Has been using Klonopin for about 5 years at lowered doses. 0.50mg? increase? I have my doubts that staff is telling the truth every night mom is irritable and not sleeping. Mom does have dementia and HOH . She tells me she sleeps they are crazy. Recent MD intervention with Seoquel which had stroke like side effects after one dose and 2 ER visits.
Klonopin seems to have a lower rate of side effects and if her doctor thinks it advisable to try increasing the dose, I would personally go along with that.
When my mother was having sleeping problems in the nh I went in for a couple of weeks every night to spend the night and try to sort out what was going on. If you have that opportunity you may learn some things that will be helpful to tell the doctor and the AL staff. Your mom has dementia and her reporting may not be accurate.
I'd run into her room (because it would scare me to death out of a deep sleep) and, half the time, she didn't know why I was bothering her. What the . . . ??? Her voice often had a Linda Blair quality to it that was COMPLETELY disconcerting. I'm not kidding!
One early morning (like 4 AM), I decided I might as well stay up, and I heard her have a long conversation with Chicken Little. "Is that you, Chicken Little?? It surrrrre is. Do you know what you are Chicken Little??? You're a liar!!!! A big fat liar!!! Know what happens to liars??? They go straight to H*LL!!!"
OMG!! I had a baby monitor in her room then (I've since returned it), so I called my cousin at the crack of dawn when this happened and let her listen. We laughed ourselves silly.
She had absolutely NO recollection of this having happened. Slept like a baby, she said.
I stopped her Namenda. No more problems. In addition to that, I did put her on a very mild dose of a sleeping pill and a mild pain reliever at the visiting nurse's suggestion. I've since discontinued that. She sleeps the night through.
If your loved one is on Namenda, you might read the side effects. Hallucinations and sleep disturbances are listed.