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My Dad is up all night, his dementia and confusion become extreme. He fights sleeping, staggers around barely able to walk, becomes argumentative, combative and agressive.
We have him on 150 mg of seroquel and have just added trazodone. At times it seems as if he does this on purpose, as if he is unable to help himself from acting up. When I asked him what he was doing, he simply replied "Making you mad." Has anyone been able to sucessfully deal with this? |
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My dad was up 20hrs a day -He would finally go to sleep when the sun came up and wake up at 10am.
The dementia it seemed was to blame for most of it. Sundowning-agitation, confusion just like your having. The only thing thta helped wa some meds like your doing and we tried some natural and OTC things like Valerian and Benedryl. After 4-6 days of these wild 23hr days he would usually crash for some decent amount of hrs only to do it all over again. The one thing we tried that I wouldn't recommend was the sleep aids like Ambien. He or his body/mind just seemed to fight the sleepiness and he would be walking into walls-falling. You may have better results but it seemed on some days there was enough of everything in him that would put a normal brain to sleep for days. I used to think taser and elephant tranquilizer on some nights so I could get some sleep not worrying he's gonna run out the front door. Anywho just keep on top of things til u fing something that works for him... Long Island New York |
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... Thank you Chris. Everything you described sounds just like my dad. It's nice to know I'm not alone. I had been giving him OTC TylenolPM along with the seroquel. I'll keep that up, and I'll try the valerian. Dad is a fall risk, so the doctor said Ambien is too risky for him -he may fall more often. The way he's going, I think he'd fight the taser and the elephant tranquilizer, but after this past night, they certainly sound like good ideas! Thank you again... |
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My mum was going thru this phase. She was mad at the situation and as i am around it is easy for her to get mad at me. She still get's up may be 2 to 3 times a night. In the beginning, when i tried to stop her getting up, she would be very frustrated, angry and insisted that she wanted to bath and get ready to start the day - who was i to tell her she can't do that - kind of attitude. I tried telling her, explaining to her that what she was doing was not good for her, at times got little mad to see if that made difference. It made it worse. Finally i tried a softer method - i tried to spend 1/2 hour with her before she goes to sleep, laugh with her and remind of some funny moments in life. Assured her i am here for her and wouldnot leave her alone. The results are - she is now listning to me. when she wakes up - i will let her know it still is night and she goes back to bed - does not fight me any more. I am not sure if this will help...hope he is feelig better. hmp |
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About Benadryl... I remember reading or hearing somewhere (can't remember where) that it's not a good idea for Alzheimer's patients.
I looked around again and found out about this study: http://www.healthcentral.com/a.../news-290406-98.html Interesting stuff, for sure. |
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If you go to Find and write in Melatonin, you'll see many discussions of its potential benefits.
I don't have personal experience with it, but many folks seemed to find it helped LO's to sleep better... Good luck! ps My mother had a bad cough so I was giving her a syrup with codeine and gualensin. The codeine helped her to sleep through the night BUT during the day her legs became very wobbly--she couldn't walk safely. (Her gait came back when we stopped the codeine...) |
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What does his doctor recommend? A lot of OTC aids can work against Aricept and other medications, so it's really important that the doctor work out the sleep aids.
I know it can be a real emergency. I even took my LO to the emergency room one weekend to get a urine check and get help with her insomnia. The ER doctor prescribed time-release Ambien, which did the trick (for her) and her brain doc approved it a couple of days later when we saw him on an emergency basis. Another possibility is to hire a night caregiver, if that's feasible. I know there are a very few "night care centers" for dementia patients who like to stay up late, but most areas don't have one yet. If you're in a densely populated area, maybe you could go in with two or three other caregivers and hire a night caregiver together. |
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Your dad and my mom should get together and party all night long. The dementia and the sundowning seem to be the problem. I'm starting to understand that they really don't know what they are doing. My mom has peed in some very unusual places during the night.She wakes up and makes her bed, trys to put on different PJ's and has even climb into bed with me. She would just die if she knew what she was doing. She was put on trazodone also, worked for awhile. I have talked to her doctor, he told me to give her one and half pills. I remember when she broke her hip in July, they had to give her benedryl to knock her out after the operation. She was very agitated and wouldn't stay still. Talk to his doctor. Maybe they need to up the dose. Last night I was sleeping on the sofa, befor I knew it she was sitting right next to me, scared the you know what out of me. The only good thing that I do know, is that you are not alone.
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We are having the same problem with my mom, it's awful!! We have been to the Dr. so many times and nothing works. Also, the agitation is horrible, she is suffering terribly with this.
Maybe we'll try the Benedryl. At any rate your comments about the elephant tranquilizers have given me a much a needed laugh. Thank you. |
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I've read that Benadryl can cause hallucinations, and it certainly seemed to have that effect on my life partner back in June. Be sure to check with the specialist who really knows about memory loss. |
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Hi Rosemarie, My dad thinks he's at work. He built military aircraft for Grumman. The other night he started talking about an evacuation hose. All of the sudden it dawned on me he need to use the bathroom... talk about connecting the dots! Dad is on 50 mg of Trazodone. His dr. advised me to try one daily dose for a week, if it doesn't work try two, then the max which is three, 150 mg. Check with your mom's dr. Maybe 75 mg isn't enough. |
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Please know that I would never recomend giving anyone any kind of meds without checking with the doc. I know that they had a very hard time keeping my mom down after her operation.
Last night mom was up only once, funny thing is, she remembered her walker. I have hard woods floor and I could hear her going down the hall to the bathroom. That was a good night. Hope you have a good day. |
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