Suggestions/help with getting my DH to sleep longer at night.

Sadlady

My DH was diagnosed 4 years ago with FTD. In addition to Aricept and Donepezil , he now takes Alprazolam 0.5 mg. (Xanax) nightly for sleep and/or agitation. He falls immediately to sleep,but 2-3 hours later awakens and begins pacing, searching for objects, inquiring about people in the house (there are only the two of us), etc. The additional medication of Alprazolam has helped with the nightmares/terrors he was having 3 months ago, but now he sleeps so few hours at a time and is very bizarre in his behavior in the early morning hours.

Sadlady

Oops, I meant to say my DH takes Aricept and Namenda...

4Grams

Sadlady,

My DH takes melatonin. He helps him to stay asleep. It does make some people have vivid dreams but DH has not had this problem. 

DH also Depakote during the day for anxiety but it does not work some days. 

ChrisBme

Sadlady,

You might look into the use of Donepezil on patients with FTD. My DW's PCP prescribed it and it made her considerably more agitated. I looked up studies on FTD patients and found that it is not a good drug for people with FTD. I quit using it and started using Trazodone and Citalopram per her Neurologist with much better results. Later we switched recipes to Seraquil twice a day once at noon and once at bed time 8:00 PM and Melatonin and Citalopram at 5:00 PM. This really helped the agitation and sleep issues. The Citalopram really helped for night time paranoia. We added and subtracted different prescriptions one at a time till we found the best combination.

newbloomer

I had to take my DH to ER back in summer of 2020. He was not sleeping or eating. called DR. for UTI test. after much evaluation from the team of drs, they put him on Mirtazapine 7.5mg, 1/2 tablet at bedtime. immediate improvement in sleep and eating.  He occasionally will still wake up and get out of bed but can be directed back to bed. sleeps from 8:30 pm to 9:30 -10:00 usually.