Spouses frequent night wandering ruining sleep

Posted by patgreen11 @patgreen11, May 6 12:55pm

Hi,

A friend of mine has a spouse who has always had a fetish for making sure doors are locked. With Alzheimer’s he gets up 5-6 times to check.
She has an alarm in her bedroom, but it goes off at least 5-6 times during the night and she gets no sleep.

Are there other devices out there? She is getting the big Stop Signs for several doors.
Anyone had experience with the bed pads that allow you to record a message that will calm the person down and get them back to bed without blaring her awake? ( if that did not work, the door alarm would still go off )
Thanks

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Caregivers: Dementia Support Group.

Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | May 20 10:02am

Here are a couple of related discussions:
- Hubby up all night https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/hubby-up-all-night/
- Can't find toilet, nighttime wandering https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/cant-find-toilet-nighttime-wandering/

@patgreen11, it sounds like you have been very creative in finding solutions to keep your partner safe. Wandering at night and dealing with interrupted sleep is especially challenging. I'm tagging a few members like @mike862 @katrina123 @jehjeh @beckboop13 who faced similar issues and may have helpful tips.

A recorded soothing voice sounds like a good idea, but I haven't heard any first-hand experiences with such a device. Is your partner agitated when she wakes and wanders? Do you sleep in the same room?