Freaked out with the delusional behaviors

kasharb

Hello my friends, My DH has entered a new phase and is having delusional behaviors especially at night and they are freaking me out!! How do others handle the night anxiousness and talking to other people in our room and house and telling me to watch out for that man on the other side of the bed??? (Just one example) I know this is part of sundowning but it is disturbing to me. He started seroquel tonight - had been on Abilify but that caused terrible headaches so he has had to get off that. We were in the ER Saturday afternoon for what seemed to me like him being drugged - but he was also very confused and delusional. No infection was found so we were sent home. This is horrible and I think I am in panic mode now. How do you handle delusional behaviors. AND will seroquel help this??? Please tell Me it does.

mpang123

Yes, Seroquel should help with hallucinations and delusions plus can help with anxiety and sleep. Give it time...

M1

Yes, the seroquel should definitely help and quickly. You can also ramp up the dose pretty quickly, if he has 25mg tablets you can break them in half and increase dose by 12.5 mg increments each day. Can also dose it up to four times a day.

Pat6177

I know this is going to sound odd but could you ask your husband to ask the people he is talking to to leave the bedroom for the night? Either ask them to go to the living room or to leave the house for the night? Tell him you need to sleep and can’t with them there.

harshedbuzz

@kasharb

If he's seeing or hearing the man, it's a hallucination. Seroquel should help with this. When we started dad on Seroquel, he was quite sleepy for a few days as his body got used to the new medication. This sleepiness during the day did pass and it did continue to help with sleep.

I'm sorry this is upsetting to you. Even on Seroquel, dad had hallucinations in late stage 6. They did not appear to upset him-- often he saw old golf buddies which he enjoyed-- so we didn't feel the need to increase the Seroquel and risk making him less stable on his feet. YMMV.

I agree it is a bit shocking to be told not to sit on a chair because "Tony is sitting in it".

HB

Walter0617

My DW, who is somewhere in mid to late stage 6, has been experiencing delusions for the past year, maybe a little longer than that. For the most part I could redirect her but over time the delusions got more intense to the point that she was fearful of me. Sometimes she knew me, sometimes she thought as I was her father (he died 33 years ago), and sometimes she didn't know who I was. She has EOAD and is now 69 years old. We've been married 44 years. It got so bad that my daughter-in-law and I had to take her to the ER. Long story short is that she was admitted to a geriatric psychiatric facility for two weeks. While at the hospital they tweaked her meds and increased her Seroquel from 25 mg twice daily to three times daily. When she was discharged I placed her in a Memory Care Facility. Since arriving there her gerontologist has added risperidone to her meds schedule. She finally seems to be calming down a bit. While the Seroquel helped at first, she needed more than just that. Prior to going into MC, she lived in constant fear. I had planned to keep her at home but given the constant delusions that I was beating her and trying to kill her, I could no longer keep her safe. Understandably (from her perspective), she kept trying to run away. I would end up chasing her down the street in the middle of the day. It was scary for both of us. My experience with the whole "delusions" thing is that meds can help. If the delusions are benign, they aren't that big of a deal. However, if they become extreme it is time to reach out to the medical community for help.

S. Lynch

Hi, thanks for this post. I have been wondering what to do with my DH, his nightmares have become worse. He is a gentle man, but thrashes, swears and fights in his sleep now. Melatonin worked for a while. He already takes an anti-depressant. I can no longer sleep in the same room as I lay awake waiting to move out of the way during his “fights”. We see the neurologist in two weeks. Any recommendations? He does not behave this way during the day. Yet.

M1

Hi S. Lynch, this is certainly a sleep phenomenon that should respond to medication. I hope the neurologist can help.

kasharb

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/189134#Comment_189134

I have to say seroquel has helped the nighttime restlessness tremendously. We have been on it one week now and headaches are minimal. He is still having hallucinations though throughout the day. Seeing things, talking to people, etc… and many times very confused. He is also uncharacteristically talking incessantly to people he does not know - he will just walk up to them in Wal-mart and tell them he knows them from the past..I am handling these behaviors better during the day and he is not aggressive at all with them (a blessing). If he seems anxious around dark I give him is meds (seroquel and a Xanax) and he is out for the night. He is also taking Flomax so he does not have to get up a million times to use the bathroom. It is helping I just pray the headaches do not start back like they did when he was on the second week of ability.

M1

That's great news. I bet the headaches won't recur, that's pretty specific to Abilify i think. Not sure why.

Ernie123

I had a similar experience with my DW several years ago before she was placed in memory care. Occasionally she would see me as an intruder in her childhood home, attack me, and try to force me from the house. It lead to her being placed in care. Assessment by a geriatric psychiatrist and meds helped take the air out of that ballon. She would still have delusional thoughts but wouldn’t get upset.

My advice to anyone who sees the first sign of delusional thoughts, paranoia or aggressive angry behavior in their LO is to get an assessment by a geriatric psychiatrist. Often different meds have to be tried, every patient is unique. Initially my DW was on Risperidone but after a year or so she started getting quite paranoid and upset. He prescribed Olanzapine and within 48 hours she was calm and happy. Paranoia gone. I was amazed by how fast it worked.

a final observation: if you are caring for your LO at home alone and these psychiatric symptoms appear think seriously that it might be time for placement in care. Behavior gets out of control very quickly and it is so difficult to handle alone as a spouse. In her memory care unit the staff are amazing. Calm gentle responses, distractions, years of experience all make the PSWS pros at handling these behaviors with ease. When I was home alone trying to deal with it by myself when her symptoms first appeared, I was quickly over my head. My brain was a snow globe and my stress level was at ten. Have a placement plan ready for when that time comes.

Janice Blair

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/67104/freaked-out-with-the-delusional-behaviors

I feel for you my spouse has so many delusions anytime he sees invisible people when looks through his glasses people he doesn't know talk with him when he watches tv.I wish I could help I just say really wow. I don't want to agitate him.

ButterflyWings

Been there, done that. My heart goes out to you. This was the most frightening period of our lives thus far.

You ask how did I deal with it? One word: Seroquel. OK, 2 more words: magic pill. For us, it really was.