My mother has periods of apparent exhaustion which sometimes last days. Any suggestions?

Do these periods of exhaustion your mom has coincide with any particular activity? Like going out, having visitors, talking on the phone?

Old people get tired. Sometimes just their daily routine can tire someone out.

I suggest keeping a journal to record when your mom has these bouts of exhaustion. Record what she had been doing, how long it lasts, what time of the day it hits her, etc. You might start seeing a pattern.

(P.S. I have some health issues and my Dr. suggested I keep a journal of my symptoms. I thought the suggestion was dumb but I dutifully did it and wouldn't you know it! Darned if I didn't start seeing some patterns! Now I suggest to anyone who will listen that they keep a journal.) :-)

I would want to check her BP and O2 saturation when she is feeling good, write down the date and time. Repeat this when she is lethargic. I am sure you will see some kind of change in the readings.

This may also be depression.
Many of the same symptoms are the same.
And if she is aware now of the dementia and that her memory is failing that might be enough to get a bit depressed about. (I know if I were told I was diagnosed with dementia I would be depressed!)

My mom had exactly the same. We went crazy trying to figure it out....finally...we figured out that she has a heart arrhythmia. The Wild sudden upswing on her heart rate would last only a short time...but, the resulting loss of oxygen to her entire system (blood rushing past the lungs to fast there wasn't enough time to get oxygenated) cause sudden extreme fatigue. The "knock on" effects could linger for a couple days.

The partial answer is Diltazem. After a couple weeks on this drug...the effects of the arrhythmia were greatly reduced. She still had period of being tired...but a much more "normal" kind of tired...i.e. Connected to activity level.

Have her heart checked.

My mother has progressive dementia, and there are days where she's too tired to get out of bed. Other days, she's perfectly fine. I've quit trying to figure out the 'why's', since there is nothing medically wrong with her. 2 stays in the hospital and not 1 test came back positive. Her emotions are all over the place, and I believe that is partially responsible for her 'exhaustion'. She's medicated for depression, but she has days where she's SO depressed that she won't go out of her room in the ALF. I honestly feel that not everything can be explained or 'figured out' with the elderly, especially where dementia is concerned. If my mother wants to stay in bed, then fine, she stays in bed. If she wants to go out and mingle with the residents, then fine, she goes out & mingles with the residents. At 90 years old, there's no rhyme or reason to lots of her issues. It's helped me a lot to stop taking everything she says/does so literally.......she can be angry & 'sick' one minute (and I get worried), then 100% fine the next minute, leaving me to wonder why I worried to begin with.

Also it could be her kydneys aren't functioning well,that will cause low blood pressure and that will cause alot of fatigue

I was going to ask about heart issues as well. My 97-year mom has atrial fib and has recently had two bouts that I witnessed where she says she's short of breath. She kind of pants for a while then goes into an almost semi-comatose state for about 30-40 minutes. Then she "wakes up" and feels good. I think it's an atrial fib episode.

She's got a DNR and her heart doc has taken her off one of her heart meds since it was causing her lungs to stiffen. So there's not much to be done, but it was very stressful to me the first time I witnessed it. I think her oxygen level goes down (when her heart is in a-fib), causing her semi-comatose state. Then she dozes and her heart goes back into a normal rhythm. So I'd question whether your mom has some sort of heart arrhythmia going on.

She maybe anemic which means her body has a hard time producing iron.Get her to try taking ferrous fumerrate.1 tablet in the morning and one before bed.I had the same symptoms and that helped tremendously

My Mom is 99 years old. She gets her blood screened regularly ( 2 times a year or more) and we found certain deficiencies such as low iron, malnourished, anemic at different periods. Also one time she was diagnosed as low in potassium. Besides checking her blood pressure, heart beat and oxygen level we let her sleep during her low energy periods except for meals and intake of fluids and other necessaries. She revitalizes during these sleep periods and gets up energized and ready for activities or going out for periods greater or equal to her being so tired. It seems a natural pattern. We take pictures of her during her active periods which she likes to see. It seems to reinforce her short term memory and pleasure she has in life reviewing her and the cat cuddling, the great great grandchildren, great grandchildren, grandchildren, children and herself all sharing loving moments. Blessings.

But remember, elders do get tired, e.g. my late mother would say "why am I so tired; I haven't done anything?"