I need advice. What should I do on nights like tonight when Mom wants to go to bed, then when she gets into bed she wants to get up. When she's up she complains that I 'made her get up' when she really wanted to go to bed. She's calling for me, do I go up to her or, like with a child, do I listen and hope that she will calm down and go to sleep? I've been running myself ragged being at her beck and call. 'I'm thirsty'. 'I want to get up'. 'I want to go to bed'. How have others handled this? She's been quiet for half an hour now, maybe the wait it out approach will work after all. I know my friends will have good advice for me. I'm so grateful for you all!
Lily's blood work came back. She does not have hyperparathyroidism. This is good news on many levels as she would be thoroughly traumatized by a trip to the University Vet Clinic. She's already done that and she was a basket case. She has irritable bowel disease and she had to have a colonoscopy to diagnose her. It was terrible for all of us. Mom was worried too because they thought it might be cancer but it was not. Thank God. We are going to continue to monitor her calcium level though via periodic blood tests.
5 comments:
Robyn, sometimes I swear we are living parallel lives. Mom has been very restless at night recently too. Up three or four times last night.
Is there any chance she may be constipated, thus causing restlessness? The only thing I can suggest is going to her when she calls, but not turning on the light, reassure her, and rub her back for a while? That is what works for me.
Or maybe bring your knitting, (take a few deep breaths, Robyn) leave a low light on, and just sit with her for a while. Maybe she just wants your presence?
Sorry you're going through this. Hang in there, I know how frustrating it is. Hope you get some sleep tonight.
Thanks Annie, you are the best! So far so good with mom. She seems to be sleeping. I keep saying to myself 'she doesn't know what she is doing/saying. She would be horrified by it if she was in her right mind'. That gets me through this. Mom's caregiver said she had a BM so I don't think it's that. I was playing some classical music, it could have been that that riled her up. I guess we'll never know. Take care of yourself my friend, I'm thinking of you.
I like Annie's suggestion of reassuring her but not turning on the light. She may be frightened?
Have you called the doctor? When my mom started staying awake all night, she was prescribed a low dose of Risperadol (sp) just before bed. It did help.
Hang in there. ((hugs))
many things could be going on, that's the frustrating problem with AD, they probably don't know themselves.
my experience or best guess with russ was that he was confused/scared. i think he would lay in bed and not realize where he was and get anxious. for me different things worked at different times. some things i found helpful were *playing soft music he liked until he fell asleep(although it sounds like you tried that and maybe think that was the cause) *putting a stuffed animal in bed with him to help him not feel alone - some nights he would look at it like "what the he** is this" and throw it off the bed, but most nights he would tuck it under his arm and hold it tight. *or other nights i would just sit in the room with him until he fell asleep. annie has a great idea about you knitting with her.
it's all kind of trial and error robyn. and i agree it's very frustrating when they can't verbalize but like i said earlier i think they are just scared and need to know they are not alone and loved. good luck. (((hugs)))
Mom gets up every night about a dozen times. I know how you feel about not getting enough sleep. Each time she gets up, I direct her back to bed, rub some lotion on her back and arms, and tuck her in again. Fifteen minutes later she's talking to someone who isn't there and getting up again. It's frustratiting, but I keep telling myself she doesn't realize she's doing it. Hope you get a few good night's sleep. ((HUGS))
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