Sleepless nights and medication!

[Bieber888]

Good morning! I'm awake already with my Grandma, although I'm fully awake now I've been awake with my mum a couple of times already!

Grandma's not been to sleep yet! It's crazy, she's up in the middle of the night just constantly talking to her hallucinations and believe me it's not quiet! I'm concerned for the neighbours! However it's not only last night she hasn't slept, it's literally every two days! I thought it was a water infection so I took her to the doctors for antibiotics. However, I don't think it is a water infection!

So, my main point is sleepless nights for Grandma and my family! Help help help!

Also, I've been reading some posts on medication for Alzheimer's sufferers...my Grandma is currently on Quetiapine and Aricept for Alzheimer's amongst all the other medication for blood pressure etc! Has anyone's sufferer experienced major side effects? I'm a due an early appointment with the mental health doctor? Any help, advice or suggestions?

Ok, i think I am done rambling....I'll be napping on and off today!

Take care everybody!

 

[BeckyJan]

Hello Bieber,

Your post about sleepless nights is very familiar to me. I think you are right to speak to the M H Consultant and hopefully they will be able to help somehow. My husband also was on Quietiapine and Aricept and they were reluctant to give any 'sedative' type medication as it increased his risk of falling, which he was doing anyway.

I suggest you keep a diary/log of the sleepless nights and any other difficulties, give it to the Consultant so he/she is clear about the seriousness of the problem.

It is a common problem and I went through a phase of being lucky to have more than 3 hrs sleep in any night

 

[Lainey 127]

Hi Bieber888,
Yep! Sounds familiar. Mum has been 'sleepless' for a long time now. She's 91 bless her, but she can keep going for two days without any sleep. She's restless all night long and shouts out and bangs furniture if we don't go in and sit and talk to her - it's a nightmare. Clearly not good for Mum or for us so the doctor reluctantly prescribed Zopiclone but only to be used when the situation is desperate, not every day. They simply help Mum get off to sleep but don't stay in her system. I have to say that more often than not the zopiclone don't work. She'll go off to sleep but is wide awake again after an hour.
We've just found that Mum goes back to normal sleep pattern herself after a couple of days.

 

[Mamsgirl]

Hi Bieber888,

My Mum is similar. So often says she hasn't slept all night, but when she does sleep it's nonstop chat and aerobics! It's worrying how little rest Mum gets and I don't think it can be good for a brain already dealing with VaD. The crippling arthritis was completely gone recently as Mum sat in a recliner, talking away and air cycling like she was in the Tour de France! I still want to giggle thinking about it, which seems all kinds of wrong, but it was so funny Sorry, so heartless but irrepressible.

The doctor offered a sleeping tablet but Mum says it turns her into a zombie the next day , but then Mum doesn't disturb anyone else as she lives alone. I'd tell your Gran's GP about the effect it's having on the household and see if there might be something she can take.

Good luck, Toni

 

[yoyo]

Hi I am just going through the same thing, I find medics reluctant to medicate. mum recently has had other health problems so the sleeplessness was new, so for 3 and a half weeks she has been awake till anything from 12.30 to 3am talking to people moving fidgeting. Last night she just said 'oh I'm not doing that again and turned over to sleep at 10pm, I sat in shock until 11ish and decided I should get some sleep in case she wakes but she's been sound all night!!! I can only hope this kind of thing comes in stages and I hope for you its the same Don't know what I'd do without you all !! enjoy the naps xx

 

[Witzend]

I have to say that endlessly disturbed nights were one reason we finally decided that my FIL had to go into a care home. OH was working long hours in a demanding job and our daughters were coming up to GCSEs and A levels. Heaven knows it is exhausting enough if you are a stay at home carer, as I was then, albeit still trying to work from home. But when someone was endlessly up and down, banging doors, shouting because the front door was locked at 3 am, coming into bedrooms to see who was sleeping in 'his' house - after a while it was just too much for us all.