My DW has not been sleeping to well this week. She has been waking up after about 4 hours, and then keeps getting up after laying back down and I don't think she's sleeping afterward. During the past few months, when she woke up, she would go into the living room and sleep on the sofa until morning. Sometimes she would wake up at 1am, or 4 am, or 6 am... and then walk to the living room and plop down on the sofa and sleep.
During the day, she has been very very sleepy. Hasn't been walking much. This is after several weeks of being very agitated.
The only difference is that the neuro started her back on 5mg of Aricept. She started Monday, and that is the only change I can't put my finger on. They stopped the Aricept and the Namenda last fall in the hospital as they thought maybe she was suffering more from side effects that getting any benefits. They put her back on the Namenda in November and just added the Aricept which she started Monday. I have put in calls and am waiting to hear back. Her knee is bothering her as well. She has had two knee surgeries for a torn minisucs several years ago and the she some arthritis in that knee, so maybe that's it.. When she was getting agitated over the past few weeks she was walking, running at times, in a rage throwing things about.
They cut back the seroquel two weeks ago to 150mg a day. 50 mg in the morning and 100mg at night. After she started getting agitated after a couple of days on that dosage, they told me to go back up to 100 in the morning and 100 at night.
I'm just concerned as I can't really put my finger on what is going on, and I fear, that her doctors won't know either. She is also on BP meds so I am really at a loss as to why this week, she is so lethargic.
any ideas?? I put in a few calls to her PCP and neuro.
i dont know what to suggest other than maybe a hospital stay to iron out her meds. seems they dont quite have a good dosing for her yet to get the maximum benefits. aricept may not be for everyone. nor the others esp seroquel. some of us had bad effects from that one. many use it but sometimes its too harsh for others and maybe something else would work better. if you havent already rule out urinary tract infection. its my first line of defense as everyone knows can cause really complex and quick changes. if it were me, i'd put my spouse in hospital and start weaning off everything and adding one at a time back to see which is working which isnt. meds adjustments can take a while to get it right. as far as the knee she may be aggravating it with all the pacing.maybe otc pain med could help ease the pain for the knee. but i'd check with her dr and work on getting the meds worked out. things change and they sometimes cant tolerate medications they've taken for years. uti can also cause alot of lethargy as well as any medications changes. for that fact, any little infection can do them in. divvi