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I'm wondering if moaning can be something that occurs in elderly people without dementia or similar illnesses. I don't think I ever heard any elderly person moan unless they had dementia or Alzheimer's or something similar.

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Most people not all will moan at some point in their life. Moaning acures when a person is in pain or feeling uncomfortable. I don't know if people do it for self-soothing, but I don't see why not. Just because it is not soothing to you doesn't mean that it is not soothing to grandma. If I was you and others in the house I would stop fussing at grandma for doing it. When you hear her do it the first time ask her if she is in pain. If you get no answer or she says no than go on with your day. If grandma is doing it when she is sleeping than she has no control over it. Therefore you are asking her to stop doing something that she can't help. This is not fair to grandma. She should not have to stay awake at night over something she has no control over. In fact, she may not have any control over during the day.

Just my 2 cents!
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Moaning happens to many people. It does not just occur with dementia.
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If there's not pain involved, then I think moaning is a form of self-soothing
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mejjy11 Jan 2019
How can I know if there is pain if she chooses not to tell me? Sometimes, she moans and then I see her hand on her forehead as if she has a headache, but she claims she's fine. Sometimes she admits to back pain, leg pain, knee pain (back and front), or hand pain (from sleeping on it).

So if the moaning is self-soothing, does she have control over it? The family fussed at her numerous times for moaning while she's in bed because it can be heard all over the house and there is no where else for her to sleep. She did stop and rarely makes a peep now. But she really carries on sometimes in her recliner in the family room. No one can even stand to be around her anymore. We fuss at her and she says she'll stop, but she's right back at it again soon after. Sometimes she really carries on and sometimes she doesn't. When I asked her if she makes the sounds deliberately, I didn't get a straight answer, so I'm not sure how much control she has over it. I wonder if she sleeps during the day because she stays awake all night trying not to make any sounds.

I don't understand how it's self-soothing because I tried to make the same sounds and I ended up with a sore throat, out of breath and just plain annoying myself. I don't understnad how she (or anyone that age) even has the stamina to carry on like that.

I would feel a lot better, a lot less stressed and agitated if I could curse freely in my home (I can't because of Grandma) because that is self-soothing to me. Then my mom said that my cursing makes her upset, and I said that's how I feel about Grandma's moaning.
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I'm surprised you haven't had other answers. I don't know, but I send you my sympathy. I don't think it happens with people dying - certainly not my mother, although the rattling breathing was normal. Best wishes.
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