Re: itching and agitation and yelling

[Guest guest]

Dorothy,

My mother died with LBD nearly two years ago. Be careful with seroquel. It is

iffy at best with LBD patients -- can make them sleepy more and more till

eventually they go under and don't wake up. If you are giving her that in the

morning or daytime, that could be why she is sleepy all day and then super alert

at night because it is wearing off.

Agitation can also be related to delusions. What they think is happening can be

so vivid that it seems so much more real than reality, especially if their

vision is impaired, which is common at advanced age. (My mom had advanced

macular degeneration in both eyes.) The socks on her hands can feel to her like

she is in prison, yet you have to do what you have to do to keep her from

hurting herself. Also, you can try keeping her nails short and well filed so

they aren't sharp.

Even though you hate to give her a sleeping pill or whatever, since that can be

dangerous also, try a lower dose earlier (8 pm or so) and it should wear off

sooner the next morning. Often an older person doesn't need as much as we do.

My mother had delusions that where terribly nightmarish to her. Sometimes she

was able to talk about them. She said it was like a movie playing on the wall

in front of her, except it was more real than a movie. Sometimes she was sure

that our brown carpet was a dirt floor and there were people who were digging in

under the house and she was afraid of them. Once she was sure there were worms

crawling all over her. When I finally pretended to pick them off of her and

grind them under my feet, she settled down. Often she would be in bed and was

sure there was a man trying to get in bed with her to rape her. She would see

his hands at the edge of the bed. All kinds of horrible things. LBD can be

awful in what it does to a person's mind. Plus bad memories can feed it --

childhood abuse, whatever.

Gurganus

Wilmington, NC

[Guest guest]

Thanks . I am very careful with seroquel. I gave her 1/8 tablet last

night - too afraid to try anymore. I do not give anything in the day time,

thank goodness so far whatever difficulties there are we can manage without

drugs during the day. But at night it's a different story.

So this thing tonight really played out. She was itchy and yelling about it

not settling down and finally I went in with the Ativan again, gave her the

..25 ml dose and waiting 40 minutes while she want on the same not missing a

beat. Went back in, gave the second .25 ml and hoped it would work.

Another 45 minutes and she's still terrible itchy, aggravated, tearing the

socks off, scratching her face, arms, legs. Each time she scratched it

seemed to get worse. I kept tryng to get her to relax and try to sleep and

think about anything but itcing. Finally I just asked her point blank why

does she think this itching only happens when she goes to bed at night?

She got lucid and said, " That's a good question and I'm not sure. Isn't

that funny though. " So we talked about this and then about how parkinsons

tricks your head into thinking things that are different from what they

really are. I reminded her about the babies in the bed which she then

remembered. And a few other not terrifying things like that. She

understood some. we talked and she started yawning. I asked her if she

thought it was possible that instead of itchy, she is really feeling sleepy

and that the parkinson's is tricking her and making her think sleep is

itchy? She thought that might very well be. She looked like she might be

sleepy and I was starting to feel hopeful then she started trying to tell me

something and it wouldn't come out and finally she said she was hungry. So

I got her some French bread with butter and a little milk and she enjoyed

that snack, said he was tired and wanted to sleep. Alright! Unfortunately

she started up with the yelling for help again only this time she wasn't

itchy. Just not sleeping. Finally now she is sleeping - 2:30am.

She is a fighter. She fights sleep like it's a terrible disease. I

sometimes have the feeling that I'm trying to stop a rhinoceros from

charging by throwing one thing after another at this problem and hoping it

will change it's course.

Dorothy

From: LBDcaregivers [mailto:LBDcaregivers ]

On Behalf Of

Sent: Monday, May 16, 2011 2:36 AM

To: LBDcaregivers

Subject: Re: itching and agitation and yelling

Dorothy,

My mother died with LBD nearly two years ago. Be careful with seroquel. It

is iffy at best with LBD patients -- can make them sleepy more and more till

eventually they go under and don't wake up. If you are giving her that in

the morning or daytime, that could be why she is sleepy all day and then

super alert at night because it is wearing off.

Agitation can also be related to delusions. What they think is happening can

be so vivid that it seems so much more real than reality, especially if

their vision is impaired, which is common at advanced age. (My mom had

advanced macular degeneration in both eyes.) The socks on her hands can feel

to her like she is in prison, yet you have to do what you have to do to keep

her from hurting herself. Also, you can try keeping her nails short and well

filed so they aren't sharp.

Even though you hate to give her a sleeping pill or whatever, since that can

be dangerous also, try a lower dose earlier (8 pm or so) and it should wear

off sooner the next morning. Often an older person doesn't need as much as

we do.

My mother had delusions that where terribly nightmarish to her. Sometimes

she was able to talk about them. She said it was like a movie playing on the

wall in front of her, except it was more real than a movie. Sometimes she

was sure that our brown carpet was a dirt floor and there were people who

were digging in under the house and she was afraid of them. Once she was

sure there were worms crawling all over her. When I finally pretended to

pick them off of her and grind them under my feet, she settled down. Often

she would be in bed and was sure there was a man trying to get in bed with

her to rape her. She would see his hands at the edge of the bed. All kinds

of horrible things. LBD can be awful in what it does to a person's mind.

Plus bad memories can feed it -- childhood abuse, whatever.

Gurganus