Is there anyone out there suffering sleep deprivation ? My DH is not too bad to cope with during the day, but come night he turns into Dr. Jeckel. I went to the Dr. and he prescribed the medication Avanza, which knocked him about terribly. He stumbled and I had a job getting him to the bedroom, but at least he went to sleep, but snored badly. Last night I halved the tablet, he went to sleep but woke in the early hours of the morning with the same thing as when he was going to bed before the medication. He keeps getting out of bed and is very disorientated and keeps saying that he doesn't know where he is and can't find his way to bed, and he is standing right next to it. This continues till morning, but last night he undressed and said he had soiled his underpants, which he had taken off and handed me, they were not soiled.
Is this something to do with the AZ., or something else, he goes to the toilet continually, but has had test for his prostate which were negative.
My sleep deprivation was one of the principal reasons (and his incontinence) that I had to put my DH in a 'skilled nursing unit', four months ago.
I am still having trouble getting a good nights sleep. He has been on several different sleeping pills but none work very well with him. The nurses unit where he is now complains about his pacing up and down at night. Apparently this sleeping trouble is very common with ALZ.
Instead of complaining about your husband's night pacing the staff should let him pace and just keep an eye on him. Some units are now realizing the residents have switched day and night and are actually taking in AD people for "night care" and then send them home to sleep during the day. It works. http://www.alzheimersreadingroom.com/2010/06/all-night-care-for-alzheimers-patients.html
Sylvia, what your husband is doing is normal. My husband did the same thing. I was working and up all night with him. A typical night was to put him to bed. He would get up after I went to sleep. About 2 in the morning, I would be awakened and he would have every light in the house on. He did that every night until he wondered the day before I placed him. Sleep medications never worked for him. You can work with his doctor to adjust his medications but it takes awhile. It sounds like it might be time to start with depends. I never thought my husband would even try them but I he was farther along than I thought. I put the depends on him one day and he didn't even know the difference. Do you work? Can you have someone say with you periodically so you can get some sleep while he wonders around?
Thanks very much for your thoughts on this frustrating matter, I doubt very much that he would wear depends as yet. The unit that Bluedaze described sounds "made in heaven" for many of us, I guess, but have not heard of anything like that around here. His family (our second marriage - 34 yrs. ) don't want to know about him now, and my daughter works full time and had him early in the year, whilst I had a short break and doesn't think she can manage him again. All due to the waking and disturbance at night, he was also on strong antibiotics at the time, which made him so constipated that she had to take him up to the hospital, and that frightened her too. I don't work, am a retired reg. nurse, but it doesn't help that I have seen it, and know what most likely lies in store, if I don't go first !
sylvia, you might be surprised about the depends. I bought the pull ups and my husband wore them without complaint from the very first. I put his boxers on over them at first, but I don't think that really made a difference. Nothing made him sleep, and I mean nothing. I placed him 18 months ago due to being completely worn out. For almost the whole first year at the nursing home, he was up most of the night. He would not stay in bed and when he tried to get up, he fell. They had an alarm on the bed and finally just started getting him up when they heard the alarm. He rarely slept more than 4 hours out of 24. He has gotten to the place where he sleeps more now and can not walk but he is still restless and would get up and take off in a minute if he was physically able.
slvhia, I think I am getting more sleep than I would if we slept in the same room. I still don't sleep really good but I think it is as good as it is going to get. I am still a light enough sleeper to hear him if he leaves his room for any reason.
My dh had a period of restless nights early on but has settled into long, sound sleeping now. He is in bed around 8 and I have to get him up almost every morning whether it's at 8 to get ready for day care or after 12 on a weekend day. I've often wondered whether it was the combination of Exelon and Risperidon, but I think he was sleeping well even before the Risperidon was started. I'm certain that I would be ready to place him NOW if he wouldn't let me sleep.
Sylvia--Have you tried Melatonin (OTC) to help with sleep? Do a search and you'll see posts about it. Also, I had to try several different types of disposable underwear to find one acceptable to my husband. Most are just too thick and he was aware they were different from his usual underwear. Super absorbent is too puffy for him at this point--he only has a little urine leaking--so I found an Extra (less absorbent) brief at Target (their store brand) that is acceptable to him. I expected to have a lot more trouble with him adjusting, but once I found this brand, it has been fine. I could have delayed switching to disposables, but since this one works, I have just continued with them. Thank you, Target!
I found a wonderful product for my husband's incontinence and prostate issues. I put Medline liners in the adjustable Depends pull ups at night (the liners hold 60 ozs of liquid). Medline has the lighter liners that I use during the day and put them in his shorts. Medline also has a good bed pad that absorbs the urine and keeps it in the pad. I know these are more expensive, but they really work and I do less laundry.
Recently, I got my dh a hospital bed (rental) and now I don't worry about him falling out of bed or wondering.
Lack of sleep seems to be a part of the caregiver's life. Sometimes I barely make it through the day and then can't sleep at night.