No question here this time, just wanted to share some good news for a change. With my mom's increasing level of confusion and tiredness, I started pushing for answers. Didn't do great on memory test - no surprise there. Worked with doctor to make med changes - no change in mom. Blood work - everything was normal.
Followed up on sleep apnea which nurse had noted from hospital stay for knee replacement last November. Took THREE months to get the sleep study done. Doctor called today to say she has severe sleep apnea and is scheduling her for an emergency 2nd sleep study to use the CPAP and oxygen because her oxygen saturation level is going really low, especially during REM sleep. WOW. She is very tired and napping a lot. And confused about mostly everything.
I am so thrilled that this could give her back some of her life!! I don't know what % of her behavior is tied to the lack of sleep and how much is actually dementia or something like that? Even if she could improve 50%, that would be huge. And not to be tired all the time would be a wonderful thing.
One warning though: It can take awhile to get used to wearing the mask, so don't let her give up on it. All too often a person will try it for a night or two, give up, and the insurance company will take the machine away due to lack of use. Don't let this happen.
GOOD LUCK!