I lost my home to a house fire in April of this year and my grandfather asked if I would move in with him and help take care of my grandmother. She has sundown dementia and she was only having spells after a nap or right before bed but it has gotten to the point as to where it is happening all day every day there is no peacefullness in this house period.. I am worried about my grandfather I just dont get what triggers it. She is very mean and hatefull and I have three kids that i pretty much have to keep outside or in my bedroom with me any suggestions?
Take your grandmother to a physician familiar with gerontology or caring for the elderly. This is a common syndrome that can be treated with proper medication.
Hello, Trying2understand!
What a great granddaughter you are to move in and help. I am so sorry to hear about your housefire, though! That must have been so stressful for you.
Here's a link to a search I did for Sundown on the site: http://www.caring.com/search?query=sundown
There are several articles and symptom descriptions and questions/answers that might give you some insight and some assistance.
Do come back and let us know how things are going!
~Laura
My mother with A.D. did the same, then it progressed to hitting and running away. I urge you t get her to a gerontologist, a physician who specializes in elder care. If there are non where you live, get her to a geriatric psychiatrist who can assist with the mental evaluations, and put her on a medication to help with the acting out. Remember to breath; remember to watch her to see if there is a trigger, there usually is, like too much commotion in the house being disorienting for her; or the t.v. too loud or a program that is either upsetting or simply the fact that she may not be able to follow the dialogue, which can be very upsetting. As this disease progresses, they can not process information fast enough to be involved in either conversation or a movie or program. Anonther thought...Is she diabetic? Blood sugar issues may be aggrevating the dementia.
Hi, My husband is 76 and is diagnosed with mid stage Alz/Dementia. He has some very lucid memories of his early childhood and summer camp as a kid. His short term memory is very trying. He takes Aricept and Namenda, plus 6 other meds of blood pressure etc.
The evenings are a struggle when the sun goes down, as he swears and wants to drink wine or gets agitated and has lots of anxiety. If the television is not going and the radio to occupy him he gets all worked up, as he does not like any silence or any thing he cannot control in his environment. He's the "king," of his domain, the den/family room. The lights have to be a certain way and on and on. Our Dr. gave him an RX for evening that seems to anticipate his attitude at early evening. The SEROQUEL has helped and he is more manageable and less demanding than usual. See if the Neurologist can give you the RX. As, it does HELP manage them in the most demanding of times.
Best and continued patience for you.
Kindest regards,
Katherine
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