sleep patterns(1)

Davegrant

My DW falls asleep after supper on the couch and wakes up about 10:00 which is the time that I go to bed. She roams the living room, kitchen and dining room until about 3:00 am. She gets in a lot of mischief like disconnecting electrical items, rearranging kitchen cupboards, and pulling connections on the computer and occasionally plugging the toilet. She eats all the sweets during this time. She has not wandered outside of the house.

Last night I awoke to the toilet flushing and when I came upstairs there were two waste baskets full of water with pieces of toilet paper in the mix. I know that she often uses too much toilet paper, and it plugs the toilet. I asked her and she said she didn't know who did it. She said she didn't. When I came into the bathroom, she had her hand in the toilet bowl apparently trying to clean it. 

My concern is how to get her to stay up during the evening and sleep at night. DW has always stayed up late and more than likely is unwilling to change. She has anosognosia and little if any short-term memory. 

I am looking for suggestions. 

Nowhere

Oh, my. You describe quite a scene in which to have rudely woken up. This might alter your evening routine, but maybe try keeping her active after dinner? Maybe go for a walk? Set out clothes for her to fold? Clean house with her? Anything to keep her from falling asleep until she’s dressed in her pjs and in bed. Maybe this, plus explore melatonin supplements that naturally help people to get better sleep? Wishing you success!

Unbreak4ble

I can tell you what I do. Our sleep patterns are similar. I am the sole caregiver for my wife, no respite, no nurses.

When she's asleep in the early evening, I can't sleep. I use this time to enjoy myself. I write, watch tv (headphones are essential), play cards on the internet. When she wakes, I get her into pajamas and keep busy until she gets sleepy again. I take her to bed and sleep with her. I have a motion detector because she'll get up at random to use the bathroom but she can't do it by herself.

Then she's ok bathroomwise until early morning. I have declutterd the house, so there is nothing she can hurt or hurt herself with. I give her the items that bring her comfort. She doesn't mess with toilet paper, I suggest just leave her very little to mess with. Hand wrap it for what is appropriate. I make sure her comfort items can't fit down the toilet. When she gets hold of things she shouldn't, they go in the back porch storage which she never is interested in.

I hide my wallet, keys, the remote, phone... anything she could lose or damage. I find things accidentally, but some things are long gone and I have no idea how or where.

During the morning I make sure she's dressed well enough to go outside. I go in and out of sleep on the couch facing the front door. I haven't oiled the hinges so it's pretty loud. She paces in our apartment's parking lot, but it's safe until I miss her and go be with her. My neighbors all know her. She's made it out without shoes twice, and with a kitchen knife once, but hey, It's Texas. She argued with her reflection in somebody's car, but I explained it to the owner.

Next, we are both awake and aware and we go to the senior center for lunch and to be engaged. We take short drives and do drive by visits with friends. She can't socialize very long because nobody can understand her.

RobertsBrown

Not much to add, but wanted to tell Unbreak4ble that I completely get that life.  Living it too.

M1

DDave, have you discussed this with her docs? Low dose seroquel really helped my partners sleep fragmentation and has kept her sleeping through the night without oversedation. I think removing all but a little toilet paper is a good idea.

Davegrant

Thank you all for the suggestions.

danapuppy

The ideas in these replies are great. I have used Melatonin to help with her sleep rhythm. Some think its holistic witch doctor stuff, but she still thinks it is a sleeping pill. And I stick to a schedule...I have to because I still have to work. Like training a dog, exercise seems to help settle her, too.

dhyink

My DH used to dump out everything in the kitchen drawers, eat sweets, and randomly unplug stuff in the wee hours of the morning.  It looked like drunken squirrels had taken over.   While nothing really worked, the behavior eventually became more manageable.  I quit buying sweets because it seemed that it was not helping his behavior or his diabetes control.  I provided him a box of stuff to rummage through beside his recliner.  I also labeled all the cords so that I could reconnect all of the TV and computer equipment without too much stress.  For the toilet paper, we had to quit buying the good stuff and now buy cheap stuff that falls apart.  He can still clog the toilet with paper, but it takes more effort. 

He had a wandering phase for a while.  Thank goodness I had great neighbors + alarms and cameras.  Nowadays, it is a great day when he can walk 25 steps to the bathroom. 

Boxerlover53

I really have no good suggestions as I'm going through the same thing with my DH.

He takes Seroquel and Melatonin at night and he still gets up in the middle of the night.  Pacing, removing all the bedding, getting into things, urinating on the floor, etc.  I try my best to keep him from dozing during the day after his morning meds but it doesn't always work.  The other night during my fourth attempt to get him into bed he pushed me and knocked me on the floor. My plan is to call the doctor and see if adjusting the med times would help or if another med may be helpful in getting him to sleep during the night. He's also on Risperidone for his agitation. So far his PCP has been reluctant to increase the dosage due to the possibility of him becoming too sedated and then falling down. By the way, I get the plugged toilet issues.  I had water all over the bathroom floor and basement floor a few times.  Had to call the sewer cleaning guy to snake the drain.  If you find something that works please let me know!

Unbreak4ble

One idea that occurred to me would be to cut off the water feed to the toilet.

I don’t know how cognitive everybody is, or if it would cause more or different problems or not. I haven’t needed to, but my wife would probably take it in stride.

Davegrant

So far I found that for toilet paper plugs, I put in Dawn dishwashing soap then wait about 15-30 minutes and add a bucket of very hot water (from the faucet) and that has worked.  I do have a snake for the next line of defense.