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She is 85 and I believe her to be in stage 6. She does this in cycles and seems to have really ramped up in the past 3 months. Is this a sign of going into stage 7? She walks with a walker but slow, shuffling gait. Has started patting herself some. She has a tremor and moves slowly. She doesn't recognize her children. She is up all night knocking at my bedroom door, very angry I am not up. Then she crys. I have to comfort her like a child, telling her she is ok and I love her but the sleep pattern is so hard.

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It's hard to apply a calculator to their stages. Some days are loony. Some days, you think why are they here in this facility.
Dementia and it's various incarnations is a cruel mistress.
Fluctuating mentation is a thing.

ETA.my mom wrote my sister a letter saying sad news, someone in their neighborhood (a unit in MC) died. When we went to see her yesterday, she said he died the previous night. No. A week previous.
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Thekay Feb 2019
I understand. At times mom can remember my husband's name and other times he is "That man in there". She fluctuates but it is a downward fluctuation.
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It can be a sign of further decline. Dementia has a negative impact on sleep/wake cycles. These include “sun downing”, where the sufferer becomes agitated and anxious as the afternoon progresses into evening. As her dementia progressed, my mother couldn’t tell day from night.

Try calling her doctor to see if anythjng can be done to reverse the cycle. She sleeps for long periods and then isn’t tired. Then she’s exhausted and again sleeps for long periods. You need your sleep as well.
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Thekay Feb 2019
Thank you. My sister is an MD and was here visiting yesterday. She is going to talk to the neurologist who diagnosed mom to see what we can try. Melatonin hasn't helped. That has been over 5 years ago since diagnosis but I'd say there has been a significant decline since last summer. That was when she first asked me "Who is your mother and where does she live?" That hit my heart hard. I now realize, although she still has many of her words, she is losing them, stutters slightly and stops mid sentence....with loss of what she was saying. She has wandered about at night for some time but this sleeping pattern has developed within this bit too So I fear it is a sign of further decline.
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