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taffylassegues Asked February 2018

Dementia senior more alert in sleep state than in waking state?

Hi there: My father (age 84) has middle stages of dementia (likely Alzheimer's). He finds it difficult to form words and it is painstaking for him to speak while searching for those words and he is constantly getting lost in the house, mistaking one room for another. Last night my mom forgot to give my dad his Melatonin so he could sleep through the night and needless to say he was talking up a blue streak and kept my mom up the whole night. The interesting phenomenon here is that in his "sleep" my dad could remember all the words. He was speaking about things from his past and choirs he had directed and so on. He had no issue at all with remembering and getting the words out. How come no one has ever tapped into this, e.g., finding out the correlation of a seeming subconscious mind in the clear and transferring/transmitting that state of being to a waking state so that the individual can articulate and remember and function in society? I think this could be truly amazing.

cwillie Feb 2018
I've heard of this, it seems that the neural pathways used during sleep are different than the ones when we are awake. People who can't talk can often sing perfectly for the same reason.

needtowashhair Feb 2018
Off topic but does your dad get melatonin every night? My understanding is that melatonin is not supposed to be given to people with dementia. My mom's psychiatrist recommends against it. Even for healthy people it's not supposed to be used long term. I'm just curious how it's working out.

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SnoopyLove Feb 2018
Taffy, I agree that this is extremely interesting! You're right -- the words, the ability to readily form sentences is still there in your dad's mind, but not in the waking state. Why? I wonder if this phenomenon has been observed before, and if maybe it is a feature of a particular kind of dementia. And what if some sort of drug or treatment (like hypnosis or biofeedback or something like that?) could be developed that mimicked whatever it was about the drowsy, sleepy state that unlocked your dad's ability to talk more normally. So interesting. Please let us know if you find out more about this phenomenon.

That must have been a bittersweet experience for your mom.

Veronica91 Feb 2018
it is probably not surprising because it is the short term memory that is most affected with dementia. It certainly would be interesting and very helpful if this phenomina could be tapped into.
More importantly it would be wonderful if a cure could be found for this dreadful disease.

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