Understanding Dementia Sundowning

Many people with dementia undergo a regular period of late-afternoon agitation and emotional upset called sundowning.Typically, sundowning starts at

Sundowning, an Anxiety Syndrome in Elderly Dementia Patients ...

Many people with dementia undergo a regular period of late-afternoon agitation and emotional upset called sundowning.

Typically, sundowning starts at a regular time, varying for each individual. Your aunt may begin showing tearful agitation at around 4pm that may taper off around 6pm. This is her regular pattern.

Your father, on the other hand, may start becoming restless and irritable around 2pm, continuing to about 4.30. While most people seem to start sundowning in the late afternoon, a few start earlier in the day. As caregivers, assume that any regular period of emotional upset with a limited time span is probably sundowning. And that you can learn to handle.

What if you're caring for someone with a radically different pattern? Maybe rampaging around the house all night long, hiding in terror inside closets, having wildly disturbing nightmares that cause panic attacks.

Then, you MUST seek psychiatric expertise. Those behaviors may indicate untreated PTSD, after-affects of sexual abuse in childhood, undiagnosed serious mental illness such as schizophrenia or psychotic breakdown, other serious mental disturbance or neurological damage of some kind.

Behavior control of normal everyday dementia through heavy anti-psychotic meds is seldom necessary. Also, we now know that inappropriate use of anti-psychotics on elders kills them. Besides which, most of the usual behaviors of dementia can be managed when we caregivers learn how to do that.

However, when extreme anxiety, schizophrenic ideation, PTSD after-effects are the real issue, then we need to seek the effective ways that our family members may find peace from their own inner torment.

People with dementia who have sundowning behaviors are okay if we are okay. Agitation can be very contagious and unskilled or emotionally troubled caregivers easily become as agitated as the person they're supposed to be caring for.

Most often, as far as I observe in my own working life and my fifteen years as a caregiver support group facilitator, caregiver inability to deal with normal sundowning is closely related to two issues. One is that they over-identify with the transient emotional state. Two is that they have an uneasy relationship with the parent or spouse, which pre-existed the dementia. Most people can learn how to deal with normal sundowning.

First, learn the pattern in your person. When does it typically start, how long does it last, what are the usual kinds of issues the person talks about? Remember, the sundowning itself is merely a pattern. The issues are very personal and real, often related to loss of role, purpose and place in life.

... Project - Less Stress, Greater Well-being for Dementia Care Partners

Dementia Training - Eventbrite

Preparing for sundowners - Worldnews.com

Source : http://imentalhealth.net/mental-health-disorders/cognitive-disorders/understanding-dementia-sundowning

Related video about Understanding Dementia Sundowning

The reality when Im Sundowning wmv

The reality when Im Sundowning wmv The Reality When Im Sundowning By Barry Living with Mixed Dementia A sufferer of early Mixed dementia with Alzheimers For people who Understanding Dementia Sundowning