Awakes during the night to urinate

Ginamfarrell

I care for my 94 year old mother who lives with me. She is in moderate stage I believe and has days and nights mixed up. She needs assistance with everything but feeding and is in a wheelchair since breaking her hip and having surgery 2 years ago. She urinates a lot at night about every 2 to 3 hours and she calls me to assist her to bathroom. After she insists on having a drink (juice) before getting back to bed, so of course that will make her need to urinate again and the cycle continues! Plus she wants to fix her hair after or even eat something and wants coffee at 3 am! I give her bedtime snack. She doesn’t get it’s 3 am and has her days and nights mixed up and has more energy during g night.

I am exhausted getting up multiple times, I have tried giving her small amount of drink but she gets mad and yells at me and wants more. I am not even sure if she is really thirsty because sometimes I say you need to take your pills to get a drink ( her Vitamin D, and B12) and she may say I am not taking pills! And then refuses the drink.

She has been tested for UTI and was negative and she does not say she always needs a drink during the day. No diabetes, she is thirsty during the night.

As a result of being up a lot a lot she naps all morning soundly and doesn’t wake up til early afternoon usually. Then her pull-up is wet because she slept soundly being up most of night, plus she takes Lasix I give with morning pills.

Any strategies to have her sleep thru the night and not request a drink after using the bathroom?

Even if doctor prescribed medication so she could sleep thru and if she did wet the bed I would not mind doing laundry every day it is better than being up several times during g the night.

Any advice would be appreciated as I am exhausted. TIA

Emily 123

Honestly, I'd talk with her healthcare provider first - do a med review and see what they can recommend to help her sleep at night and get her closer to your schedule. This sounds awful.

harshedbuzz

@Ginamfarrell

Fractured sleep is a common situation for PWD. It's sounds like you have 2 distinct issues here. One is the inability to recognize night as time to sleep and the other is her bladder waking her up.

You mention Lasix; is she being treated specifically to resolve fluid retention issues? It might be helpful if you were to keep her in compression stockings/socks to avoid fluid in her legs and also to elevate her legs for several hours before bedtime to move the fluid out before she goes to bed.

A friend's mom used to wake up to pee most nights around 1am. If the friend didn't get to the room before mom came out of the bathroom mom would start her day by dressing and looking for breakfast. What worked was a motion detection mat that sent an alert to friend's phone and friend being there to turn off lights and settle mom back into bed as she came out of the bathroom. Some folks transition to a chairside commode to avoid the longer walk.

I'd also run out of juice. You may find the old school infant sleep training trick helpful— offer her water to drink instead. You might find water isn't worth her getting up for.

I'd also talk to her doctor about something to improve her sleep. Your sleep is important.
HB

Ginamfarrell

Thank you for the suggestions. I will try them

Brig555

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/272307#Comment_272307

Brig555

Hi, I am interested in your recommendations about getting up in the middle of the night… I brought my 92 yr old mother to live with me in June 2025…. At first it was light Alzeimers short term memory loss… today it is getting much worst…. Does not remember 15 minutes after something was said… she gets up in the middle of the night and calls me to see where I am…. If there is something I can get her to help her sleep would be great… because I really need sleep… and for me to take something would a make me nervous not being alert for her when needed…

Daisy4U

Hi @Brig555, I feel for you. My 91 yr mother was also getting up in the middle of the night because she could no longer tell night from day. It led to a night-time fall and hospitalization. The hospital doctor prescribed .25mg of Resperidone daily to help her relax and stay asleep, with an additional .25 on occasion if she couldn't settle and was agitated at night . Her night/day rhythm was back to normal in under a week, with her only rarely requiring a second night time dose. Ultimately, she was better rested and so was our household! Sometimes, a medical solution is necessary as a last resort.