Should Alzheimer's patient be given sleeping pills?

In her earliest merory loss stage, my mom was taking ambien. She was taking it probably for a couple of years. she told me many times that it really worked but only for four hours so she would have to wake up and take more. During that whole time, I never spent a night with her under the same roof since we lived only one mile away.

Then we went on a three-month vacation together.

I couldn't believe it. My mom got up int he night, spoke in gibberish, went to the kitchen and ate food (very common apparently). One night she dropped cake in the middle of the living room floor.

Ironically, the very next day I overeard someone say something about ambien. I went to the computer and googled "problems with Ambien," and oh boy, what stories I found.

I confronted my mom, wrote to her doctor, and she never took ambien again.

I would always advise googling about the drug and "problems with" before trying it.

good luck!

Certainly wouldn't be unusual. I gave my mom prescribed sleeping pills. The patient and the caretaker need rest. Frankly, rest is more critical for the caregiver. If the pills aren't working, the caretaker should be communicating that fact to the doctor -- AFTER, in my opinion, having tried them for a full week.

My husband just started on sleeping pills last Saturday night. So he has had them for three nights. I was starting to be sleep deprived. If he doesn't sleep, I don't sleep. So far so good. He still wakes up bright and early at 6:30AM. Ready to go.

My father's on trazodone and doesn't seem to have issues with sleeping except last night. He's been on it for two years. Personally, I took a few different kinds of sleeping pills in 2010. Ambien put me out at first, and then I'd wake up an hour later with my heart racing, scared, bolt upright, and confused. It was worse than no sleep. The doctor said to try it again, and at some point, it stopped putting me out and just made me freak out. It turned out I was stuck in a panic attack (long story), and anxiety meds eventually allowed me to sleep.

GrammyM - You need to get another doctor - and fast! You MUST take care of YOURSELF FIRST!

We started using mirtazapine about 6 months ago to help my mother sleep at night and I have been very pleased with the results, it also reduced her anxiety during the day. Others on this site have been prescribe trazodone, another type of anti depressant with similar results. Neither are sleeping pills, but produce the desired results.

Trazodone was prescribed by my VA nurse. I hope it works. He was awake longer than I expected last night. But after he got to sleep, he did sleep through the night.

KM1027: I am very glad that #1 you are being helped by the Ambien and #2 you are aware of its addictive properties.

Unbelievable coincidence:

I had lunch with a friend today--79 years old.. Her daughter (40) has gotten three DUIs and has lost her drivers license for eight years! Now my poor friend and her husband have their daughter living with them, and they have to drive her back and forth to work and everywhere she goes.

Wait, wait, here is the punchline:

It wasn't alcohol. She got DUIs for driving under the influence of Ambien!!!!!!!!!!

Just heard that today. Honest.

Benedryl is a big no-no for dementia patients. It interferes with the aceticocholine (sp?) cycle somehow. However, since my husband frequently pops awake at 4 am (wide-awake Willie), I take the benedryl myself so I can at least get a few good hours in. So far I refuse to give him any sleep medication (melatonin has no effect). I would rather have him up than run around dopey and disoriented. Even last night he was totally out of it anyway around 3 am. It's a very hard time when he has a couple bad nights. But I did find he sleeps more the next couple of days. Sure wish I could find what triggers the early morning awakening.