no more hallucinations. The answer to Your Question Monateru is in the Meds....bring this up with Your Aunty's Doctor and I bet You will get great results.