My mother, most if the time is quiet, sleeps alot and only speaks a word or two when talked to. She is bedridden and pretty much out of it. Recently she has had bursts of clarity where she talks non stop and we can talk for hours. I love it. I can ask her questions and she understands what I am saying. We just sit and talk and I feel bad when I have to leave because I can tell she wants to keep talking. Has anyone experienced this? What causes people to have these occurances?
It has also helped lots with the Sundowning. It does not make her sleep, just calm. She still takes Trazadone at night, for sleep.
My Mom has had these episodes about twice a month now for a year. She is lucid most days although she does sleep alot.
The Dr calls this "high energy periods" wherein she will be quite talkative and active; organizing drawers, walking around perfectly fine without a cane or walker, wanting to call friends etc
The problem occurs at bedtime. By the end of one these exhausting days for her she will go to bed admitting she is tired but won't stay in bed. She has stayed up for 24 hrs before becoming a HUGE fall risk.
We have tried several meds to get her to sleep at this juncture. I am doing the ennie meanie minie moe with Ativan Hydroxizine Hydrocodone and even returning to Tylenol PM.
The stronger drugs have given her the Paradox effect..in other words they have the exact opposite effect on her. We both end up in tears and arguments. It's very similar to the toddler who won't go down and has a million excuses to get back up. The next few days are "lost" as she is down for the count as I call it without much of a recall of the previous days events.
My Mom has been in the hospital for 5 days now with a sprained ankle. Because its not broken she doesn't qualify for a Medicare Rehab stay. Am advocating that the Dr come up with a diagnosis to qualify her for Rehab. I asked for Failure to Thrive yesterday. He wasn't sure!!! My current thread is "I need advice STAT"
In my case its not an end of life occurrence. There were others experiencing theses symptoms as well on a thread a few years back. Hope they will chime in.
As another has mentioned, if she is close to the end, she could be having moments of terminal lucidity. Only time will tell.
I've also read that it's possible in cases of physical illnesses, where there seems to be a sudden and miraculous lucid recovery from a condition which had a grave prognosis (such as sepsis or coma), but shortly after the lucidity, the patient reverts and dies.
Her diagnosis is Alzheimer’s, but I know that there are little idiosyncratic events in every case. I’m happy to have this be one of hers.
I have known of two cases. My DIL father had Parkinson and LBD. He had a couple of times where he was completely lucid. Much as you described. The family thought it was due to a new med but it did not last. This was in later days of his illness.
One day out of the blue my cousin called me on her way home from a Parkinson’s covention with her mom who is on hospice with Parkinson’s and dementia. Said she had exciting news and wanted to surprise me. I wasn’t home so she said that her mom had started talking again. Cousin said after her mom went on hospice she decided to try CBD oil to see if it would make a difference. I was very skeptical. I wanted to tell her about my DIL father because I didn’t think this would last but didn’t have the heart to do anything but encourage her to enjoy it. Her mom who has been nonverbal when I saw her in May had started talking in July within a week of starting the oil. She lost her Parkinson’s shuffle and flat expression. She made amazing improvements for over a year. Then she fell and lost a lot of ground. Stopped talking again. Had to have a hospital bed etc. Slowly she is improving again but not as dramatically as the first time. So, I know it does happen. The CBD oil appeared to be what was helping but the disease marches on. My cousin felt like it gave her mom back to her for a magical period of time. I would record her if I were you and you have the capability to enjoy in the future. Hugs to you and mom.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/awakenings-in-advanced-dementia-patients-hint-at-untapped-brain-reserves/
Wishing you the best of luck with your mom. I hope you both continue to enjoy these periods of lucidity because it's a wonderful thing!
Agree with you and others - whatever the reason and however long it lasts, grab it by the horns and enjoy it!