Refuses to go to bed!

[lucky]

Hi all haven't posted on here for a while but need some advice if possible. Just a quick update my mum was diagnosed 4and half years ago with early onset at age 59. There has been quite a dip in mums understanding and knowing people recently. However this past couple of weeks she is refusing to go to bed for my dad. And it's now 1.30am before she will go to bed. Dad has tried everything to get her to bed but she just won't go the becomes argumentative. Mum sometimes refuses to get changed and has been going to sleep in her clothes as dad just can't encourage her to change. Any tips or help would be grateful. My dad's exhausted and last night she went bed at gone 1am and was up at 7am!
I'm not sure if this is the way mum is now we as it seems to be the pattern every night now. Just don't know what we can do :-(

 

[Tin]

Had exactly the same problem with mum, she would not go into bedroom and I had to let her fall asleep on sofa fully dressed, I was posting on tp and getting a lot of useful tips, but in the end I had to turn to gp for some sort of sedative, you see she was probably only getting about 2 or 3 hours sleep in a 24 hour period became very active around 4am. It is so different now. with help from sedative, we both get at least 5 hours and in the early hours she is not as busy, we do have the odd bad night maybe every 4th night, but I cope now, because I'm getting some quality sleep.

 

[lucky]

Ok thanks for this will contact mums g.p. To see what she says.

 

[keane]

Hi Lucky

I agree with Tin wholeheartedly. This stage of the disease can be extremely difficult and is very wearing for your family as carers. It can be extremely difficult if nigh on impossible to coax, cajole, ask, plead with a person in this stage of Alzheimer's to do something they don't want to do. This can also include bathing, washing, getting in / out of cars etc. At this stage it is very difficult to rationalise with somebody.

That is why I think sedatives are an important part of the treatment for Alzheimer's patients. This is to protect their safety and the safety of their carers. This obviously doesn't mean that you want your mum to become completely zoned out and it's important to work with your GP to get the medication amount right.
Also we just used to let mum go to bed fully clothed when all other methods had been exhausted. It just wasn't worth the battle as she didn't have any continence issues at that time. It is always worth a try though because sometimes she would surprise us and put her nightie on and get into bed no problem. The only thing predictable about the behaviour of mum was her unpredictability! We decided to go with her flow. Obviously this changes again when hygiene can become an issue but it's just about weighing up the pros and cons of each situation and then doing what is best for you all.

Xxx




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[keane]

Mum was put on Trazadone by the way which seemed to work well for her.


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