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04/19/10, 01:49 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: NE Arkansas
Posts: 5,251
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Strange Repeating Dream -- But Not Asleep
My elderly mother told me yesterday that for the last five nights as soon as she gets in bed she takes off flying. Not with arms out flying like a bird, but as she is when she lays in bed. It is completely dark with bright and colorful lights of all shapes and sizes passing her by. She is not afraid. She finds it beautiful and calming. I'm baffled by this and tried to convince her that she's dreaming but she tells me she is not. She's convinced of it. It always takes her awhile to fall asleep but this happens as soon as she gets in bed without closing her eyes.
Anyone have any ideas on this. She does have a mild case of dementia and taking medication for it and also for depression.
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04/19/10, 01:52 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: TN
Posts: 3,326
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Does she take Ambien?
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04/19/10, 01:56 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: NE Arkansas
Posts: 5,251
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Isn't that a sleeping pill? If it is then she doesn't take it. She takes no sleeping medication.
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04/19/10, 01:57 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 731
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I'd say if she is happy and describes this as calming, to just hug her and tell her it sounds cool.
She probably is dreaming, but why argue with someone who has dementia?
Like the time I was visiting my my mother and she told me that she talked to my dad on the phone that morning. I laughed and said that if he called back, I wanted to talk to him, too!
He had been dead for years. But she wa happy!
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04/19/10, 01:59 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: NE Arkansas
Posts: 5,251
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That could be it, Betty Jean. If it pleases her and she's not out of bed then there really is no problem. I just find it kind of weird.
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04/19/10, 02:05 PM
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Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 7,154
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For her benifit, just let her talk about what she sees or does and go along with her stories. So many people try to correct people whos mind wonders and all they do is make the person miserable.
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04/19/10, 02:19 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: NE Arkansas
Posts: 5,251
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I agree Uncle Will. After I initially tried to tell her she was dreaming and she was so adament (sp?) that she was not dreaming, I decided to let her be because she seemed to enjoy her little experiences so much and it wasn't harming anyone.
One other thing that bothered me at first was that it sounded like she was on a jouney through the universe and through all the beautiful stars and galaxies and that perhaps she was having preminitions of her impending death maybe. But I don't know. As long as she is happy I guess.
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04/19/10, 02:20 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ocala, FL
Posts: 3,540
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Ocular migraines come to mind.....they are not always painful, but the colors and flashing lights, yes....
__________________
...'o shame on the mothers of mortals, who have not stopped to teach; of the sorrow that lies in dear, dumb eyes; the sorrow that has no speech... from -'Voice of the Voicless', Ella Wheeler Wilcox
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04/19/10, 02:25 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: NE Arkansas
Posts: 5,251
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I don't know much about that, Jill, but I'll google it and read about it and see if that fits what's been happening with her. I know she's been having trouble with her eyes. Trouble reading (print too small) and vision going completely dark a couple of times. Her doctor told her it was because of her dementia caused by the veins in her neck keeping oxygen from getting to her brain and her eyes being affected by that.
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04/19/10, 02:27 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 731
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At ant rate, AR Cattails, this is a hug for you!
It is a long haul to care for a parent with dementia.
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04/19/10, 02:35 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: NE Arkansas
Posts: 5,251
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It is difficult, Betty Jean. My father is getting towards the advanced stages of alzhmeirs and it's hard to see him progressing there.
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04/19/10, 02:36 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 689
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Actually, my first thought after reading your description was that she has a blood oxygen problem. Maybe it is a blood supply problem getting to the brain or both. Sounds similar to some of the things my grandmother described.
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04/19/10, 02:40 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: NE Arkansas
Posts: 5,251
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KMA1
Actually, my first thought after reading your description was that she has a blood oxygen problem. Maybe it is a blood supply problem getting to the brain or both. Sounds similar to some of the things my grandmother described.
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That would fit with what the doctor says about her dementia being caused by the veins in her neck keeping the oxygen getting to her brain and her brain is shriveling up like a prune. He took pictures of her brain and showed her areas on her brain that are all dark now. She's losing functionability in those areas. The main thing that is bothering her is her problems with her vision.
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04/19/10, 03:42 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Beautiful Oregon
Posts: 439
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Totally uneducated response, just a question really: If it's an oxygen deprivation thing, could you experiment with different sleep positions? Like maybe with her head elevated slightly, as in a hospital bed, to make sure that she's not cutting off her oxygen in a way that could be harmful? Passing out is not good at any stage of life!
That may be way off the mark; I just wanted to ask. My mom is in the middle stages of neurological deterioration, and I have seen what sleep deprivation does to her: It makes her symptoms much, much worse. She uses a C-PAP machine now to help her breathe at night and it has improved her daytime lucidity (and daytime wakefulness!) about 1000%. Before the C-PAP, she had a sleep study done and they found she was waking hundreds of times a night! 
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04/19/10, 04:12 PM
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Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: South Carolina
Posts: 458
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Maybe she really is. I didn't believe in out-of-body experiences until I had several. I could literally feel myself leave my body and move through my house along the ceiling and looking down on everything. My husband is a very light sleeper and wakes up anytime I get out of bed, so it couldn't have been me really getting out of bed. I was awake and yet asleep.
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04/19/10, 04:30 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 19,807
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KMA1
Actually, my first thought after reading your description was that she has a blood oxygen problem. Maybe it is a blood supply problem getting to the brain or both. Sounds similar to some of the things my grandmother described.
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My concern would be cerebral infarcts.
When did she last have a check-up?
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Je ne suis pas Alice
http://homesteadingfamilies.proboards.com/
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04/19/10, 04:33 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: NE Arkansas
Posts: 5,251
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MegaBeth and everyone else interested, here is an article describing exactly what she was diagnosed with...Small Vessel Disease...and how it is affecting her brain. http://www.bestveincare.com/Articles.aspx?aid=21
sewserious - I still want to believe her because she seems so happy by it. She does say she leaves her body behind.
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04/19/10, 04:36 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: IA
Posts: 5,499
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Big hugs to you sweetie!!!!!!!!
I doubt that it helps, but when I was a little girl, I 'flew' every night during my sleep and just loved it.
__________________
A kind word, gesture or deed can mean more to someone than you may ever know. It may even change their life.
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04/19/10, 04:38 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: NE Arkansas
Posts: 5,251
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Thank you Shepherd.
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04/19/10, 05:47 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Tenn/Ga
Posts: 133
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Astrial Projection??
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