Getting some Sleep

[Jude]

Advice Wanted Please .....

My mother takes one Zopiclone sleeping tablet before she goes to bed at night, which is usually enough to give her a good rest and still enable her to be able to get up to go to the loo without being too groggy to know what she's doing.

However, every night for the past 5 nights she's slept through until 12.30am and after visiting the bathroom, won't go back to sleep again. She wants to sit up and chat until 4.30am. This is driving my father and I up the wall.

She's not cold, ill or scared - she just wants to TALK...!!! I've tried hot milk and a biscuit; holding her hand; a fresh water bottle and extra blankets; even reading her a story.

Since my parents rarely sleep during the day, we are all getting extremely tired and a bit cranky now. I don't want to give her extra sleeping tablets on a regular basis in case she becomes over-dependent upon them, although the Doctor has said it would be okay to do so. Last night I gave her two, to absolutely no effect.

Can anyone suggest anything PLEASE....?

Jude

 

[Maria]

Hi Jude
My mum was initially prescribed Zopiclone these worked for approximately 2 mths with similar symptoms to your mums. Unfortunately as my mum is not mobile and needs 24hr care it was intollerable for rest during the night for our family. She has since been prescribed with alternative tablets firstly 2x temazepan now 1x temazepan and promazine syrup. As I understand with the majority of aids to sleep they sometimes only have a short life span the temazepan helps mum get off to sleep similar to your mum however the syrup helps her sleep even through disturbances for the toilet.
I understand your concerns of your mums dependency on the tablets however the quality of the following day will definately be to the advantage of everyone. Good Luck.

 

[Jude]

Dear Maria,

Many thanks for your info. Will shoot off down to the Doctor on Monday and see if he can prescribe something else. Otherwise it will be Dad and myself taking the tabs and letting Mum talk to herself all night....!

Jude

 

[Jpr]

sleeping tablets

Sleep deprivation is an excellent form of torture, why bother with phys1cal violence.
I heard a bit of a radio programme on Radio 4 the other day suggesting no sleeping tablets work after a couple of weeks. Sorry that's probably not what you wanted to hear, although I don't know if they remain more effective if they are rotated. You may have to learn the art of cat napping although I realise it's not the same.


What time of day is your mother taking them? Would it be possible to get her to take them later. What about you and your dad taking alternate nights 'off' so at least one of you gets a break. Also check with social services. There is a 'ring fenced' carers grant but each council takes a different view of the most effective way to spread it fairly between the many carers they are responsible for. They might fund a night sit in your home or have a 'sleep over' facility like the one at Heathlands in Bracknell? (Although this may no longer be running due to budget cuts for all I know.)

think of you

 

[Jude]

Dear Jpr,

Thanks for the info on the night carers - I will see if there's anything available in our area.

Unfortunately I can't ask my father to help out as he's got AD too! Fortunately he sleeps quite well - unless of course my mother is having one of her chat sessions, when of course we are all up and about for hours. I find it really difficult to sleep during the day, although the recent dark and gloomy weather has helped a bit.

I've been to our new Doctor this morning [we've recently moved] and my mother has had some blood tests and the Doctor has recommended switching sleeping tablets. She also mentioned that zopiclone and temazepan are tranquilisers rather than straight out sleeping tabls and are highly addictive. So once the blood test results arrive, the Doctor is going to sort out a whole new regime for my mother and hopefully we will all get some much needed sleep.

Will let you know what happenszzzzzzzzz.

Jude

 

[Jpr]

sleepless nights

Have you asked your district nurse / GP to exclude a urinary tract infection? These are fairly common in older people and can be non-specific, just making confusion worse - and increasing the number of trips to the toilet at night. Might also account for the toilet paper fixation I think you mentioned on another page.

Hope you've found someone to help you get some rest
Jill

 

[Jude]

Thanks for your post. My mother's had several urinary tract tests and all seem to be negative. Her loo roll fixation has been going on for about 4 years now. We'll have to wait and see what the next lot of tests reveal.
Jude