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Mother with Dementia and Parkinson's is waking at night between 1 and 3am and going to the living room, either sitting in her chair or she will turn the tv on. Should I make her go back to bed?

At the very least I would "dementia proof" the house; alarm the exits and disable the stove and any cooking appliances she might get into trouble with.
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Reply to cwillie
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I would say it really depends, all dementia patients are different, some would get mad , some might ignore you or some might just say ok.

Also depends on , if she is prone to wander , or use the stove and forget.

And if you need sleep, which I'm sure you do.

Like if it was my mother, I wouldn't worry about it. She gets up during the night because she is uncomfortable and needs to move around.

So I don't feel like there is a good answer,

If you want to give us more to go on maybe we can answer better.
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Reply to Anxietynacy
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Perhaps a timer on the tv would help? Program it so it won’t come on after bedtime until the next morning.

I might think about a camera as well to make sure she isn’t up wandering. If she starts that then you have a different worry.

Sometimes it takes a few days to get our sleep back on track after a disturbance.
Hopefully she isn’t in pain.
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Reply to 97yroldmom
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Magnesium glycinate, 400 mg really helped with sleep.
We tried varying dosing times.

For a number of years we gave 200 mg at 4:00 pm and 200 mg at 6:00 pm with dinner.
We followed this regimen when sundowning was a problem. The 4:00 pm dose helped with sundowning.

When sundowning was no longer a problem we gave 400 mg at 6:00 pm with dinner and Mom went to bed at 8:00 pm. She generally did not get up at night, once and awhile she did.
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Reply to brandee
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Karrip: Perhaps you could try giving her melatonin so that she AND you get restorative sleep. Her waking up could be a real problem if she starts wandering. Ensure that she cannot access the stove and also alarm the doors to the outside.
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Reply to Llamalover47
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I did. Mom would get up and start dressing. I had her look out the window and told her "look, its still dark out, not time to get out of bed." Then I would put her back to bed and she would sleep till 8.
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Reply to JoAnn29
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It doesn't sound like she is causing you or herself any problem. If she is physiucally safe going into the living room, Idon't think I would worry about it. when we cannot sleep ourselves we are often told to "get up and do someting else" rather than lie in bed fretting about being awake.
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Reply to RedVanAnnie
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Melatonin works wonders for night owls.
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Reply to Onlychild2024
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Anxietynacy Jul 23, 2024
For some, but not for everyone
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Father with LBD, night wanders, has for years. Did safety precautions around the house. But now as he wanders, he gets lost in the house (just has three “rooms” - living room/kitchen, bedroom, bathroom) and falls multiple times.
Doctor says the patient has a “right” to fall but then says we aren’t doing enough to keep him safe.
now we use alarm/magnet clip on him just to alert us if he wakes so we can watch him and Hospice wants to put a bed pressure pad.
Will not necessarily “stop” falls but will alert us that he is on the move so we can escort him, use gate belt, give directions back to bed, etc.
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Reply to Momof8
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Have her hobbies in her own room. Does she have an electric clock she can see plainly in the night? When I see that it is too early to get up, I either go back to sleep easily or get up in my own room & read, puzzles, cut out pictures, color, look at old photos etc. I also rearrange the books & binders on my bookshelf. None of this awakens the rest to the house. I would try something like this first & maybe you have. Doesn't sound like she want to putter into drawers etc. this is a favorite habit that isn't too noisy. Altho you may never know what laundry goes in which drawer anymore.
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Reply to Jaffyann
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