Is it just me?

toolbeltexpert

It was a year ago to the date, when I was going thru a period where my dw's behaviors were peaking. So I am wondering if this is the case with others. The reason I am wondering is, my dw is showing some older behaviors, not being cooperative, crying, she is usually OK when they tell her I am coming back tomorrow and that I was there today. She started tramadol earlier this week and they are thinking about stopping it because of the behaviors. Today at lunch with dw she is just off the charts. Behaviors that clicked to last year almost to the date to now.

Last year I had got her to her first md visit because things were going crazy just like now. Today Sitting at lunch I remembered last year as I was about to give her the first pill ever,I wondered will I be able to tell if it's the pills or just more crazy behaviors. It did get worse at the time. So now I am again wondering is it the tramadol or just progression. I hate questioning any changes. Dw was having some behavior issues a couple weeks ago and we ruled out a uti.

Now this is just me but I think the length of day is causing this. A pwd only has so many resources they can use and when they run out of brain resources later in the day that's when things get bad,ie sundowning.

I have learned as many here have that a pwd can show time for just so long then the "brain resources run out"

we are almost to the solstice. I am seeing these changing behaviors of sundowning at the memory care.such as I want to go home has gone from 3pm or so, in some pwd to now 8 am.

I tend to be very analytical,trying to learn from so to say the things that have already been. I did this in my field of machine maintenance, how to prevent reoccurring issues by improving the faults. I know people don't work like that, but being analytical means asking question, we have on the forum what is called a "hive" together we can solve issues by shared experiences. Anyway just wondering outloud.

Stewart

ButterflyWings

TBE - Since you have ruled out a UTI, I'll bet your theory is right! I know within 30 minutes if my DH has missed his Seroquel, and yes I've noticed drama on the first day of Daylight Savings Time in the past...and others were posting that it affected their LOs too.

So, yes it may be a bit of med change, since we have never used Tramadol? I can't say anything about that, but the extra minutes to an hour either without meds or just trying to hold it together for a little longer as you said-- definitely caused havoc. I think you are right on track deducing this root cause. Plus, you know your DW better than anyone. It might be both, but the daylight difference has been verified to cause issues.

(also, thank you so much for leading the search party recently :). I see Ed sent something previously he said but I was really out of the loop until very recently, so I never saw it. I am really glad to be back, and to heck with it if something else "urgent" has to wait on this end. This forum is such a lifeline and special space, with special people. Thank you again for caring and reaching out. I am still swimming upstream, but refuse to go under! Will share more details when I can.) You hang in there.

ImMaggieMae

TBE, thank you for bringing up the solstice and sundowning. We are going through a difficult time with sundowning from somewhere around 4:30 til around 7:30. My DH gets very nervous, can’t sit still and seems more confused. I’ve avoided increasing the Risperidone and have instead been changing the timing, which has helped somewhat, but where he usually starts to feel calmer about an hour after taking it, it seems to be 2 hours or more. And those hours are within that time. I looked back at last year’s meds (I write down all meds in a notebook) and sure enough, the dose was higher around this time of year. We started reducing it around mid July, but that was also around the time we increased the Memantine from 10mg a day to 20mg, so I attributed it to that. This year there has been no change in the Memantine, so that isn’t what’s helping.

How common is this? Are others seeing a big change in late afternoon behavior? My DH has never really had this degree of anxiety around this time. TBE, you said there were others at the MC with the same issue. Once we get to about 7:30 or 8:00, everything is calm again. Would room darkening window coverings help? Or is it just something weird with the magnetic pull of the planets or something like that? None of the usual things like music or dancing seems to work. I can’t get him to walk for more than about 5 minutes.

Ed1937

Stewart, I remember seeing posts about time changes leading to symptom changes, so I think your theory is probably right.

Maggie Mae, some people have said they have had luck by closing the blinds in the house early, before it begins to get dark. It might not work, but worth a try.

White Crane

Very interesting. Since switching to daylight savings time, my husband’s sundowning starts earlier than usual. It starts between 3 and 4 o’clock instead of starting at 5 o’clock. I haven’t connected it to the time change, but after reading your posts, maybe that’s what happened.

Joydean

My dh had started acting up earlier also. So I changed all my curtains in living room and in dh’s with the sunblock curtains, started closing them earlier in the day, told dh I was trying to save on our electric bill. He was okay with that. I give him his bedtime meds about an hour earlier. He has been telling me he wanted a beer,( hasn’t had a beer in over 10 years), but I remembered he also used to like wine. So I give him a small glass of wine about 20 minutes before he usually goes to bed, haven’t had any more problems and he’s so sleepy he falls asleep in minutes after I get him in bed. Don’t know how long that will work but for now he’s doing so much better. I did ask his doctor about the wine and since it’s a very small glass dr saw no problem with it.

toolbeltexpert

Thanks for the idea I will suggest it to the mc they definitely have black out curtains in dw room. They stopped the tramadol this morning, just Tylenol now. But she was good yesterday? This morning I woke her, as they decided not to get her up early and they may have been pushing about getting up to much? Talk about super confused this morning. I still think the tramadol was helping but I really don't want to rock the boat. I pay more attention to her for any signs of pain. I got a call Sunday night the she had fallen again, no injuries from what I see. They think she may have slid out of bed and her roommate was trying to help dw get up,but she's about a 100 pds 70 yo plus lady.

When the cna's tried to get her up and couldn't my dw said you need a man, I laughed when I heard that and that is what they had to do.

One thing that had never happened dw went to a activity and then refused to back into the mc unit, they led her thru the nurses station door. So now if I don't take her to activities she isn't allowed to go at least till they think she will cooperate.

CStrope

toolbeltexpert, why were they giving her the Tramadol? I'm just asking because I've pulled all meds from my husband lately except for the Citalopram for an anti depressant. They gave him Seroquel, then switched to Risperidone, then back to Seroquel. I didn't see any real benefit in those other than they lessened the conversations he was having with the imaginary friends. On the downside, he was urinating all over the house in the middle of the night and very confused. I'll take the jibberish ramblings over random urination anytime!