Sleeping and Restlessness

BillyB1979

I’m helping with the care of my mother with dementia. My father is the main caregiver but I step in often to give him a chance to rest and reset.

Mom has recently started getting up multiple times throughout the night and refuses to go back to bed. As you can imagine both my parents are exhausted the next day and mom is more confused than when she sleeps the entire night.

We’ve tried melatonin but that’s not helping. Any suggestions for help with sleep (and restlessness) would be greatly appreciated. Our family leans toward natural approaches but are willing to look into doctor prescribed options.

blacksparky

My DW uses a combination of melatonin and a muscle relaxer (Flexerall) which is a prescription. If she wakes up at night, she takes more Melatonin. Seems to work well for her.

jsps139_

My husband was getting up during the night, so the Dr started him on Seroquel 50mg at bedtime. It made him so sleepy the very first time he took it, and he slept all night. He takes 50mg in the am and 50mg in the pm now, and he always sleeps through the night. He also takes a few naps during the day.
We too preferred natural approaches, but now I changed my thinking to “whatever works.”

Sleep deprivation is unbearable for a caregiver. It is hard enough doing everything after a full nights sleep.

I hope you can get this sleep issue resolved soon. It’s so difficult.

SDianeL

I asked the doctor if I could give my DH CBD and she said OK. I gave him gummy in the morning and one before bed. Unless he had a hallucination he didn’t get up except to go to the bathroom. The company I ordered from is FAB CBD. Quality product. Great company. If you decide to try it, start with 1/2 of one and increase after a week. If not, you should speak to her doctor for something for sleep.

Kat63

My DH has had the same issue. He would get up in the middle of the night and dress and roam around the house for a couple of hours. After trying different prescribed medications that seemed to only help for short periods of time, I read posts on this site about what did work. Most had success with Seroquel. I asked the doctor for Seroquel and he prescribed the generic guetiiapine. It did take a few weeks to work and I now add a melatonin at night but my DH hasn’t dressed during the night for quite some time now.

Tetonman

Getting up in the middle of the night seems to be normal. Well as normal as this problem can be. My DW gets up about every 3 nights and showers. I just try to go back asleep. Only thing I think is that she thinks I'm awake so I start to shower and clean up. She returns to bed and sleeps. Sometimes I just want to laugh another times I want to cry

BarnesL

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/71562/sleeping-and-restlessness

My DW had trouble sleeping at night. We found 2 Advil PM at bed time worked for her. Lately it's been just the opposite. She sleeps 12 hours a nite and naps a couple hours in the afternoon.