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Going to sleep at night

Maru
Maru Member Posts: 356
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in Caring For a Spouse or Partner

DH with AL, Stage 3 or so, has trouble falling asleep at night. He does not take naps. Our Primary doc prescribed Rexulti, but that is going to run us nearly $200/month. Is it worth it and is there an alternative sleep aid that is okay for AL?

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  • annie51
    annie51 Member Posts: 632
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    My DH was prescribed Rexulti by his PCP for agitation and aggression. I was not aware of its use for sleeping. Everyone reacts differently to these medications but I found that he became more restless when he was on them, so I stopped them. I never asked for something to help him sleep, but I’m sure there are many others that could give you a recommendation.

  • Quilting brings calm
    Quilting brings calm Member Posts: 3,146
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    my mom’s doctor first prescribed trazadone for sleeping. That didn’t work so he switched it to mirtrazipine ( generic Remeron). That worked.

  • harshedbuzz
    harshedbuzz Member Posts: 6,419
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    @Maru

    I think this is one of those situations where a geriatric psychiatrist would be useful for prescribing.

    Rexulti is an atypical antipsychotic. It carries the same Black Box Warning the others do. Unlike the other drugs in this class, the manufacturers did the studies to get dementia included as an indication. The other antipsychotics have been used off label for sleep, agitation and aggression in dementia but since they're available in generic form, the original patent holders have nothing to gain by obtaining the indication officially.

    HB

  • ronda b
    ronda b Member Posts: 388
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    My Dh benefits from trazadone . It can be raised to 200mg or maybe 250 .

  • RetiredTeacher
    RetiredTeacher Member Posts: 357
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    My husband has success with 100 mg trazadone. He still gets up to urinate multiple times during the night but that is a separate issue. He goes right back to sleel.

  • Jeff H
    Jeff H Member Posts: 167
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    My DW has be prescribed Trazodone for a while now. She does sleep through the night although she is also on Xanax at night which helps in that manner too. In my case, Rexulti works for aggressive behavior and agitation, but it does have a sedation effect after about 4 hours of taking it.

  • persevere
    persevere Member Posts: 220
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    I’ve mentioned this in several posts, my wife is on 30mg temazepam. It works extremely well for her. She’s been on it for some time. You might be able to get by on 15mg.

  • SDianeL
    SDianeL Member Posts: 3,264
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    My husband could not tolerate Mirtazapine. They changed it to Risperidone.

  • SDianeL
    SDianeL Member Posts: 3,264
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    be careful about what he watches on TV. My husband thought the news and some shows were real and he would dream about them and wake up having a hallucination.

Commonly Used Abbreviations


DH = Dear Husband
DW= Dear Wife, Darling Wife
LO = Loved One
ES = Early Stage
EO = Early Onset
FTD = Frontotemporal Dementia
VD = Vascular Dementia
MC = Memory Care
AL = Assisted Living
POA = Power of Attorney
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