kai_chen2•11d agoProlific Poster

That one Tuesday last spring where Mom actually remembered to take all her pills on her own

I was visiting my mother in her apartment in Portland last April and she had this one day where everything just clicked. She got up, made her coffee, and then I watched her open her weekly pill organizer and take every single one without me reminding her. That sounds small but for someone with early stage memory issues it was huge. She even remembered to refill her water glass and take her blood pressure meds at the exact right time. I think what made it work was she had a good night's sleep and the sunlight was coming in the window just right. For the rest of the week she was back to missing doses and getting confused about which pills were morning versus night. Has anyone else had a single day where their parent or relative just seemed totally on top of things and then it faded?

3 comments

3 Comments

blair7011d ago

Did you ever figure out if the good sleep and morning sunlight was what really made the difference, or was it just random luck?

felixhenderson11d ago

Oh yeah that's Portland in April, definitely not Oregon.

betty_perry2411d ago

That April in Portland thing is so real, but I have to say (politely of course) that the "rain in Portland" idea is a little overblown. I lived there for three years and April actually had more sunny days than people think. @blair70 asked a good question about sleep and sunlight though, because I noticed for me it was less about the weather and more about my vitamin D levels (always low in that corner of the PNW). The real magic for me was taking a quick walk every morning before 9am, even if it was misting. That did more for my sleep than any lamp or supplement ever did.