I believe stress triggered the onset, for us. Now though a month later, he is doing a LOT better. The symptoms are very rare now, I think he is relaxed. I think as long as there is no trama or drama in the persons live you will only see rare symthoms. But this is just my opinion.

mary lou

I don’t have an answer but the same occurance happened to a friend of mine. She had surgery and the symptoms started. Her surgery included the brain. So, my question , also, is the surgery the cause or became such an irritant that it brought this earlier than would have come?

My mom is 85 and has been an alcoholic for most of her adult life. It is at night that she is at her worst. She is now in a nursing home facility, but when she lived on her own, she could literally tear up her apartment in one night’s activity. She never had rational explanations for what went on. She still has her most difficult periods at night.

The symptoms of Sundowner’s can be helped by medication and some behavior modification. Simple things like making sure your older person is drinking enough water and monitoring their diet can make a huge difference. In my mom’s situation, if she gets stressed or upset during the day, it exacerbates her symptoms during the night. This is part of what helps classify this syndrome.