What can I use to calm my Dad down at night?

Amitriptyline can be used also to calm down the nerves as well as the Trazadone. Most doctors will give you a 2 week supply so you won't be out much money for meds that you don't feel will work.

Try putting him to bed earlier. My dog senses when moms Sundowners is coming on. When i listen to her, mom goes to bed in 15 minutes. If not or if we are gone or busy, it will take 2-3 hours for her to settle down and get to sleep.

Check with your doctor first about Calcium with Magnesium. There is a product I sometimes use called "Calm." I prefer to go with food intake or homeopathic remedies if possible. Warm milk is also excellent! Other options include herbal teas - hot or cold, there are several that may help.

Best! M.

My mother has vascular dementia. She becomes agitated close to bedtime. I give her both Relaxing Sleep and Lemon Balm tinctures manufactured by Herb Pharm a few times throughout the day and at bedtime. She sleeps like a baby through the night. You can purchase both tinctures on Amazon, Sprouts, Whole Foods. If there is someone available to work with your father, see if there is a way to change his sleep-wake cycle so that he does all his walking first thing in the morning. I'm sure you've already thought of this but I still wanted to mention it. Good luck!

Calms Forte Sleep Aid works for some people. It is over-the-counter natural remedy sold in most pharmacies; even WalMart, I believe.

You need to be very cautious about using Trazodone and Quetiapine. A MAJOR side effect for Trazodone is the hangover and imbalance that is almost universal. Trazodone is NOT intended as a sleep aid and is FDA indicated only for depression. Therapeutic doses are in the range of 300mg daily which rendered recipients constantly sleeping. Hence, it never caught on.
Quetiapine, an atypical antipsychotic, also causes weight gain, metabolic syndrome, drowsiness, and a number of other side effects such that a black box warning about its use in the elderly. If those meds are prescribed, they have to be monitored very closely by the prescribing physician.
As a physician, I have not only had clinical experience but unfortunately have helped both my father and now my wife with dementia. Interestingly, I noticed a certain level of confusion, agitation, and or increased anxiety in them both which seemed to respond to liquid and solid food. My Dad's preference was little squares of chocolate from a large Cadbury chocolate bar at least every 2 hours or so. My wife has been eating Nature Valley granola bars and drinking EAS Advantage chocolate fudge carb control drinks. The former provide instantly available sugars and the latter provides slowly digested proteins which help support an extended effect. I am NOT advertising either of these products. Other brands exist that do similar things. Be careful not to overload the protein side with your approach. Usually, my wife noticeably calms within 15 minutes +/-. My wife also needs something every 2 hours or so. Good luck

Take him to his doctor NOW! Sleep is the most restorative thing our bodies need and without it, we cannot function.

Target sells 3mg chocolate melt away melatonin or you can get another brand. My Moms neuro recommended it for her. It works most nights, I give around 330-4pm and she goes to sleep about 8 ish.
When she went thru an awful wandering stage she needed something much more potent because she had screaming outbursts on sundowners and tried to get out a window when the door failed due to a chain we put on top. I went thru a year of no sleep and was working fulltime , it was horrible. Someone came in and took her to daycare for me as I had to be at work by 7am. Good Luck, something will work, believe me!

My Mom had trouble sleeping and her doctor recommended giving her a Sudafed or antihistamine before bed. It's non-addictive but it helped her to sleep. Maybe it could help your Dad relax? Hope this helps!

I use Calms Forte for my mom to help her sleep and to calm her down when she gets anxious during the day. It is a natural remedy and will not conflict with most medications

As your doctor for something suitable for your dad. Our doctor prescribed a quarter of a milligram of xanax. Instructions were to take 1 or 2 as needed.

I forgot to add, these might be good to give him at night so that he could transition into sleep.

I suggest a few things before using Pharma. Probably he is already on enough pharma already, right?. First is Magnesium supplementation. It gently relaxes the entire body. I use it just before going to sleep at night to calm the generalized anxiety that otherwise would wake me up. My friend takes the same supplement throughout the day to calm her anxiety. There are many formulations of Magnesium and I have experiemented with many of them. This is my current favorite, you can get it on Amazon.com. Jarrow Formulas Magmind Nutritional Supplement, 90 Count. It is Magnesium L-Threonate. I strongly advise this, it is not expensive. Don't try to save money buying something else, there are ineffective Magnesium supplements out there. Mercola.com has even a better L-Threonate but it is expensive. Secondly... from amazon - Source Naturals L-Tryptophan 500mg, 120 Capsules. The same natural calming chemical that is in Turkey. Best of luck!

Find a competent neuro-psychiatrist, ideally one who specialized in geriatric patients and understands the various effects on patients with dementia. We struggled with this with my mom (90) for years, she was waking 5,6,7, more times a night. Her GP was of no help, said there was nothing that could be done. Not true, after she was admitted to hospice, the medical team prescribed appropriate meds for her, now she sleeps through the night. I cannot tell you what a huge difference this has made in ALL of our lives. Everyone's health has been impacted. Good luck, you may have to try several things before you find the answer that works for your dad, but there is help!

May be your father has restless leg sendrime...and walking was the only way I could make it go away...... not be able to sleep until the doctor put me on Requip to help... now I am not afraid to go to bed. worth checking it out...Jan in North Carolina

A drug free solution may be to diffuse essential oils in his room to create a calming effect and apply topically to the bottoms of his feet. Lavender essential oil really helped my Mom with sleep and more. There are many oils that help, check out Hopewell oils website, you can Google it. Good luck

Hate auto correct!

