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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?

If you try any of the "sleep aids" like the PM pain relievers, Benadryl, prescription sleep aids all of these can make a person more prone to falls and can cloud the mind for hours after getting up.
Melatonin works for some but I have read that if a light is turned on or left on it reduces the effect of the melatonin.
If she is safe and is not bothering you or other members of the household let her watch TV. Is there a TV in her room? Maybe that would prevent her from wandering.
What time is she going to bed? If it is early enough would keeping her up an extra hour make a difference in how long she sleeps?
Is she active during the day? If she were more active there is the possibility she would sleep longer.
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Reply to Grandma1954
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My Mother used to wander at night. She has dementia and it was very worrisome. Once I found her packing a suitcase at 2am....
Sleeping pills made her very groggy and lethargic during the day so they weren't an option.
In the meantime she underwent an electrical ablation for her heart arrhythmia (she had SVT).
Suddenly she was sleeping thru the night.
So it could be that an underlying physical issue is waking your Mother up.
In my Mother's case she was diagnosed with SVT with a continuous ECG halter.

Other things that help calm my Mother when she is agitated or help her fall asleep are Bach Rescue Night Remedy- natural herbal drops which relaxed her without side effects and Magnesium (magnesium glycinate or
magnesium threonate because the other forms of magnesium can cause diarrhea) as well as vitamin B6.

Also we tried to make things safer i.e.by putting up hand rails and removing obstacles that could trip her (like rugs). Also turning off the main gas switch of the stove and removing furniture with sharp corners. We also leave a light on in the bathroom
As cruel as this sounds we put up an extra higher lock on the front door so she couldn't wander out.

Best Wishes

Hoping things get better
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Reply to mybest
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mybest Aug 11, 2024
It's also important to lower the thermostat of the bathroom hot water heater to prevent scalding.
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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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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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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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My mum would get up to use the toilet in the middle of the night- they have to walk through the living room to get to the bathroom - then forget to go back to bed. Her husband would find her, later, shivering in her armchair.

He put a big cardboard box on her chair with a note in large writing, telling Mum to go back to bed. That worked. He'd tried it before without the note, but she just moved the box, or sat awkwardly on the pile of blankets (which was his first attempt).

(They sleep in separate beds in the same room. He always says that he's aware if Mum has an epileptic fit in the night, even though Mum has small ones where her muscles clench and just her hand shakes wildly, yet he doesn't hear her getting out of bed. Hmmm... I think that's slightly unlikely.)
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Reply to MiaMoor
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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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Brandee again.

Mom would sometimes put on her shoes and get back into bed. Dad (who slept with her) was not concerned nor were my sister or I concerned.

The daytime caregivers wanted us to hire overnight caregivers but Dad and my sister and I felt like Mom was safe enough. She was not one to go outside or into the kitchen. She would however go into her closet, put her shoes on, and get back into bed.

It did not bother Dad who was responsible for Mom so Dad kept sleeping.

I'd concentrate on your sleep and make sure you have good locks on the doors. Also, you can try the magnesium mentioned above. That really helped.
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Reply to brandee
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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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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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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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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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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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