This nightly battle of the ups and downs are KILLING me! My DH grips all early evening about wanting to go to bed- so I finally cave and let him go even though I know he will not go to sleep---so we go through all the ordeal of putting on all the night time stuff-double padded depends,not one but 2 pair plus outer plastic pants. He is on the pot while I am doing this and before he even gets up-he has wet on all the pants.(thought I had the crack between the seats taken care of)so off they come and we start all over with dry ones,Now off to bed he goes,I no more than get back to the other room when up he comes and the fun begins!! Every 5-10 minutes he is up-while this might not sound bad,it is because he proceeds to go into the bathroom annd never pulls his underwear back UP.So unless I go readjust everytime-the bed and he are wet (when he finally does go to sleep) and this can go on for HOURS.
Sorry for the long VENT but I have a migraine headache and needed to yell somewhere!!!!!!
I think I would try sleeping pills, he just needs to get into a regular schedule, take the pills get him ready for bed and hopefully he will stay in bed.
moorsb-I would love to give him sleeping pills-but they have tried all kinds and he has BAD reactions to all they have tried. The dr.said some people just can not handle them.
Have you tried Trazodone? It isn't a sleeping pill, it's an anti depressant that causes sleepiness. It is supposedly the drug of choice for insomnia in people w/dementia. I am wondering what type of doctor your husband sees, because there are also a number of antipsychotic drugs used for people with dementia that cause drowsiness. Just giving you the answer that some people can't take sleeping pills doesn't cut it, in my opinion.
This story is exactly what has been going on in my house. I found the answer on another thread. It's melatonin. DH has taken it every night for the past month. He now goes to bed and stays there. I give it to him about 5 or 6 o'clock. He goes to bed around 8:30. I am totally amazed by this. The urine is another problem, I haven't mastered that yet. He wakes up and the only thing that is dry is the shoulders of his T-shirt. Where does it all come from?
I find the green Tena diapers to be the best of all the things I have tried. Most nights not even the pads under him are wet. Also, Remeron is an antidepressant and is really helpful in sedating.
marilyninMD-my DH sees a geri physiatrist,has been on many anti psythotic drugs over the years for bipolar and other mental problems,has always had trouble with the sleeping issues,Never tried trazodone for several years will ask dr.about it next visit. nelleie-he has tried ativan more than enough-very bad side effects ocallie36-he is already taking melatonia,no help.And he too is usually wet as a rat !!! jang-already tried Remeron,bad side effects too.As for the tena diapers,we can not use diapers because he is still up and down and can not get the diapers on and off,so we have to use the underwear type and so far have found not way to pad them enough to stay dry even with outer plastic pants because he will not leave the on the way I adjust them,Just makes you want to pull your hair out and run screaming from the room. Thanks all for the tips keep them comin'
Wow. First: I began using the liners (by Medline - the purple ones hold 60 ozs of liquid) I first put them in dh's regular cotton pants. Now we use them with Depends and Attends. Also the bed pads are Medline because the cheaper ones don't really hold the urine (it just sort of puddles). I have to order these online as the stores don't carry them. Second: We tried the methadone and it made dh so wired neither of us slept so stopped its use. Am now using small doses of Ativan for anti anxiety. Dh is bedridden but gets very anxious and goes all over the bed and I am having to re-adjust him constantly. Going crazy with it. Yesterday had to give him 3 doses over a period of time. Came to this website to see if anyone else has the issues of moving and bouncing in bed. I can't seem to even go to the bathroom. Dh went from sleeping all day/night to being awake and only cat naps (since the Methadone). Luckily I have the nylon sheeting to help move dh up in the bed. Had to go in again just now as he was almost out of bed. His legs go over the rails.
Is this the time the AD people begin to be on more and more drugs? We are on Palliative Care right now and this worries me but don't know what else to do. Sometimes I just want to scream (and I do)!
Brindle, my DH is, also, all over the bed. Many times he is lolling in it like it was a beach chair....diagonally, arms thrown back and over the rail, feet hanging off the opposite side. The side to side adjustment is hardest for me. I do have 36" square pads with handles that make it fairly easy to readjust him in the bed.
If you're not already doing so, make sure his backside is over the bend in the bed, raise the bottom of the bed as high as it will go, then raise the top. This will often keep my DH in position for several hours. I, also, bolster both sides of the bed with thick pillows.
Denny-the position you are describing may crimp the vessels in your husband's legs and cause blood clots. Do you know how to check the pulses in his legs?
An anti anxiety med, zoloft or it's generic, may help. It did with my husband. I assume you have him in a hospital bed? I'd forgotten the escaping from bed period. Another thing that really helped was moving the bed so I could see how he was without going in and engaging him constantly. He could lie there for hours watching Curious George and enjoying it mightily. Ah, those were the good old days!
Is he urinating a lot or a little? Sounds like a lot. If he is urinating just a little, I usually chalk it up to a sleep problem or anxiety/confusion etc. If he is urinating a lot, I wonder if he is retaining urine during the day (like in his legs). A lot of people retain urine during the day in their legs due to gravity but when they lay down at night and gravity is no longer pulling the fluids down into the legs, the fluid goes back to the kidneys and they urinate all night long. If that is the case, I try decreasing salt, limiting fluids to 1 glass after 4 pm (easier said than done sometimes I know), compression stockings during the day so there is less accumulation, water pills during the day for the same reason, leg elevation (easier said than done too). Also avoid any water pills after 3-4 pm. Is there a prostate problem? Just other things to consider.
Bak, I am not sure if I understood the problem correctly but if the concern is the diapers falling, I put briefs over the diapers both during the day and at night. When a change is needed, the briefs go to the knees, the diaper is changed and you are good to go.
jang-it is not that diapers fail-it is that he is in and out of bed thinkinking he needs to go to the bathroom so many times before he goes to sleep,and I have to keep the pull ups on so I (or he)can get them up and down.Thing is if I don't adjust them EVERYTIME he never gets them up right,sometimes not up at all--soOOOOOOOOOOOO! What do I do I have threatened to tie him in bed once he gets there,but the threat goes un noticed as most of my statements do. I hope that is a loooooong rope,we sure need a life line!!!