My DW is half the time living in this time but more and more going into the past. It seems that she is dealing with past unresolved issues. She looks like she is sleeping but she is talking and very aggitated. She talks better in the state than when she is awake. I am giving her xanex every 2 hours .5 mg and if that is not enough I up it to 1 mg. In the late afternoon I give her 1 mg Ativan. She also gets 100 mg of seriquel in the evening. I really do not like to see her crying, and upset I would rather knock her out if this can not get under control.
Moorsb, My Dw is crying four or five times a day. She can't tell me why or even if there is anything wrong. There is really nothing I can do to help her stop so I simply let her cry. I try to talk to her to take her mind off whatever it is the makes her cry but it doesn't work. She may cry for 30 seconds or she may cry for 10 minutes. As soon as she stops for a few seconds I ask something that to try to get her to move away from whatever it was that started her crying. That seems to work most of the time but not all the time.
My LO would do that too when she was still at home,I think she realized something was very wrong an thats the only way she could express herself,now if only I could stop
Hi moorsb, Gord cried a lot. Sometimes when he got up in the morning, he would be smiling and then within minutes he was crying. One day, he cried for 5 hours. I thought I would lose my mind. I never found any way of stopping it. Seroquel didn't work. Ativan didn't stop it. I wish I had some answers but sadly not. A person in the dementia field told us that with some brain injuries, if you display too much sympathy, it will set them off even more. After that, I would rub his back, hold his hand, tell him I loved him and then leave him for a bit while I went to another room and kept busy. That worked as well as anything else I tried.
moorsb,never stopped,it was just another step down the road,once she was admitted to ALF she was too busy getting into mischief,didn't have time for crying I guess,she would move whole rooms around til they caught her,made for exciting times,then about a year down the road she started failing very fast,waiting for hospice to call for moving date as we"speak"maybe as early as tomorrow,loveum while ya have um,I'm expecting the next months? weeks? days to be the worst yet.
moorsb, I don't know if this would help or not but a while ago DH's neuro prescribed Nuedexta for him. I Googled it and found out it was for uncontrolable crying or laughing. I don't what is was supposed to do for DH because his problems are hallucinations and paranoia and all it did was make it worse. You might want to check it out with your wifes doctor. Good Luck.
This must be so painful moorsb...I am so sorry. When my husband cries, it is the very hardest thing to see. It does not happen often at this point, only when he gets so frustrated he can't take it anymore.
I sure hope they find a way to soothe your darling wife.
My wife cries when she has insight to her losses. Commonly brought on by sundowning and hunger. I have learned to be stoic and NOT feed into it (very difficult) because AD folks are such emotional mirrors. Distraction using everything available up to the point of anger on my part has sometimes brought her out of it. I have found consoling rarely works. We use ativan 0.5 to 1mg as needed. Generally effective. Jim
i am no dr or have that much knowledge about antispyschotics but ativan and xanax every 2hrs on top of that seems like alot. it could be too much of a good thing produces the opposite effect. if you are using that much medication and arent getting the intended results maybe a call to the dr and rethinking which of these meds are really doing any good =
These are not given at the same time. Xanax low dose every 2 hours when that does not work I give her 1 mg of Ativan if it has been 2 hours after the Xanax, Ativan is the last resort and not given everyday. The Ativan pretty much will knock her out.
My DW cried when she was at stage 5-6. After a couple of weeks she was admitted to a psych hospital for med adjustments. When that didn't work after 2 weeks they did ECT treatment for severe depression. After about 6 treatments it worked and she did maintenance treatments about every 6 weeks until she was firmly in stage 7. In her case with EOAD/FTD she went from stage 3 to stage 6 in about 6 months or so. It sounds drastic but in her case ECT worked.
moorsb: My DW has replaced the sundowners syndrome with periods of crying. I used the same meds that you are using, but now we are only using lorenzapam. The dr wanted to give it 'as needed' , but I ask him to put her on a small regular dose every day. He did and that has helped a lot. Not as often and not as severe as it used to be.
I am trying something different tonite and it seems to be working. I talk to her as soon as she starts talking in her sleep. It keeps her from playing back tapes of her past and getting all upset. I just tell her to stay here with me and I tell her not to go there. She seems to understand, at least for 15 minutes or so, till she starts talking in her sleep again.
My DH has had many problems recently, but the latest worries me most. The AL called yesterday around 6 pm and said he was crying and could not stop, and would not eat. I had been there earlier and my DD had been there also. Usually Bob is happy or quiet. He gets angry at times, but never cries. I went over and sat with him to reassure him and he finally ate. Communication Is difficult for him. Every time the phone rings I worry that something else is wrong.
sometimes they can slip into more depressive states quickly, and sometimes the medications can be a cause for incessant crying or laughing. maybe a call to his dr to ask.