Antipsychotic Medicines
Antipsychotic medication has had the greatest success with sundowners syndrome; however, these medicines can also cause sedation. A balance has to be found between the anti-psychotic and sedating affect for this treatment to be truly affective for the elderly person.
Clearly, a lot more research needs to be done. But as a caregiver knowing that this syndrome exists is important. Seeing a usually clear and cognizant loved one suddenly exhibit odd behaviors towards the end of the day can be very disconcerting to say the least. Talking to your doctor or geriatric manager should be your first step when this happens, but knowing that such a syndrome exists can also give you hopes that the person you know will return in the morning.
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Special thanks to:Maria Sullivan, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor, Clinical Psychiatry, Columbia University/ New York State Psychiatric Institute.
References Bachman, D & Rabins, P. (2006). “Sundowning” and other temporally associated agitation states in dementia patients. Annual Review of Medicine, 57:499-511. Rindlisbacher, P. & Hopkins, R. W. (1992). An investigation of the sundowning syndrome. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 7, 15-23.
