Anyone have experience with “frenzied” behavior one day and then complete exhaustion the next?

It doesn't go on for a whole day, but my mother has anxiety bouts that last from a few minutes to a few hours. When it last hours, she generally sleeps more the next day.

I'm healthy and in pretty good shape--but when dealt a hand of untenable stress that last for days or even weeks--I must 'eat' the anxiety.

As soon and the 'crisis' is over, I crash and burn. My daughter and her family just took 10 days to drive from VA to UT. The day they arrived safely, we saw them for about 4 hours, they went to their hotel and I crawled into bed and slept HARD for about 18 hours.

I may not show stress outwardly, but when the event is over, I crash. I think the same thing would apply to someone who has dementia.

This is totally normal. As I am still 'healing' from cancer, I will have a day here or there where I sleep all day. I've learned to deal with it and allow my body and mind the time to heal.

Have you ever had an emotional outburst due to stress and trauma? Do you remember the Post Trauma sort of wilting that happens? There are real hormones involved in anger and outburst. They involve our fight or flight response, and it is useful to look it up so you can understand the chemistry of it, which doesn't change in someone demented or not. There are a whole flood of hormones that date back to our caveman days when fight and flight were the only responses to danger. When these hormones leave they leave the body exhausted. I would say that this isn't unusual. The sad thing about the type of dementia your Mom has is that the only normal thing is that things are not ever normal. Do read up on this type of dementia and dementia in general. There is so much information out there, almost too much. Good luck.