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Night Time Wandering and Psychosis Sleep Medication?

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Alzheimer's Disease
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Posted 3/19/2013 1:45 AM (GMT 0)
My Dad currently takes Exelon patch, Seroquel and Carbidopa/Levodopa for his Alzheimer's Disease. He has cycles in which he barely sleeps during the night, and is instead up wandering the house, tearing his bedclothes apart, going through drawers, opening the front door (even though he has problems doing that during the day), and yelling for my Mom to come look at something that isn't there. (He and my Mom live next door to my husband and me.) His doctor upped his Seroquel to two pills at night, but that seemed to make things worse, so we dropped it back to one pill.

Does anyone else have this problem with their AD patient? If so, does that person take some type of sleeping medication to help out? I'm not sure if the doctor figures that the extra Seroquel would make my Dad drowsier, or if he just doesn't want to prescribe another medication.

Thanks.
Anna
Posted 3/19/2013 1:56 AM (GMT 0)
I'm sorry to hear that your dad has AD, but unfortunately this the nature of the beast. The night time "antics". I ran into that when my Gma lived with me. My son, who lives with us, would take over the night time duties for me. He has told me that Gma would do some crazy things in the night...looking for food for her (imaginary) "friends" to opening the door etc. When she fell and broke her arm I tried giving her a sleep aid because she did NOT sleep at all....you would've thought I gave her a kid aspirin because it did not work at all!

But the opening doors at night is disconcerting....have you installed alarms on the doors? Or put some sort of safety feature on them?
Posted 3/19/2013 4:07 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, it's called Sundowner's and most AD patients have this. It's really tough but I'd speak with the physician again and let them know what is going on -- maybe you could have an aide come in during the night to help out so your Mom and all of you can get some sleep?
Posted 3/21/2013 8:27 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the responses! Regarding opening the front door at night, we're looking at getting several "simple" latches to add to the inside of the door. Dad seems to be able to turn the knobs to open the door at night, but when it comes to the latch of the outer storm door he has problems. Regarding having an aide come in during certain hours...my Mom, age 83, is of the 'old school' of people who grew up taking care of themselves, etc. and doesn't want a stranger coming into the house. I'm right next door if they need me and have gone over at night on several occasions. Its interesting...my Mom and I attend a support group one day a month with a group of other caregivers. There are anywhere from 10-12 people, plus moderators. The group is all women...all women who are also of the same 'old school'. They for the most part have their husbands at home (two husbands just passed away), and they take care of them with little outside help. Its just the way they were raised. The one man who visited the group a few times had put his wife into an assisted living unit because he no longer felt he could take care of her! (Off the subject, I know). I do plan on visiting with the doctor at my Dad's next appointment, as my Mom doesn't feel that he's really hearing what she's asking about meds, etc.
Posted 3/21/2013 8:37 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, my Dad was the same way with my Mom and would even "hide" things just so we wouldn't know what was happening with her. Of course we noticed! Neither of them wanted someone around all the time, but when my Dad became too feeble to take care of both of them and the household duties, we needed to step in and make the decision. Sometimes you have to watch out for the caretaker as well -- even though they state things are okay with them. This age group is a stubborn bunch, but that's how they made it through so many situations throughout their lives. 

Your parents are so fortunate to have you next door...I was about 10 minutes away, but it was tough to have to hold down a full time job, family, and take care of all their medical appointments, housekeeping, etc. So it just made sense for us to get some help. My siblings are all 3 hours away and they would help when they could, but it's just a tough situation. Take care, and keep sharing! And, so glad you are going to support groups. That's a great thing!

Posted 3/29/2013 6:52 PM (GMT 0)
Rather than an actual sleeping pill, our doc put my FIL on Xanax to help him sleep and it worked pretty well up til the last 3 weeks of his life.
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