New here - help with the mornings?

JessLeff

Hello, 

I am new to join this group and in need of some help. My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's at 62 years old and is now 68. The progression of the disease was very slow at first  but it seems in the past few months she is rapidly deteriorating.  The biggest issue we have is the mornings.  Every morning she wakes up agitated and angry. She screams blood curdling screams.  Most of the time she yells that she needs to "go home" or "visit her friends on the other side".  She tries to run away or hide and believes anyone who comes near her is trying to hurt her.  She also screams that she's in danger. The neighbors expressed concerns and even were going to call the police before we were able to explain the situation. Eventually she snaps out of these episodes and becomes quiet and kind (baseline) for the remainder of the day.  We are not sure what gets her out of these episodes - there hasn't been a pattern or a reason we could identify.  It just seems to takes time but even that is variable - some mornings this lasts 10 minutes and sometimes it 2 hours.

Her doctor wants to increase her Seroquel but didn't have many other suggestions.  We respond to my mom in gentle tones, ensure she is safe from harm, play along with her ideas, and attempt to redirect her attention but none of this has seems to help.  Does anybody have any suggestions?     

Thank you.

Marta

I would recommend increasing the Seroquel also, because she seems to be suffering.

Cynbar

Agree to the Seroquel increase, and if that doesn't work, ask her doctor to try s different anti-psychotic. This behavior isn't good for her caregivers, but can't be pleasant for her either, she sounds very upset while it is going on. Zyprexa really helped my DH, he would get very agitated n the evenings although there wasn't any screaming.