Does anyone here have sun downing? My husband kept rampaging every night and acting crazy most nights, some worse than others. Finally, I woke up one morning about 2 weeks ago to find him missing. All the doors open, pictures torn off the wall and the glass dining table top laying on the rug.
I finally found him about 1/4 mile away (we live out in the country on 22 acres, surrounded by many more, in wild country) . He had stumbled down a hill and was laying in the dirt. I saw him in the distance because he'd been wearing a bright sweatshirt. He was trying to smooth out the dirt to find a place to lay his head. They threw his clothes away in the emergency room because they were so covered in stickers and dirt.He had hypothermia (temp 91) and an ambulance took him to the emergency room.
There he was found to be physically fine for a man with Parkinson's, just mentally so messed up. He still doesn't remember any of it. He recently turned 80 and has had diagnosed PD for around 7 years.
A fellow who was in charge of deciding if patients should be admitted to the hospital came to talk to me. Although, my husband was going home, he said i needed to get help for myself, that 50 percent of caretakers die before the person they care for.
He mentioned that they don't like to put elderly people in care homes because they often start sun downing.
I went home and looked it up and there it was right in front of me, that is what he has been doing for so long, getting crazy come evening, and then roaming at night, trying to sleep.
The reason is that elderly people with dementia don't react well to dusk with less light, their body clock is all messed up.
The online advise was to start giving him melatonin around 4 pm, ( used 10 mg) before the sun goes down. I did that, and then another dose of 10 mg around 10pm.
The results have been amazing! He has not gone nuts even once, for 9 days now. He can talk sensibly again, he drove the car to his support group with me, he played 4 games of chess with a friend today. He has been sleeping well and having dreams instead of nightmares. Supposedly the melatonin restores the REM sleep.
I would never have though some doses of melatonin could help like this.He had been taking two every night at bedtime for years, but the 4 pm dose is new. We couldn't do anything or go anywhere any longer, he was so totally out of it,and now I have some hope for as long as it lasts. We can get back to using his Vielight and see the benefits we had from it in the past before he started sun downing
Another benefit is that help was arranged at home by our insurance company, thanks to the intervention of the man who talked to me at the hospital, and my husband is getting physical therapy to help with his balance and an RN who is keeping an eye on him weekly.. His posture is already more upright and he is walking better.
I'd be happy if even one of you find this helpful. I am a former RN and I knew nothing about sun downing. His doctors just kept giving him other meds to fight psychosis. I'm not giving up on those , they help too, but nothing helped as quickly a the melatonin.
Melatonin Facts
Thoughts on monitoring my loved one at night.
