My mother has just recently started closing her eyes while she is awake. She will even talk with her eyes closed. She does this in the morning hour's, then toward noon and throughout the day, her eyes are open. She is getting plenty of rest throughout the night... it's like she can't get herself to wake up.
It was safer inside the eyelids than outside (seeing)
My be they feel safer? It does shut all visuals 'goings on' out.
Good Luck
South Africa
My mom was never officially diagnosed with Alzhiemers but all the signs were there. It was like something happened overnight. She started forgetting where she put stuff and confusion of where she was. We soon realised that she shouldn't be allowed to take her own medication or help herself around the kitchen. A month ago she undergone minor surgery for a prolapsed bladder. Mom is 75 years old and the Dr's assured us it's a common procedure. The procedure went well according to the Dr's and mom wqs discharged two days later of which I thought to be too soon because we were told she would have to stay in hospital atleast 5-8days after the procedure. Then she incurred an infection and was readmitted to hospital. She also had an absis that needed to be drained. She was very disoriented and unhappy that she had to stay behind in the hospital. They thought we had her admitted to a mental hospital. We had to make sure by orientation that one of us is there to give her security that she's not been abandoned and constantly explain where she is and why. That we love her and that we will always be back. Almost two weeks later and mom is discharged. Now she doesn't eat at all, she keeps her eyes closed all the time, she don't have bowlmovement and barely passes urine. She talks all the time even when she sleeps and random talk. Westarted feeding her eEnsure and jelly. My sisters assist with caring for mom but there are things they feel they don't have the"gift" to do and I am sure I don't have to tell you what those things are :( I am very encouraged with everything I read here and I find my knowledge and encouragement in all your posts. Thank you for sharing. God bless you all x
She may be tired.
She may be having visual problems, could be "floaters" a shadow or maybe things are just moving too fast for her brain to register what is going on.
And light may bother her eyes.
You can try keeping the room a little dimmer and see if that makes a difference.
Sunglasses might help as well.
Alzheimers patients have the ability to read body language and voice inflections long into their illness.
They will still feel frustration, anger, loss, happiness, sadness, joy and love
BUT…they lose the ability to channel those feelings productively due to their brain.
A change in Environment is devastating, heightens behavior problems, disrupts sleeping, eating and toileting problems also impacting greatly on the caretaker.
This might explain why she closes her eyes in the a m. but not later on in the day.