Subdued

Lyn's been subdued the past couple of days.

She's sleeping more again and is showing less interest in some of her favorite activities.  She ruled out the puzzles earlier this week.  Yesterday, she started showing that she's stepping away from solitaire on her computer.  She asked Mom if the game was available to play.  Mom told her it wasn't but that Mom would help her turn on the computer and get the game going.  "No, I changed my mind.  I need help with it."  She has asked for help the last several times she wanted to play.  She has played solitaire alone for years and no longer is able to do so.  She changed the subject and hasn't mentioned the game since.

When I called last night to check on them, Mom described how subdued Lyn's been.  Her sleep is back up to 12 to 13 hours uninterrupted.  Mom actively has to wake Lyn.  She's sitting and staring off into space more.  Last night, she was bathed by 4 and had eaten dinner by 4:30.  She was fighting sleep by 5:30.  Mom convinced her to stay up at least through Wheel of Fortune when I called.  The show ended and Lyn announced she'd changed her mind.  She was going to stay up.  She stayed up to listen into the phone conversation.  When I hung up, she went to bed and was asleep in less than 30 minutes.

I wonder if the increase in sleep and the more subdued behavior in Lyn is a bit of depression resulting from her recognition and frustration of her changing brain.  While the previous evaluations of Lyn ruled out depression as a cause of dementia-like symptoms such as the memory loss, this doesn't rule out her current emotional state.

Additional Information:
Depression in Alzheimer's Patients Associated with Declining Ability to Handle Daily Activities

Comments

  1. Yeah. I understand feeling sad about this. The disease progresses and we're loosing her piece by piece.

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