Takes blood pressure med in morning, Alzheimer's med in morning, Zoloft in morning, and just now started taking trazadone 50 mg 2 DAYS ago to help with sleeping because she doesn't sleep much at all at night. She hallucinates and hears things that are not there...help!!
How mobile is she? How active during the day?
The trazadone may take some time to "kick in" her system. But it's a fairly sedating drug, so this might be enough to help her sleep.
I disagree with some others who said to switch her BP med to the evening. It all depends on which BP med she is taking, and if she is taking a few different ones. Sometimes they must be taken at certain times of the day to achieve good BP control.
At any rate, all of this should be "run by" her primary care MD.
Sundowning, sleepnessness and hallucinations are all common with Alzheimer's. Grandma1954 offers some great advice for sundowning. Her comment about Benadryl "fogginess" is right on, even for a healthy person. When you're with g'ma, walk. Eliminate naps as much as possible.
Check with your Grandmother's cardiologist to see if it is ok to switch taking the pill in the evenings.
I took it once decades ago, and had double vision problems. I took no other medication at that time, so the double vision had to be Benadryl induced. I never took it again.
Try giving her turkey for dinner. It contains tryptophan, which is sleep inducing. (Think of how many people nap after Thanksgiving dinner!)
In addition, if she's a coffee drinker, don't serve coffee, or any other stimulant, in the evening.
And I agree that I wouldn't add anything w/o checking with her doctor.
You may need some overall advice about your grandmother with Alzheimer's, and I see that you might be very busy from your profile.
Please help yourself to the topics right here on the website.
Always check with her doctor.
Additionally, Dr. Kernistan, a geriatric specialist, has given good advice on this forum.
She covers the specifics of many medications for the sleep issues and Sundowners Syndrome. Dr. K can be found at:
https://betterhealthwhileaging.net/medications-to-treat-difficult-alzheimers-behaviors/
There are other ways to approach her symptoms in addition to medication.
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