Is there a Sunriser's Syndrome?

Sundowner's is really collection of behaviors that tend to happen later in the day but don't have to be isolated to that time. It can happen at any time of day. Make sure you are keeping a journal each day of what you see, hear, sense. Especially if something strikes you as new/different/or super strange. The doctor is going to want to know how long something has been going on, and it's too hard to remember the details when you are up to your eyeballs in caregiving. Make sure to note the Sundowner behaviors to the doctor, as there may be medication that can help turn down the severity of symptoms without making him sleepy all the time.

Thank you so much for that information. I did not realize the importance of keeping a journal of these events. All I know is I wish they would happen at some time other than from 2:30 to 5:00 a.m.!

I aggregate (collect these tidbits on
"Dave Mainwaring's Knowledge Network" )

Sunrise Syndrome,(sun?riz) a condition in which a person with Alzheimer's wakes up rising in the morning and their mind is filled with delusions which include include beliefs about theft, the patient's house not being their home, a spouse is an impostor, belief an intruder is in the house, abandonment, spousal and paranoia, people eavesdropping. Sometimes the person may carry over content of a dream.

One observation is that Sunrise Syndrome is different from Sundowning because the person may wake up in a confabulation mind set. During a Sunrise Syndrome conversation with the content may filled with confabulations; verbal statements and/or actions that inaccurately describe history, background and present situations.

Sundowning in contrast displays as confusion, disorientation, wandering, searching, escape behaviors, tapping or banging, vocalization, combativeness; the demons of anxiety, anger, fear, hallucinations and paranoia come out.

Hallucinations and delusions are symptoms of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. With hallucinations or delusions, people do not experience things as they really are.

Delusions are false beliefs. Even if you give evidence about something to the person with dementia, she will not change her belief. For example, a person with dementia may have a delusion in which she believes someone else is living in her house when she actually lives alone. Delusions can also be experienced in the form of paranoid beliefs, or accusing others for things that have not happened. For example, the person with dementia may misplace an item and blame others for stealing it. Some people with dementia may have the delusion that others are "out to get them." For example, he may believe that his food is being poisoned.

new question
male alz patient is showing resistance to using commode to urinate. I have tried to get him to sit down. sometimes he will sometimes not. He does not try to go in other places just waits too long between trips. Any suggestions as to how I can get him to go with struggle. I take him about every 2 hours or at least ask him. although his mind is not good now he still has the privacy issue.

Marley,

You need to write your question in a different place - see right below where it says Answer this Question, it says Please stay on topic or ask a new question" Click on "ask a new question", and put your question there - then you will get answers to it, it's a good question!

I'm not a doctor, but I have a theory about "sunrise" syndrome, because my mother does it too. I think, because her brain has been able to "run wild" while sleeping, when she awakes and opens her eyes and takes in her surroundings, she must determine what is real, what is new and what may have been a dream from the night before. She takes a little while to get her "land legs" as I call it, and then she does better by about 10 a.m. Her mood is definitely different for sunrising... mostly confusion and re-figuring out her world, without the irritation or persevering she will do in the evening.

When people get up in the morning, becoming oriented after a deep sleep can take a bit of time. It seems to make sense that someone with dementia may wake up still "dreaming" and have a more difficult time re-orienting to the day world than an average person.

My dad had days where we knew immediately it was not going to be a good day. Whether it was something that changed while sleeping or a carry over from the dream state it was hard to tell. Anyway, this sounds like one more challenge. Sometimes putting a label on things helps and sunrisers is as good as any!

Keep telling your stories my friends, It helps us to unload and it helps others to know that they aren't alone. Sometimes solutions come through as well.
Carol

My mother has both. She is better in the morning if not alone or else she packs and wanders. 2:30pm on our walk she becomes worried how to get back to apartment. Then later pm she's back to packing to leave, probably because she is alone again.

