I kept my mom for a few days. My dad sits up with her at night so she doesn't get into anything. I gave him a break and let him sleep. I got a 30 min nap and the rest of the night I was up while mom was walking around the house. Any advice? Thinking about Benadryl.
My SW did a similar thing. I kept a log and found she got up 70% of nights and went back to bed 60% of those nights. So out of 100 nights she got up 70 times and back to bed 42 times. Overall she got enough sleep. There was no pattern; it was just random behavior governed by a demented mind which works at random. No docs. No meds. I toughed it out and it passed. A few months. Was it easy? No!
The log was an attempt to pin down a possible outside influence which might be causing the above behavior. Nothing ever presented as cause and effect. This led to a re-analysis of the records thence to the conclusion of merely random behavior.
I would try to avoid the "PM" medications and Benedryl. They make my brain "foggy" in the morning. I realized after taking one one night and waking up foggy that Benedryl is not a great thing and giving it to my Husband that had dementia might be making his poor foggy brain even foggier.
Melatonin can help and it is safe BUT once a person is asleep if they get up and turn on a light the light disturbs/destroys the serotonin that the melatonin helped. So if she needs to get up to go to the bathroom often it might not be a good solution.
I would talk to the doctor to see what safe effective medications might help. Keep in mind many have "sleepwalking" as a side effect so someone will still have to be aware if she gets out of bed. At that point maybe a bed alarm might be an answer.
It's kind of a yin-yang thing. More serotonin, less melatonin during the day to keep you awake. Less serotonin, more melatonin at night to keep you asleep.
Is she not not getting enough exercise during a typical day? Try more physical activity. All of us sleep harder and better (and wake clearer) with a bit of physical activity.
You can also add more mental stimulation during the day. Try to limit daytime naps to thirty minutes or less.