Shirely commented on http://sundownerfacts.com/_treatments/
My Mother has had a rough year and a half. She is 83 years old and started having a problems with fluid retention (lining of lungs, legs) due to a leaky valve problem with her heart. After visiting a really great cardiologist we thought we had it licked. Unfortunately, some things happened in my Mom’s life that caused her to develop slight depression which is is now being treated for with a very small dose of Lexapro. Due to the depression she became pretty much immobile, her salt intake wasn’t monitored closely enough and the fluid issue arose again a few weeks ago. I needed to bring her to the ER because she was having difficulty catching her breath when she walked even short distances and it was found that her oxygen saturation levels were very low. They admitted her into the hospital where she first began showing signs of sundowning. The nurse at the hospital told me that this happens sometimes with the elderly when they are taken out of there normal environmental.
It’s the scariest thing that I’ve ever had to deal with. When it was agreed that my Mom needed to go for PT at a short-term skilled facility she seemed to get a little better. She knew of the facility where she was going to be going and knew it was only for a short period of time and it’t the one she picked out. Well, the first night the symptoms came back only more violently. She is on medication to help reduce the symptoms but as soon as late afternoon arrives my Mom changes. I haven’t been able to contact her PCP due to the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend and the doctor at the facility has yet to contact me. The nurse at the facility told me that once someone has dementia it doesn’t go away. I am going to call her PCP first thing Monday morning and have left a message for the facility doctor to call me asap. My Mom didn’t show any signs of sundowning until she was in the hospital so I am clinging to that.
I feel for all of you because it is so hard to see your parent go through this and to believe that they are believing, truly believing what they “think” they are seeing.
Take care all of you.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I am just beginning to research this sundowning topic and this is my second
look t any information. It is amazing, but we could all be talking of of person,
yet, we are all talking of the one we love.
My mom broke her hip in March, and did pretty well the weeks and days she was
in the hospital and re-hab. At home, she started well, with a niece staying at
the house to help her. Soon the accusations began, the niece was stealing and
the niece was scaring her. That situation finally resolved itself, and mom began
living on her own again. Recently, late October/ early Noveber, she had a stroke
or a new going along with a couple of previouse ones. She was pretty irritable in
the hospital, partially because she is almost totally deaf and doesn;t hear
what others are asking or saying. At home, we have had constant companionship (and
previous to this she has lived alone for 25 years), and that has become impossible
because of her behavior and horrific accusations. Now that all of the kids have been
there when it happens, we realize that she has been complaining for no reason that anyone
else was responsible for. She hides medicine, phones, keys, clothes, etc., anything
she thinks someone might want, and blamesother. She too,is on lisinopril, careg (this is
a new drug for her) levothyroxin, and several others. She usully doesn’t sleep well
at night, and says she sees flashing lights outside, see cars, see’s even people having sex in
her house….there is no one there. She has aleniated many in her family.
I would love to know more about this syndrome, does it tie back into abuse as a child,
possible assult and abuse otherwise, is it more people of a certain time period for instance
depression years…..Any information is useful. It has been quite an experience and one that
has so quickly come on. Just out of the blue. Thanks for letting me rant.
All of our stories are so similar…it is comforting to know there are others out there trying their hardest to help their loved ones, but also so sad that we have parents that are experiencing the same terrifying things.
My dad, through a very short and rapid decline of events and health, went into a nursing care facility last week. My mom and my brothers attempted to take care of him for as long as we could, but he switched night and day early on and has been wandering ever since. We would get up 4-5 times a night with him to go to the bathroom, and then he’d want to wander and not go to bed. The first few days in the nursing home he was anxious, but seemed okay with the situation at times and liked the staff (who are very good at what they do).
Wednesday night I spent a quiet evening with him and left him around 8 p.m. At 11 p.m. we received a phone call that my dad was chasing the staff around, yelling that they were trying to murder him, attempting to break windows and doors, and not allowing the staff to treat a cut he received. They called us directly after calling an ambulance and having him shipped to the Emergency Room. It was a horrific night, and of course there were no positive results from the ER as to any “event” that had occurred. We got back to the nursing facility at 3 a.m. and I slept on the floor in front of him to prevent him from wandering and accosting the staff again.
Last night was worse. I spent the evening with him, left at 10, and received the dreaded phone call at 1 a.m. He had hit a staff member with a coat hanger, chased this poor nurse around the facility and was accusing him of trying to kill him. What is truly bizarre is that during the day, my dad shuffles his feet and never picks them off the ground. The last two days the staff says he is truly RUNNING around the complex, and is quite fast. I raced to the facility, got him calmed down and back into bed. I stayed with him until this morning, but he was still suspicious of the staff, and wanted me to call 911 to start an investigation. He continues to think the staff are out to get him.
There are several things I think are happening with my dad, but none are abuse by the staff. There are some very loud family members who visit the care facility at nighttime, and the volume that creates has agitated my dad to no end; he is on a large dose of seraquel, which is suppose to be an anti-psychotic but had had little effect; he was law enforcement, so he is naturally curious of people and their actions; some of the residents there are extremely vocal about their displeasure at their families for “sticking” them in a home, so he hears their stories constantly; and he’s in a new environment. We are desparate to find some peace for him, and to maintain his place in this facility…it is very, very hard to find a medicaid bed in the city I live in, and if he gets kicked out of this one, he will go back home. That will absolutely cause my mom’s death.
In summary, has anyone heard of a sedative that works well with sundowners? All we can think to do after activities, lighting changes, redirection, etc. is to sedate him so he does not disturb staff. That sounds so very callous, but I swear it would be for the best! He’s in so much turmoil right now!
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