My mom, with declining memory issues, is suddenly not sleeping well. We are on the waiting list to get her in a for a sleep study to see if she has sleep apnea, due to excessive sleepiness and a nurse witnessing what she thought was apnea during a recent knee replacement. But now she is just having trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep. Just today I have started her on time release melatonin and Calm (magnesium, calming supplement). We'll see if that helps.
My husband falls asleep, wakesup and thinks its time for breakfast, even though he's only been asleep for 2 hours. He is up and down all night. Gets up, makes toast and coffee, comes back to bed, sleeps 2 or 3 hours, gets up, makes coffee and toast, comes back to bed. I used to fuss at him, try to convince him it was night and he needs to sleep. Now, I just let him do his thing and clean up the mess in the morning.
We tried several different drugs with no luck. Ambien, Seroquel, Trazadone and Respiridol were useless. In point if fact Seroquel made him violent, and he hit me -something he has never done in 41 years. I catnap when I can, and try to sleep.at night. You aren't going to change his behavior, you have to change how you react. Sending big hugs, cuz it's a bumpy road we are traveling.
I slept on the floor beside my mom’s bed for the first few MONTHS she lived (very unsuccessfully) in my house. DO NOT DO THAT.
Not only is it useless (ultimately she fell anyway) but lack of sleep will make any of the difficult things much MUCH more so.
Specifically, what are her “sleep patterns” currently.
Your options are to try a small dose of medication or pay someone to watch her while you sleep. Nothing else really works successfully, and you NEED to sleep too.
So, what are the issues with your mom's sleeping?
I used to fuss at him, try to convince him it was night and he needs to sleep. Now, I just let him do his thing and clean up the mess in the morning.
We tried several different drugs with no luck. Ambien, Seroquel, Trazadone and Respiridol were useless. In point if fact Seroquel made him violent, and he hit me -something he has never done in 41 years.
I catnap when I can, and try to sleep.at night.
You aren't going to change his behavior, you have to change how you react. Sending big hugs, cuz it's a bumpy road we are traveling.
Not only is it useless (ultimately she fell anyway) but lack of sleep will make any of the difficult things much MUCH more so.
Specifically, what are her “sleep patterns” currently.
Your options are to try a small dose of medication or pay someone to watch her while you sleep. Nothing else really works successfully, and you NEED to sleep too.
Do not feel guilty because you want to sleep.