How can we cope with my dad's severe sundown syndrome?
My dad gets sundown very severely and it has been happening since he had a battle with pneumonia, sepsis and shingles. He has a very bad back condition which has been aggravated by sitting and lying too much. The shingles were very severe on his bottom and swell up his rectum and front also so he needs a catheter until the swelling goes down. The hospital and rehab centers do not stop giving him antipsychotic drugs and/or Ativan to stop his anger at night which in turn makes him sleep all day. He is ambulatory when awake. The doctor in the hospital now has increased his Namenda to 10 mg twice a day and taken away Aricept due to some afib and they have started him on 125 mg of Depakote three times a day to even out his moods. If he did not have such anger at night we could take him home, any suggestions?
Expert Answer
Your poor father has a lot on his plate. Most of us would feel angry and frustrated dealing with the pain and discomfort he must be feeling at night. It sounds as though his physical care needs are quite high. Is it realistic at this point to think about caring for him at home? It may make sense to see if the medication prescribed will help his mood swings and to wait until the swelling is gone and he can get along without a catheter. Generally residential care is better able to handle out-of-control anger than family at home, even though they often do it with medications. I would be inclined to wait and see whether his anger subsides with his medical conditions before trying to cope at home.