Christine,
Sleeping disorder is so common for the elders with AD.
Well, for my father in law - it is a real thing now. The last 3 times (Jan. 2009, amd Feb & March/April 2010) when he was hospitalized, he never slept well. He only dozed off in the day. At night he wanted to escape or pull out the tubings and IVs. He is so worried about how the hospital people were going to kill him that he was guarding himself so hard that he could not sleep. The caregiver was there and he could not make my FIL sleep either. Note that my FIL has personal caregivers there in the hospital.
The nurse should have sedated him because he didn't sleep like 4 nights or 3 nights in a row. He normally stayed in the hospital for 1 to 3 nights.
Maybe they thought there was a caregiver so they do not need to sedate him?
Now whenever he goes to the hospital, in the end he became delusional and psychotic. The nurse really should have sedated him.
I don't know what is wrong here - next time my husband will have to be more aggressive to call in and complain about that. How could a patient recover if he does not sleep well at all in the hospital???
Nina
Christine,
Sleeping disorder is so common for the elders with AD.
Well, for my father in law - it is a real thing now. The last 3 times (Jan. 2009, amd Feb & March/April 2010) when he was hospitalized, he never slept well. He only dozed off in the day. At night he wanted to escape or pull out the tubings and IVs. He is so worried about how the hospital people were going to kill him that he was guarding himself so hard that he could not sleep. The caregiver was there and he could not make my FIL sleep either. Note that my FIL has personal caregivers there in the hospital.
The nurse should have sedated him because he didn't sleep like 4 nights or 3 nights in a row. He normally stayed in the hospital for 1 to 3 nights.
Maybe they thought there was a caregiver so they do not need to sedate him?
Now whenever he goes to the hospital, in the end he became delusional and psychotic. The nurse really should have sedated him.
I don't know what is wrong here - next time my husband will have to be more aggressive to call in and complain about that. How could a patient recover if he does not sleep well at all in the hospital???
Nina
Hi
It is so sad when paranoid ideas stop a loved one sleeping. Unfortunately medications rarely work quickly enough or effectively enough to prevent sleeplessness. The big difficulty is that by sedating someone enough to help them sleep may not help restore a healthy sleep pattern.
Elderly people can get problems with arousal that lead to unsteadyness and impaired mobility, as well as breathing difficulties. Finding the right medication to rectify a problem can take time and can, ultimately, unless a drug that works is found quickly, it can be counterproductive.
Christine
I think not sleeping at all gave my father-in-law lots of stress and his chronic heart failure could not cope at times. The way he reacts like that makes me wonder how he can survive in the long run. Maybe he will keep doing this until he becomes idle... Right now I don't know either way (giving good sedative that may not help or allowing him to go wildly crazy) helps because he is just paranoid.
One reason I think is that he used to do research and he did cats in experiments on the brain study. Now he would say at times he wants no experiment on him. I think this may have some factor in it as well.
Thanks,
Nina
That is very interesting Nina. I am sure that at times paranoid delusions will have come out of a personal experience. Very interesting
From my experience, getting the balance right and treating coexisting illnesses so that someone benefits from treatment is not always simple. That is specially true when there are also psychiatric symptoms. As you point out, treating paranoia so that his cardiac condition does not deteriorate is difficult. If medication does work well that is great, but if you get serious side effects and your FIL's quality of life is adversly affected..... well...
Thats why we try to get the best doctors with the best experience to treat our loved ones.
Best Wishes
Christine
Hi, Christine. This is a really helpful post. My mother is starting to show signs of sleep disruption. She is aware she has alzheimer's, and she also remembers my father's sundown syndrome (he died with vascular dementia), so she is a bit scared about seeing these changes. I do note that she sleeps much better if I get her out for almost any kind of outing during the day. The trouble is that she prefers to stay home, so I really have to prod her into activity. But I think you're right - activity is a real key to evening drowsiness and then a good night's sleep for her. Thanks for the post. The links are helpful, too! CJ
Thanks CJ. I am so pleased you found the sharepost helpful.
Activities are so important for all of us and people with Alzheimer's are no different. They give structure to the day and use up surplus energy that can restore healthy sleep patterns. It can be difficult getting someone to believe its good for them! My Dad is the same. :)
Christine
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Thanks, Christine. You are right on target as always. This article will help many.
Carol