Seriously = we used

Seriously, half pill one hour before bed and other half at bedtime. Quiet music no words kept on low all night and a noise machine. These worked for my mom. Sometimes we had to give an extra half of pill if bad night but this also made mom very groggy in morning. You are useless with no sleep. Been there done that! My moms neurologist prescribed this med. good luck 😴

Another very important piece is to add vitamin supplementation. I have used three very important vitamins for years which not only calm the system but also help with dementia/Alzheimer's.

See Jean Carper's book:
100 Simple Things You Can Do To Prevent Alzheimer's

It is about $14 on Amazon. Or you could possibly get it from your library or suggest they purchase it.
Carper is a journalist who coincidentally has the gene marker for Alzheimer's. She has collated recent research and what researchers do themselves. The book is short and very easy to read.

My patients all get the following:
Vitamin B-Complex
Folic Acid & B12
Vitamin D3
ALL IN LIQUID form

These supplements work well to calm the system, help people sleep, and B12 causes the brain shrinkage to stop. Presently one of my patients who is blind and has major Alzheimer's is carrying on short to the point conversations and making observations. She stumbles finding some words but she is making sense, says she is happy. She has been taking the vitamins since September.

She was diagnosed 9 years ago with Alzheimer's.

My husband's doctor put him on 100mg quetiapine fumarate (Seroquel) and he sleeps through the night. He also takes one 25mg of same after dinner for agitation.

Glad to hear that for some people trazadone and seroquil helped..We tried them both and didn't help my father. He is on melatonin 10 mg which helped a drop..and he is on depakane for agitation which seems to be helping for that. Sleep is a difficult issue. Good luck!

I missed the posts about falling. I should state that Mom has a bed alarm and one of us always sleeps on the sofa just outside her bedroom. She can't walk safely to the bathroom along - with or without medication at this point. She has no balance but plenty of strength to get up and can't remember that she'll fall. Eventually there'll be in home help for this overnight shift but for now it's us - and we are all finally getting some sleep.

Don't give up if the above drugs and practices don't work. We tried music and it is calming but not enough for sleep. We try exercise, again calming but not enough for sleep. Seroquel didn't stop my Mom's hallucinations or reliably help her sleep at night. It did turn her into a drooling zombie during the day - which we did not like. Trazodone worked for a short time. It was recommended to try Remeral (Mirtazapine) instead as it leaves you less 'hung over' feeling in the morning and 'packs a more powerful punch'. It is working. Thank god. I work full time too and my stay at home husband has his own set of significant health issues. Not getting sleep was killing us all. Mom is now sleeping good enough ;-) Sometimes it's all night long. Sometimes there are 1-3 bathroom visits but most of the time she goes right back to sleep. Once in a while it's still bad - but then don't we all have bad nights sometimes?! Good luck.

Yes, Trazadone worked wonders for my Dad...his PCP and I knew my Dad was completely against taking something to help him get to sleep and stay asleep...so, we did reverse psychology on him and said it would just 'relax' him...my Dad has a fear of not waking up so we tried this and it worked !!! To his PCP and I it was just a fine line and pretty much the same thing, but it made a difference to my Dad !!! Whew !!! Because if my Dad wasn't sleeping or if he'd wake up at night, he'd actually get my Mom up to be with him !!! Dad also has a fear of 'night time' ...yes, he has great anxiety also !!!

see a doctor concerning this issue, and be very careful that IF they do get up even with being medicated that they don't get limp and fall. some dumb idiot of a doctor gave my dad a sleeping aid but when my dad got up to use the bathroom, he fell on the floor. of course I got called at 2 am to come help pick him up(husband actually). we dropped that doctor like a scalding hot potato. I think this is one of the issues with dementia is they go thru a phase of being up for hours on end. my father in NH now and doing better than when he was home.

Try some over-the-counter Melatonin 3.5 mg which is non-addictive and will replenish the melatonin which decreases as we age. You need to keep any areas he walks free from rugs and chairs so he won't fall or bump into something. If he does not respond, have a talk with his doctor for something stronger. Since the brain is abnormal in dementia, his sleep-wake cycle is disrupted so don't expect your sleep cycle to be in sync with his.

Milford, CT

Trazadone 50 mg changed our lives for my mom who would be up every hour wanting to eat or "Go home". Now she's content.. A little unstable walking but that's because she is visually impaired. I work full time and used to be up all night. My dad age 94 is hime with
Me too. I have companion care coming in for two hours a day 3 x a week. It helps. The state process takes time, but it is worth it. I plan to keep
Mom 91 and dad 94 at home as long as possible . Taking them for long rides and ice cream .. Packing lunch and eating in the car.. Taking them out in their pajamas for a ride , even late night. We have Alert 1 medical system but
Mom wouldn't know what to do. Dad does. It's always a risk. Lots if quiet tears but God will help us all . Leave snacks on the table. I prepare a pot of tea daily but if he can't use the microwave, won't help. My dad had three strokes but came through it. I just bought him one if the old time portable record players. And a portable cassette player too. He's playing all us LP's and tapes. He said it gave him
New life! Have lots of company so he can interact too. This way he can be relaxed enough to sleep. My neurologist recommended SAM-e. Supplement ... Not a drug and safe. It worked for
My dad but not for my
Mom. Mom is now on namenda, a baby aspirin and trazadone. We are rescued! Jane in Mimford, Ct.

A few years ago, my Mom went for five days without sleeping which kicked her (what turned out to be) pseudodementia into high gear. She also just walked and walked all night. With the doctor's help, we finally hit on a combination of trazadone and quetiapine fumarate (Seroquel) that worked almost immediately and she slept almost five hours that first night. Good luck to you and your dad.

Anti anxiety meds and depression meds help my mother greatly. No more frantic phone calls at night asking me what day or time it is. By the way, my mother lives in an apartment attached to our house. She's not truly alone during these times.