Sleep Medication

WolverineGirl2

Mom fights sleep all the time. Staying up all night then not sleeping much during the day which spells a total disaster. When she doesn’t sleep, she’s horrible. Mean. Sometimes violent. Doesn’t know people. Delusions. 

I know everyone tells me melatonin but let’s face it. Does t work. Im looking for something of extended release. Example. Went to bed last night at 10:30 and up at 4am. Hasn’t slept since and this afternoon had a full blown fit. Had to have the fiancé leave work and come over to help. Now she’s half asleep but won’t lay down 

Any medication ideas? She goes for follow up Wednesday  

Signed

Exhausted. 

M1

Yes WG. There are a number of medications that can be used. I would suggest you ask specifically about Seroquel for sleep fragmentation and I would use that wording exactly. It may also decrease her agitation. Can be dosed more than once a day too, but my partner takes a single dose at bedtime and it had helped enormously.

The sleep disturbance results from brain damage to the reticular activating system in the brainstem.

WolverineGirl2

Thank you so much M1. I’m going to write the doctor today and give her a heads up. Looks like the generic “quetiapine fumarate” is covered by insurance. Might be something we can totally get. Just hoping it helps.

mommyandme (m&m)

We use lorazepam for anxiety. Hospice recommended it.  She uses that with 1 mg of melatonin in the evening. 

Good luck 

live in daughter

Hi- my Mom took a low dose of Remeron at night to help with sleep. 

Neverends

Seroquel  helped my mom with delusions, agitation aggressive behaviors and sleep. If she misses a daytime Seroquel ( due to pocketing and taking it out of her mouth) her behaviors  return. I always do a mouth check now . Hope that helps,hang in there

Comrade

Good Morning.

This is my DWs routine who has had dementia for 3 years.

300MGS of Trazedone about 2 hours before bedtime. About 30 mins before "lights out",  I give her .5 to 1MG of Ativan.

After she stops crying and the Ativan takes hold, she closes her eyes.

katec2

Just went through med changes with my husband. He’s late stage 6. Took him off all Alzheimer’s meds (Galantamine and Memantine). He was on10 mg Ambien but built resistance and had to give him more than recommended dosage (1-1/2 pill). Since it’s a controlled substance this was an issue because I would run out. Melatonin makes him mean. Tried Remeron but it made him mean and combative. We have settled into 50 mg Trazadone 2 hrs before bedtime and 10 mg Ambien 30 min before bedtime. He is woozy and sedated just enough that I do all hygiene wash up, put clean underware and a depend, clean tshirt and socks and tuck him into bed. Hope this helps. It’s working for us for now. Things change, so we’ll adapt as needed. I like the Trazadone because we can increase the dosage.

Q1

My aunt is not sleeping at night. She wakes up every hour and sometimes a minute or two after being put to bed. I’m exhausted and her daughter keeps telling me all these natural things to try, but none of it is working. Her daughter doesn’t want to give her anything to help her sleep better.

Stuck in the middle

Hello, Q1.  Welcome to the group.

FYI:  More people will see your post if you start your own thread by clicking on the "add topic" button near the top of the page.

I think lack of sleep isn't sustainable for you or your aunt.  I think I would tell the daughter (in a nice way, of course) she has to OK some sleep meds or stay up all night with her herself.  You can get another job.

Good luck.  This isn't easy, even with meds.

Wilted Daughter

Hello,

A friend shared that her husband is prescribed Mietazapine 15 mg. which helps him sleep throughout the night. I do not have personal experience with this medicine, but planning to discuss with my mom's doctor. My mom repeatedly walks to the bathroom at night which is concerning with her limited mobility. 

May flowers

Late to this thread, but wanted to share that hospice just put my FIL on temazepam for sleep. Supposedly, it will not affect his waking hours. We are two days in and so far we have noticed it works fast, but 6 hours in he is awake and even more restless. His breathing seems odd on the medicine. We plan to keep trying it for a few days and see if it works any better.

I’d be interested in anyone else’s experience with this med

ImMaggieMae

My DH had problems with sleep and daytime obsessive behaviors which came on very suddenly. He had been diagnosed with MCI in 2018 and while his memory slowly began to decline, he was probably stage 2/3 until August of 2021 when he started doing things like cleaning glasses his glasses, brushing his teeth, taking showers every5 minutes or so. There was no talking him out of these behaviors. “Just one more time, then my glasses, teeth, etc will be perfect. I have to get them clean.” This continued hundreds of times throughout the night and day. His PCP tested him again and the diagnosis was moderate dementia. He had been taking aricept  and memantine for a couple years and was then prescribed a very small dose of Seraquel. It worked at first for a couple of weeks  then the behaviors returned. The dosage was increased twice within a few weeks until he ended up in ER after being awake for over 36 hours. He was never aggressive or threatening, just seemingly unable to stop these behaviors and sleep.

The hospital tried a few different meds and finally ended up discontinuing the Seraquel and Aricept, keeping the memantine and adding Risperidone  in the AM and PM. He also takes Melatonin at night. The medication made a huge difference. He now sleeps through the night, other than to use the toilet, and is relaxed during the day but not drowsy. A geriatric GP had suggested tapering down on the Risperidone from .5ml twice a day to .25 twice a day but sleep was somewhat interrupted although the original behaviors never came back.