Is it the Full Moon? Or Winter?

Mom seems to fade in and out the last few days.  At one moment she’s telling me what’s outside and the next she’s walking around looking for something and says she doesn’t know what she’s supposed to do.  She loses the time of day and thinks she has already eaten a particular meal when she hasn’t or that she hasn’t when she has. 

Is it the full moon?  When she first moved in, we noticed a pattern around the full moon.  She would get very combative at times and extremely confused and delusional.  Now, thankfully, I don’t see the combative as much because I’ve learned to avoid it.  The confused and delusional is there on a daily basis but ramps up sometimes to extreme.  We’ve learned to deal with that also although it can be trying at times.

One thing we have noticed is that she is leaving her bedroom light on all night.  She used to just turn it on when she was going to the bathroom but now it’s on all night.  I think she thinks it will add heat to the room and I know there is no use arguing with her.  I haven’t managed to get her to put on an extra blanket for the winter. 

I’m not sure if the light is keeping her from getting a decent night’s sleep but lately she has been getting up VERY early (I’m very thankful for the gate in the hallway!), dozing a lot during the day and wanting to go to bed before 9:00.  I’ve told her she has to stay up until at least 9:30 the last couple nights hoping that it would help her sleep a little later in the morning.

I think the bigger problem is the gray/cold weather.  We don’t have the opportunity to walk outside as we did during the spring, summer and fall.  Although I am happy to take her to the mall or a store to walk, the unusual amount of snow we have had this month has made that more difficult and our winter is predicted to continue the trend.

Unfortunately, the term “winter” has no meaning for her anymore and it’s not unusual for her to think she can go walking outside when we have a sunny day.  I find opening the door quickly takes care of that issue.

Today she woke up and seemed to be fairly with it.  We had breakfast, managed to get the bathing done and then went to have her hair shampooed and cut.  By the time we returned, her mind was gone again.  I guess we’ll see what the rest of the day brings.