Hubby up all night
How do others deal with a loved one who is wandering throughout the night? My husband has mobility issues and needs assistance getting around with his walker. When he wanders from one room to another, I have to get up to help him stand, walk to another room, get settled in a chair or bed, and 5 minutes later he's calling for me to help him make another move. Sometimes he wants to move as soon as he sits down. If I ignore him he risks falling.
I'm not sleeping and becoming really impatient and irritable. What to do?
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I might discuss the med options with his doctor. There are risks and benefits with that, but those risks can be weighed when considering the feasibility of someone staying in the home. Eventually, hands on care can outgrow the ability of a sole caregiver. We are dealing it too, as my dad gets up a lot to go to the bathroom for imagined reasons,
One person 24/7 is usually not sustainable long term. Some people hire a nighttime person to stay all night so the primary can get sleep. We have discussed it.
It’s really impossible to prevent a fall, despite extra measures. I discussed it at length with the Memory Care facility my cousin used to live. It’s difficult to manage that behavior when they are not able to reason.
We have discussed what happens when it occurs. The anticipation brings so much anxiety. I hope you get more ideas. It’s very frustrating and exhausting.
I don't know if advisable or if it would help, but would melatonin help him sleep? It's not an instant knock-out med, but it helps me to relax and drift off to sleep. I'd check with his doctor. At one point I couldn't sleep thru the night, and asked my doctor for sleeping pill, and he said you don't want that, I said no, but I need to sleep. He told me to take a benedryl, but I only take if I've had a week or so without a full night's sleep
I actually asked our neuro if I could use Melotonin. Parkinson's does cause vivid dreams. Not enough REM sleep can make them irritable, impatient and the overall negative comments. I would ask your neuro and see if they agree. It depends on the meds. your spouse is taking . It was a lifesaver for me and of course for my spouse.
If his doctor says melatonin is okay, find the sublingual version. I take two 1 mg. tablets a night, and it helps me sleep but does not prevent me from waking up if I need to. In the past I've tried melatonin pills that I swallowed, and they didn't seem to work even at higher doses than I take now. I get sublingual ones from Amazon, and they dissolve quickly under the tongue.
I started giving my husband Melatonin 10 mg at 4 pm and again at 9 pm. He stopped wandering. The only time he wandered again was when my son forgot to give him his first dose until 6 pm. Before that he ended up face down in the dirt 1/4 mile away suffering from hypothermia and had to be taken to the emergency room.
I have read a paper showing that 1 mg of melatonin is the dose that works for most people. Very obese may need a little more. Large doses are unnecessary and may cause side effects.
My spouse takes 5 my. It is helped him sleep and relax.