Not Sleeping & Obsessed w/ Blankets

Norma W

Well it seems we've hit another milestone in ALZ with our LO.  She's not sleeping much at night.  We'll go to bed and she's up and out of bed numerous times, walking the hall, trying all the doors, knocking on our bedroom door, talking right outside our door, etc.  Sometimes it goes on for hours before she settles down.  And even then, we're not exactly sure how much actual sleep she is getting.

I compare this behavior to a small child that has transitioned to a regular bed from a crib and has all this new-found freedom and they're not sure what to do with it.

Needless to say DH and I are exhausted.  She's up early in the morning so we rarely get the chance to catch up on our sleep.

She's also developed this obsession with her sheets and blankets.  When she comes to our door, we'll take her back to her bedroom to get her settled (again!) only to find she's removed the blankets and sheets and even hidden her pillows.  Between the two of us, we easily remake her bed about 10 times a day.

I'm sure someone out there can offer advice as to how to handle this.  I'm super sleepy and punchy.

harshedbuzz

I have a friend whose mom presented with similar behaviors.

Some things that worked for her-

1. She reversed the knob on mom's bedroom door to keep her out of her room aside from naps or bedtime.

2. Her mom liked to "collect laundry" which meant stripping the bed and emptying drawers. Giving her a basket of dish towels to fold or socks to match was one redirection that worked around this. Those straps that hold sheets on the bed helped slow her down as well. 

3. My friend found redirecting mom to bed worked best if she did it soon after mom got up in the night. She had an alarmed pad next to mom's bed that sent an alert to her phone which allowed her to intercept mom before she got dressed and out into the rest of the house.

4. When this behavior was at its worst her younger son was home awaiting the start of grad school. She used to split the nights with him. Son was a nightowl and held onto the phone alarm until 3ish when his mom, who turned in right after dinner, took over. Perhaps you and your husband could split the overnights.

MattyBoy

i'm WITH you !!!

i LOOK FORWARD to people's REPLIES here as well...

all i can OFFER is my MOM has the same obsession/focus on her BLANKETS...

when FIRST COVERED, she is THANKFUL for their WARMTH... but, a few hours later, they turn into "THE ENEMY"... she OBSESSES about them... REMOVES them... folds them in ODD PATTERNS... CARRIES them around (and some are HEAVY!!!)...

she goes on a MISSION to "GET RID" of them...

she is generally SUSPICIOUS and UNNERVED by her BLANKETS...

and, YES, she did the NIGHT TOUR and ESCAPE ATTEMPTS as well...

i DID change ALL the locks in the HOUSE... so they can only be opened by KEY... this has made things MUCH BETTER... and i get a LITTLE more sleep because of it...

also, she is OVERALL better about SLEEP... it was an 8 MONTH "phase"...

but i FEAR its RETURN... and i do not believe i will EVER be able to inspire a TRUCE between her and her FRIENEMIES....

THE BLANKETS !!!

unless, of course, some of the MAGIC PEOPLE on here can HELP !!!

i hope you GUYS are ALL having a GREAT WEEK !!!

MN Chickadee

If this continues to no avail I would ask her physician about a medication for sleep. It doesn't take long to have lack of sleep take its toll on you and your spouse and can affect your health and ability to care for her and yourselves. We found a medication made a world of difference in everyone's quality of life. In our case it was Mirtazapine (Remeron.) Everyone PWD reacts differently and it can take time to find the right med. Harshedbuzz gave you some good ideas. If nothing else getting some kind of respite at night. If you can hire someone or have another family member come and take a night now and then to let you catch up on sleep that may help. At my mom's memory care facility they are staffed 24/7 and if a resident wants to get up at night and mess around they let them, but that is not necessarily sustainable caring for someone at home with one or two caregivers.

M1

Sleep fragmentation is part of the brain disease and I second MN Chickadees recommendation for medication. Seroquel is a common one but talk to her doc, for sure. Not likely to improve on its own....

Norma W

Thanks for all the suggestions.  She's currently on Seroquel.  We've asked her neuro before about a sleep aid but she's always been hesitant about it, says the Seroquel is also a sleep aid.

I'm contacting the doctor again to make her aware of this new development.  It's happened before but only once in a while, but it's been every night this week.  I'm not prepared to ride this out without help.  I still have a full time job to hold down as well.

I hope everyone has a great day.