My dad has Alzheimer's and is shouting all the time. How can I get him to quiet down?
my father who has AD, barks like a dog, meows like a cat and repeats 4 dogs names over and over (loudly), fortunately for me he only does it when he thinks he is alone, and not for too long at one time either, his behavior may or may not escalate in the future, who knows? Suggestion: talk to your doctor, a medication change may help, also take him to a geratric specialist, they know where we are coming from and have more insight on these type of problems than your regular MD. Good Luck,
It will pass. All the little things that bug the soup out of you usually do. The excited/yelling is a part of the disease. Several of my patients have scared me right into the hallway until I get used to the new tic they present.
My Mom did the yelling constantly also. It was usually my name, although she wasn't actually calling for me. Sometimes it was; HELP! HELP! The meds basicaly kept her knocked out. It seemed to me that she was in such a mental turmoil when screaming. I felt so sad for her and it made me crazy no matter how hard I tried for it not to. It was sad. After taking the tour of the brain, on this web site, I think I understand more of the changes. I miss her so much. Screaming and all. I just wish I had been more educated and compassionate on the disease. I wish I could have helped her more. I am lost without her.
My Uncle starts to shout out things between 11 and 4 am. Fairly repetitive stuff relating to events that happened years ago. He also wanders about crawling around the room. He's on Risperidol and his doctor upped the dosage to twice a day. I also have Xanax. The extra risperidol works sometimes not always and the results are the same if I give him a xanax along with the risperidol. I find no difference whether he takes the meds or not. This past Monday at 4:30 am, my father woke me cause there were 8 cops in our living room. I believe it's triggered and it's occurrence (peaks) are a monthly thing. My mom (sister of my uncle) starts to wander and sing alot and it starts up monthly too. We're lucky she's not a yeller and hers occurs in the afternoons.
I found quiet music soothed the anxious mind. It can also create a joyful attitude. A small radio with ear plugs helps a lot. I used to take my young daughter in the nursing home dressed as a clown and they all loved her. I remember how hard it was.I had an extra burden making matters worse (as if they could be) my sister (schizophenic) would give him a handful of herbal laxitives (unknown to me) making our visits anywhere a public disaster. I remember once, while taking Mom & Dad thru the grocery store a huge accident occured with Dad all down the front isle. I saw the manager outside the window gagging with a very green face. In the restroom everyone could hear Dad loudly insisting on keeping his underwear because "they were still good".(He was very frugal) Mom threatened to smack him on his head with the same underwear. I was greatly slowed down because of a leg cast,but managed to limp ungracefully and hysterically down the shopping center for new underwear.As bad as it seemed at the time, we were able to laugh later. My advice is be able to have humor or you will break. hugs, Patty
It's hard to find ourselves in the middle of other people's over-activity. Many of those occur as sun-downing (anytime between say 2pm to 6pm and usually lasting a couple of hours, pretty regular in timing too).
People who continue all night long may in fact be suffering form some kind of PTSD (often, old soldiers do this, or women molested as children)and might well benefit from the right kind of medication prescribed through a psychiatrist or geriatric specialist.
Very wild behavior is not "normal" sun-downing, so do go and see an expert. Get the help that makes life bearable for everyone, including you. Get a doctor's referreal to the right epxert. It will be covered by the VA or Medicare.
In "normal" regular time sun-downing, you'll often hear what is really bothering a person. So, do listen and respond caringly and you will often find that people become calmer. Always, think about taking them for a drive, if they like that. It's calming for most people, including yourself probably (i know it works for me!).
Sun-downing is not always nonsense. Often it is when you really find out the unsettled life issues that bother your person. We don't have to fix them necessarily -- just listen.
Other times, maybe people are so bored they're just acting out. maybe some kind of activity or day program might work. Or have someone else sit with them while you get a break. Too many people are kind of stuck with nothing to do when they have dementia and they act out of having nothing.
Make up stuff for them to do. Sweep leaves, wash cuos, cut coupons, anything that you find works. There are some good activity books for people with dementia. Go on the internet.
There really are lots of answers to experiment with. What works on Monday may not work on Wednesday -- that's why we call it dementia.
For caregivers, get what you need to get through. Ear-plugs. Headphones and your favorite music. Go for a drive in the car, wind up the windows and scream == but not when your dad's in the car, okay?
If you are a neighbor of person yelling,other than just buying a earplug, you could also buy an insulated curtain.It will muffle the sound.You could also send the person to an Adult day care where he could participate in an activity geared for their age and capabilities.My neighbor's uncle go there.And since then he seldom make those loud noises at an holy hours.Do not give them caffeinated drinks during the day also.