I was told to give them their OJ first thing before they even get out of bed. It gives then their morning Sugar which may have been low from sleeping all night. It helps to regulate the system. Then get them up. My husband always confuses the clothing early in the morning too. You gotta laugh! It is funny to see a man with his underwear on his head or his pants on backwards. My husband put on my capris the other day. They were really tight. He looked like he was going biking! LOL

Thank you so much for this question as I never even knew there was such a thing as Sunriser's Syndrome, yet we experience it every morning with my mum! Every morning we have to orient her as to who we are, where she is, how she got here and for how long. Sometimes she thinks it is her mom and dad's home, or her mom and dad's rental and they live a couple of houses up the street! When in reality her mom and dad have been long gone and we live in Ohio, not in her hometown of Minneapolis where her mom and dad lived. Sometimes she wakes up thinking she is in a store, and other times she's on a trip somewhere in Europe! Even though she's been retired for over 20 years this morning she said she's working here as a secretary. Generally she is usually pretty pleasant in the morning though, just confused as to where she is, who we are, and what she's doing here until she's had time to get reoriented to her world after waking up from a deep sleep and not knowing a dream from reality. She also suffers from Sundowner's Syndrome when often around 6:30 P.M. she'll start saying she wants to go home and asking us for a ride. When we try to tell her she IS home sometimes she'll get upset and try to leave. Anyway, I've learned that sometimes I just have to go along with what she says as she gets very upset with me if I try to tell her otherwise! The medicine that the doctor prescribed for agitation has helped some, but there are good days and bad days.

Mom wakes up several mornings more confused than normal and it usually means we are in for a bad day. Yesterday when she woke and I got her robe on her she told me good bye. 'They' were on their way to pick her up. She refused her morning tea because she did not want to spill it in the car and she refused breakfast because she wouldn't have time to eat it before 'they' got here. She talks about 'they and them' a lot and I would love to know just who they are.

My husband wakes every morning asking which kids need to get up for school and who is in the house. It only takes a minute for me to orient him and he is usually ok.
He thinks the kids in the house are being very quiet so he can sleep. No one lives here but the 2 of us.

My husband does that too. My husband is always grabbing my skinny pants. I think I will get rid of a lot of things he doesn't wear anymore and make it easier. He puts two tee shirts on backwards and two pairs of underwear always backwards, Wonder why they need two pair?? Button up shirts go upside down!
So sad, he use to wear cowboy boots and belts to match. Very fancy and perfect. Two years has really made a change.

He also does the same thing asking about where is everyone? He has sundowner's ever night from 10:30 til about 3:30am. Then when he gets up at 11:30 or 12:30pm he gets confused again. asking where they went, telling big tales about looking for something. He is always looking for stuff at night and in the next day when he gets up.

I see much confusion also as soon as husband is waking, the first thing he drinks is a cup of coffee I have been putting his two tiny essential pills into that coffee, gets in his system quicker, and he's then ok. I believe by the time they wake much of the med has worn off so it much easier to be confused. On shower days I take the coffee up to the bedroom this helps to calm him before shower prompting (I'm getting to really dread shower days for him too!) it makes it a little easier.

luciwrites: Yes. It is a cognitive instability on arising from sleep.

sandwich42plus: luciwrites did not ask about SUNDOWNER'S Syndrome. Reread her post.

Edith, see the same thing in Mom. She is up before me and I allow her time to acclimate herself. I don't wake her up. Ll appts are late morning or afternoons. She seems worse when she is tired.

People not getting enough oxygen to their brain will wake up disoriented.

Hm. Haven't had the underwear on the head yet, but my husband who is 75 has vascular dementia and often gets the pants on backwards. And although I put a big red F on the front of his diapers, he gets them backwards so often I just try to be in the room so I can help him. I don't really care at this point if pajamas are inside out or backwards.

For Marley. My husband also had the privacy issue. I finally told him many times that at this point in both of our lives, privacy doesn't exist. I also had to get him a high rise seat for the toilet because he had a hard time getting up, which could also be part of your husbands reluctance to sitting down. I also then had to get him a deflector so he didn't pee all over the floor. Good luck!

Great question. Mom is more confused in the morning to. I think just trying to figure out her world. My dog senses Sundowners com8ng on so i have a vitnof a warning and if i can get her to bed within 20 min, its all good. If not, it can take 2 hours to get her settled. For Sunrisers, some days are worse than others. I work from hime and some times, spending time talking with her helps. Other times, nothing helps..

To all of you who responded so thoughtfully to my, "Is there a Sunriser's syndrom" my heartfelt thanks. Your suggestions are most helpful and I especially appreciated learning the difference of Sunriser's behavior from that of Sundowners. It really helps to know other's are experiencing the same problems.

You're welcome Luciwrites.