Between the hours of 10pm until 2am is what I personally call the nightmare hour. Every night is the same, however Friday & Saturday nights it is 3x worse.
He becomes this whole other person it starts off with talking to himself. Wandering around the house "thats right Im an a..h..e", no one gives a rats but about me. Then he starts in on me....calling me the "c" word, a lazy "n" word, constanly putting me down. Then he cusses me out for turning the lights off outside. On Friday & Saturdays he throws objects at me and threatens to injure my dog. The local police has been out to the house on several occations.
At this minute I am sitting in the car parked at the store around the corner from the house crying because I dont want to go home. It is almost 10pm.
Nurses at the hospital has told me those are signs of sundowners. I thought sundowners only occered during the hours the sun goes down between 4pm to 7pm. I could be wrong.
Also Mr.L ha a his mornings and afternoons switched. When it is dinner time, he thinks it is morning and gets angry when I serve him veggies for breakfast. He cant remember what day it is unless he watched the news about 4 hours later he forgets again.
I just dont know how to deal with this behavior....it seems like it is getting worse.
Some people with dementia do spend a lot of time up at night. Ours would get up often to use the restroom but then as the dementia progressed, he would rifle through drawers, etc. Now he is in a nursing home and they are giving him melatonin to assist with sleeping.
Before anything else, I would look at his medication list and google all the drugs -- see if any have agitation or insomnia as side effects. Otherwise, unfortunately it might be part of the dementia. Oh, also if this is a new behavior, does he have UTI symptoms? Ours got very agitated when he had a UTI.
His dr might be able to prescribe something to assist with sleeping but you have to watch side effects for those too.
I am sorry he is being so vicious toward you. That kind of nastiness is very hurtful; even if he doesn't "mean" it, it hurts to hear.
I wish you luck with this. It is really difficult when you are doing an exhausting job, then cannot sleep at night on top of it!
dad has always been rather selfish....its always had to be about him. But, since Mom had a stroke she has in home therapy every day. The final therapy each day is at 5 pm. By then he is usually ranting and saying nasty things about people..just loud enough to be heard. But, I think he never gets really horrible until the strangers are out of the house. So this has to tell you...he is aware of how unacceptable his behavior is....at least he knows it at some level.
Today has been the worst here. I think this was because I took Mom out to get a Flu shot. When we got back (about 3pm) he was in "full sundown".
I know how hard it is to deal with this. You have my great sympathy! Try to remember, this is not the person of your Dad....his brain is so distorted that it just isn't really him. I have to remind myself all the time to not argue with him...agree and go on about what You need to do. When he calls you nasty names, just pretend this is some tape recording and has nothing to do with you.
I would draw the line at throwing things. Whatever he throws...disappears forever. Tell him you will remove anything he throws..and then do it. As his environment becomes more and more empty, the threat will be enough to stop him. I have done this myself. Now, I just say to him. "Remember, you throw it, you lose it" and he stops. Calls me another name, but stops throwing.
Do something special for yourself....come here anytime if you need to bend an ear!
I'm sure you had -- and still have -- good intentions. But this is all too much. You're not safe. He's not safe. It is not wrong or a failure to make him a ward of the state, if he has no family. (Or no interested family, which is sometimes the case.)
His needs exceed any one layperson's capability. Even a rotation of laypeople are not a match for his issues. It's time for professionals to take over. You did right by him for as long as it was feasible and then some. It's time for you to get your life back.
What was she being hospitalized for? Often an older person will have a change in mental status ( behave in a way not usual for them) when they have a urinary tract infection (UTI). This different behavior can manifest in someone being very nasty or combative. Can you give a bit more information about her diagnosis? Does she have any other diagnoses that may contribute to this behavior? ( such as dementia, or Parkinson's Disease?) Is she on any new medicines? People will have hallucinations with some illnesses, medications or in new surroundings. . People can get hallucinations and see others as trying to hurt them- even if they know the person very well. This is also not uncommon after anesthesia for an older person.
Please elaborate on her situation .
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