Greetings all.
Myself & my husband care for a late-stage lewy-body dementia patient in her home around the clock 24/7.
She is bedridden (can not walk or even bear her own weight, and has not the strength, balance nor coordination to even stand).
We have her in a fairly stable routine (as much as you can) with changing, cleaning, drinking thickened liquids, eating soft foods, sleeping etc.
However, given a recent more dramatic decline, she is now on occasion refusing changing/cleaning (due to exhaustion), or trying to climb out of her bed during the night (it's a hospital bed with air mattress, safety rails etc) because she thinks she can walk. And she actually managed to climb out the other night, ending up on the floor, when her son was here taking care of her.
We have spoken in depth with her family & Dr. but to date they have only prescribed an antipsychotic, (which we are hesitant to use, due to the high risks associated with LBD). And so we now are looking into options for a mild sedative when needed. We are not looking to send her to sleep, but simply relax her if she is too agitated to be cleaned/changed, or trying to throw herself out of bed in the night repeatedly.
Her Dr honestly seems a bit lost with the disease, so I'm wondering if anybody had any success or advice regarding mild sedative use in late-stage Lewy Dementia that we can ask the Dr to prescribe or look into?
Myself & my husband care for a late-stage lewy-body dementia patient in her home around the clock 24/7.
She is bedridden (can not walk or even bear her own weight, and has not the strength, balance nor coordination to even stand).
We have her in a fairly stable routine (as much as you can) with changing, cleaning, drinking thickened liquids, eating soft foods, sleeping etc.
However, given a recent more dramatic decline, she is now on occasion refusing changing/cleaning (due to exhaustion), or trying to climb out of her bed during the night (it's a hospital bed with air mattress, safety rails etc) because she thinks she can walk. And she actually managed to climb out the other night, ending up on the floor, when her son was here taking care of her.
We have spoken in depth with her family & Dr. but to date they have only prescribed an antipsychotic, (which we are hesitant to use, due to the high risks associated with LBD). And so we now are looking into options for a mild sedative when needed. We are not looking to send her to sleep, but simply relax her if she is too agitated to be cleaned/changed, or trying to throw herself out of bed in the night repeatedly.
Her Dr honestly seems a bit lost with the disease, so I'm wondering if anybody had any success or advice regarding mild sedative use in late-stage Lewy Dementia that we can ask the Dr to prescribe or look into?
