Hi- caring for my father who fell May 15 down his porch steps (7 steep concrete steps) and suffered many injuries from the fall including a fractured C1, six broken ribs, and trauma to his head as he clearly landed on his head. He was in the ICU/hospital for a total of 74 days before being moved to rehab. When he was in the ICU they had him heavily, heavily sedated to prevent him from moving around due to his neck. In fact they used heavy medications like Haldol pretty much around the clock. He was hallucinating, didn’t know who we were, and was basically 100% confused. We brought up the possibility of him having hospital induced delirium seven. The hospital did not see very well versed in this very common vanilla, and continued to give him heavy sedating drugs despite our concerns. We brought up the possibility of him having hospital induced delirium seven. The hospital did not see very well versed in this very common, and continued to give him heavy sedating drugs despite our concerns.
After leaving the hospital for rehab/nursing center, we stopped all antipsychotic medications. His cognitive ability improved dramatically of course, and he now walks, talks and can feed himself. He gets around without any assistance.
What I do find is that since moving him into an assisted living community where he is in his own apartment (with a full assistance package) he has become very, very fearful and has episodes of extreme confusion - and obsessed and confused with the telephone (keeps dropping it and wondering why it’s not working, etc)
He will tell the other residents that his wife is upstairs not feeling well - when in fact his wife left him the year before the accident. His anxiety gets much worse at 8 pm. So, I have of course become very aware and familiar with the sundowning concept. However my question is, can the sundowning happen at different times?
I’ve witnessed similar anxiety attacks come on at different times and if he goes for a work out it helps a lot.
His neurologist seems to think that we are seeing the effects of a brain injury from his fall versus straight dementia. The neurologist seems confident that his brain is actually healing however I’ve watched him become very childlike in someways mainly in the evenings and very dependent on me. My question is can the sundown behavior happen during the day or if they are showing signs of sundowning but it’s only 1 o’clock in the afternoon for instance, does that signify something else going on? And for the record he does not have a UTI infection.
They prescribed Seroquel three times a day and a very low dose of 12.5 mg each. And it does seem to calm his anxiety down.
Any and all insisted are truly welcome. Thank you.
Rioishere, in your title you asked what is sundowning. My Dad had that. For him it would start around 4pm but he was able to remember to go to dinner, but as the night wore on, he would get more confused.
I remember a telephone call from my Dad, he was saying he was at a meeting and the meeting ran late, he missed his bus home, he will stay at the hotel. What was interesting about his call was that he had been retired for30 years.... last time he took a bus home from work was back in the 1940's... the hotel he was staying was his senior living facility. Thus, it did take me awhile to realize that one cannot correct such statements without the patient getting upset... therefore I learned to just play along.
After leaving the hospital for rehab/nursing center, we stopped all antipsychotic medications. His cognitive ability improved dramatically of course, and he now walks, talks and can feed himself. He gets around without any assistance.
What I do find is that since moving him into an assisted living community where he is in his own apartment (with a full assistance package) he has become very, very fearful and has episodes of extreme confusion - and obsessed and confused with the telephone (keeps dropping it and wondering why it’s not working, etc)
He will tell the other residents that his wife is upstairs not feeling well - when in fact his wife left him the year before the accident. His anxiety gets much worse at 8 pm. So, I have of course become very aware and familiar with the sundowning concept. However my question is, can the sundowning happen at different times?
I’ve witnessed similar anxiety attacks come on at different times and if he goes for a work out it helps a lot.
His neurologist seems to think that we are seeing the effects of a brain injury from his fall versus straight dementia. The neurologist seems confident that his brain is actually healing however I’ve watched him become very childlike in someways mainly in the evenings and very dependent on me. My question is can the sundown behavior happen during the day or if they are showing signs of sundowning but it’s only 1 o’clock in the afternoon for instance, does that signify something else going on? And for the record he does not have a UTI infection.
They prescribed Seroquel three times a day and a very low dose of 12.5 mg each. And it does seem to calm his anxiety down.
Any and all insisted are truly welcome. Thank you.
I remember a telephone call from my Dad, he was saying he was at a meeting and the meeting ran late, he missed his bus home, he will stay at the hotel. What was interesting about his call was that he had been retired for30 years.... last time he took a bus home from work was back in the 1940's... the hotel he was staying was his senior living facility. Thus, it did take me awhile to realize that one cannot correct such statements without the patient getting upset... therefore I learned to just play along.
Here is an article that I found here on Aging Care about sundowning: https://www.agingcare.com/articles/sundowners-syndrome-133187.htm