Dementia Dreams

My sister has no dementia but was recently very ill, which resulted in delusions and hallucinations. It seemed very like dementia but as she recovered those symptoms disappeared and she has no memory at all of her fortnight in hospital.

Exactly like my mother with dementia, Witzend - her dreams sometimes become her reality and TV programmes prompt confusion with events in her own life eg she'd seen a garden makeover programme, and was convinced for days that the people (garden designers AND clients) were in her own garden.

Dreams are like clearing the cache of a computer, i think.

The last 3 or so times that I have felt absolutely terrified, it has been from nightmares. That raw adrenaline-inducing fear that wakes you up screaming & although the dream fades, the adrenaline takes ages to ebb away.
Luckily for me (& DH and the neighbours) I rarely have them.

Really interesting about your friend's husband*narrowboatnan*.

Applegran

I learnt recently that we build up waste products in the brain when awake and we wash them away when we sleep - and only when we sleep. We are brain washed every night! This is why if we have too little sleep or are jet lagged we feel groggy and slow - those waste products have not all been washed away.

This is another way of outlining the same phenomena, but in terms of psychology/therapy:

Things we repress - sometimes necessarily in our waking hours will come out when the conscious mind is asleep and our brain gets its paws on the subconscious or even the unconscious and out they come. sometimes of course in imaginative and funny or distressing or puzzling or trivial ways:

But if they remain constant disturbing dreams leaving people absolutely worn out then its possible there are matters that may be worth looking at in our conscious life and deal with as far as possible in the day time/waking.

I have a close friend whose DH has vascular dementia. She says that he talks in his sleep and says things that he used to say before dementia kicked in. He tells her how much he loves her, he tells her where he wants to go when they walk their dog, and he talks about people, naming them correctly, that used to be part of their lives but whose names and faces he does not recognise when he’s awake. Whether or not he is dreaming about the things he talks about at the same time we do not know. When he wakes he has no recollection and is his usual muddled self.

I learnt recently that we build up waste products in the brain when awake and we wash them away when we sleep - and only when we sleep. We are brain washed every night! This is why if we have too little sleep or are jet lagged we feel groggy and slow - those waste products have not all been washed away.

Sleeping is a very strange thing, we still don’t know exactly why we simply have to sleep, rather than just resting.Ditto dreaming, but both things must serve a purpose.

Essexgirl145

What makes you think the mind is separate from the body, the mind is woven into every part of us, into every cell, without the intereaction of the mind we can't do a thing.

I was just about to say that😁
It’s the mind that controls the body and not the other way around.

I have the oddest dreams and have had them for many years. Although my parents both died with dementia (they were in their late 90s), I sincerely hope that at 78 I’m not demented yet!

What makes you think the mind is separate from the body, the mind is woven into every part of us, into every cell, without the intereaction of the mind we can't do a thing.

Some dementia medicatons have the side effect of nightmares - and if that happens it is good to talk to the GP.

Harris27

My dad used to be back fighting in the war after a few rum chasers! He was very old and definitely didn’t have Alzheimer’s he said it was so real. Eventually he didn’t drink much.

😳😞

My dad used to be back fighting in the war after a few rum chasers! He was very old and definitely didn’t have Alzheimer’s he said it was so real. Eventually he didn’t drink much.

Oh dear Cossy, my dad would have dreams of crocodiles. Later on in the day he would be too frightened to enter the en-suite, because he thought there was crocodiles behind the door, or dogs, whatever thing he had been dreaming about 😔

Yes Kittylester. I would be in the room watching him sleep. He would wake up & say he had been in school, or work.

People with dementia dont need to be asleep to dream , my DH has Alzheimers and has some very distorted ideas when wide awake!!

I thought that Alzheimer’s, at any rate, was a disease of the brain. Not sure how or why that might affect dreaming. What was the point of the question, OP?

My mother with dementia certainly had dreams. The trouble was, she’d confuse them with reality, which could be very distressing - when no amount of persuasion could convince her that e.g. no, she and her cleaning lady had not taken my father’s dead body in the CL’s car 100 miles away, and just dumped it!

That was triggered by something she’d seen on TV (Who Do You Think You Are?) but it took about 3 days for her distress to fade away.

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crazyH

I have weird dreams but I certainly don’t have dementia - well, at least I hope not 😫

I have very lucid, very real but often very odd dreams, I don’t always remember them, but the later in the day something often triggers the memory of my dream. Last night all I can remember is there was a gigantic king cobra snake.

I think they probably do have dreams, my Aunt, who had Dementia “with Lewys Bodies” spoke of dreaming, she was completely lucid most of the time, however most of what she said was total fiction, but said in a very believable way 🤣🤣 My dear MiL, on the other hand sleeps a lot and is rarely lucid (vascular dementia). So 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

I have weird dreams but I certainly don’t have dementia - well, at least I hope not 😫

MT62

I think dementia dreams. My dad had really weird dreams. Either off to work, or school at 80 odd. Mum would say ‘you’re older than the head master’ 🤣

How do you know they were dreams? Was he able to tell you about them?

How is the mind separate from the body? I dream more when I've eaten cheese, curry or drunk red wine!