I am caregiver for my aunt who is a second mother to me. I would do anything for her, but am saddened because she does not know what I do for her...I took early retirement to care for her. I also have my mother living with me with alzheimer's. My aunt was on risperidal but the doctor quit using it because she seemed to hallucinate with it. I feel bad because when I have her out, (which is not very often) I hate the way people look at her. I know people probably think she is drunk because I am literally holding her up, she is screaming and reaching for things nearby, you look up nd people are starring at her. Are people really that stupid??? I just can't seem to do enough for her...I wish I could put her to bed at night and be all better in the morning... I know it will never happen but it is nice to dream.. why do these things happen to such good people ????I really enjoy reading everyones comments and concerns, this is what gets me through such a difficult time...
i just want to add one thing i just learned this week at my caregiver support group. some medications on some people apparently trigger them to do repetitive loud noises or shouting. a change in medication might remove the trigger. you hardly ever find this listed in official side effects, needless to say. i don't know if it's possible to find out if this noise-making began after a particular change of medication?
just a thought.
my father is 91 is confined to bed sleeps most of the day but shouts and talks and sings for hours at night times range from 8pm [ sfter carers change him etc till 3 am ,] last night i gave him some food as he had had his tea [which is the same as his dinner][various mixes potato/carrot/gravy/chicken /ham/ all purified ]gave hime porridge , last night at 20;30 and along with the medication , [ citalopram drops] after which he was quiet for 10 mins then it was all go till 12;30 and it stopped only to startagin at 12;45 till after 3 . at which time i fell asleep . going to talk with the doctor today to see if meds should just stop as they dont make any difference to him , he was on riseperdal[typo] but it was stopped as it wa nt anything only making him sleep during the day as was the citalpram [that why it was moved to the evening to help him sleep ,, but i think he is seeing things , i gave up my job to stay at home with my father more , ok well maybe its just a part of the dimentia structure .
my mom shouts wow wow wow also. she sings very loud, she usually does this around 2 or 3 in the morning. she cries for food saying she hasn't eaten in weeks. she eats three meals gets snacks and also the boost drinks. she fights the sleeping meds so i stopped giving them to her. lol now i sing and shout with her. she doesn't like that. nothing else was helping so i tried that. well it worked for me, now she isn't as loud as she was.
My mother had this same yelling problem. Food was not a choice, since she got nutrition from an inserted tube. Neither was she coherent. I found out quite by accident that though she had always hated "I Love Lucy" episodes, she cackled demented laughter quite contentedly and stopped yelling whenever they were on. Since we were housed at my workplace, this kept her quiet when people were present and eased my task considerably. Perhaps finding some form of laughter inducement or other distraction will help. Good luck!
My family and I have been through so much of what all of you are describing. Mom has yelled help, growled and just screamed for no apparent reason:( It is so hard to see her like this; it is a daily struggle to know how to respond when she gets this way. She is taking small doses of Resperidone which only helps for short periods of time; she sleeps a lot during the day and is walking, walking until the wee hours of the morning at times. The other night we took her to a church dinner where she kept growling and yelling I hate you at her husband, our step-dad. I nicely kept telling her that wasn't nice and we had to be quiet as there were a lot of other people around; it kind of worked. Some of these situations in public are uncomfortable but we want Mom to still have outings when possible as the day will come when she won't be able to. God be with us all and provide us the strength and wisdom we need to be there for our loved ones. God Bless all of you.
My dad died in November of Vascular dementia. He did it all, yelling, screaming, cursing, hallucinations, delirium and more. Mostly, when something was being done to him that he didn't like ie diaper change etc. But sometimes- it was sundowning or no reason other than the disease itself. Some meds can cause hallucinations like geodon so be careful. While it didn't solve all the problems we found the following meds helpful. #1- a mood stabilizer-divalproex also known as depakote. #2 an antidepressant, and #3 an anti anxiety as needed-Lorazepam also known as Ativan. Anxiety can cause a lot of acting out. Also a pain patch toward the end as he was bedridden. You have to find the right amounts so your loved one is not over medicated into oblivion. Also we kept telling our dad over and over how much we loved him and that seemed to comfort him. We tried to find the humor when we could, and learned to enjoy the small moments where we connected ie a smile, a one liner he was famous for, just simply being present. During the difficult times, of which there were many I reminded myself it was the disease and was grateful to be there for him as he would have been for me if he could. Also, a little tip-when it got too much I would leave the room just for a moment to get him ice cream, a drink, do the wash, and then when I returned he was usually was in a different place. And, if he wasn't then at least I was able to regroup. I miss and love dad with all my heart!
