Sleep issues

ripscott

I am the caregiver along with my sister for our 101 year old father. His dementia has gotten worse since a recent 3 week hospital stay. He is home now but dependent on my sister and me for everything, He is obsessed with going to the bathroom multiple times a day, most of the times he doesn't go at all. Since he needs help that means I spend what seems like half my day in the bathroom. Even with that,  the worst thing is at night after he goes to bed. Every night shortly after he goes to bed he starts talking and yelling - mostly gibberish. This goes on for hours. He doesn't sleep and my sister and I don't get any sleep. None of the prescription drugs or over the counter drugs have helped at all.  Nothing has helped and we are lost as what to do. 

Any suggestions, thoughts, ideas ?????

Rick4407

Hello Rip, No idea what drugs you're trying.  I have found a small dose Seroquel (generic quetiapine) does wonders.  You need to coordinate with your neurologist, finding a suitable drug for controlling behaviors is challenging.  If you list what drugs you're trying here others will probably respond with their experiences.  That may help.  Good luck, Rick

May flowers

Hi and welcome to the board. It’s so hard when you can’t sleep … I can handle a lot as a caregiver but only if I can sleep well at night!

 A UTI can cause similar symptoms to what you describe, both the delirium and the urge to go often but can’t always go. Sometimes, bizarre behavior is the only sign in our LOs

Otherwise, the hospital stay itself can bring on new behaviors. My FIL was in really bad shape after his surgery and  hospital stay. He was talking, yelling, crying, and saying words  over and over. 

Was he put on any new meds at the hospital? Some of the meds my FIL was on were making this delirium worse, and we worked with the neurologist to come off everything to see where he was. After the withdrawal period, we found that he didn’t need any of the meds, and had only mild behaviors around changing. (That has changed the past month and now he’s back on risperdone, but is able to sleep, thankfully) 

I hope you get some answers soon.

Ed1937

Hello ripscott. Welcome to the forum. Sorry you are dealing with such an issue, but you should get replies to your thread, and hopefully gain some understanding on how to handle it. 

Many times when people have problems with medications, it is suggested that they either see a neurologist, or preferably a gero psychiatrist. But both of these could have long wait times to get in to see.

May mentioned a UTI. That is a good possibility, and something that should probably be checked for. UTIs can bring many different symptoms, which when treated, can simply fade away. Since this is such an easy test, and you can get it done without waiting for long periods of time, it's something to strongly consider. If they run a test, please ask them to run a culture on it. This will tell them which infection he has, if there is one, and how to treat  it the best way.

M1

That urge to urinate and inability to go could be a prostate problem and there are drugs (Flomax, doxazosin) that might help.  Is hospice on board?  I wonder if they could help too.

Lynne D

My HWD has lost a lot of the barrier between sleep and wakefulness, and gestures and talks during his sleep. He will also have auditory delusions and yell. I sleep in the basement where I can’t hear him yell. He will yell himself to sleep, eventually. If it becomes an everyday occurrence I will seek pharmaceutical intervention.

I must sleep, so have been learning to remove myself from his behaviors. I have cameras so I can monitor his physical safety.