Is it sundowning or something else?

Dio · May 2022

Does sundowning last all day and night? or is something else going on? DH is a completely different person when it hits, every other day last month, and this week it lasted 36 hours 3x. He just paces near the front door, beckons me to go over to where he is but doesn't say why. He won't sit even if I brought a chair. He won't let me hug or touch him. I look into his eyes--hollow, bewildered, scared. I don't know how to help him. I can't stand there with him for too long. Everytime I walk away to sit, he'll beckon me to "come over here." (And don't even think about turning on the TV or music.) By 3am I really needed to lie down, but he would try to grab me out of bed to go back downstairs and wouldn't let me sleep. Last night, I locked the bedroom door and he nearly broke the door.

His doctor increased dosage of seroquel and started him on paroxetine (so far 5 days) but he's refusing to take meds these days. It's a long effort for him to yield, and yesterday he simply wouldn't budge. I'm beyond exhaustion.

When he's not in this state, he's almost normal, and like a fool I keep that thin thread of hope alive.

jmlarue · May 2022

I'd load him up and take him to urgent care or emergency room for a urine test. Urinary tract infection can cause really bizarre behavior. Also be sure to mention the new medication. Maybe he's having an adverse reaction that's causing hallucinations and he's trying to show you some crazy thing he's seeing.

Ed1937 · May 2022

Hi Dio. Welcome aboard. Wish you didn't have a reason to be here. Did the doctor check for a UTI? That could cause many different symptoms, and they can be cleared up when the infection is taken care of. If no UTI test was done, it might be a good idea to ask for one. Also ask for them to run a culture on it. The culture will identify the type of infection, if there is one, and that will tell them the best antibiotic for that particular strain.