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Does Severe Dementia Cause Sleeping Problems?
My father is 89 has been diagnosed with moderate severe dementia and suffers sun downing, he just doesn t sleep and its not unusal for him to have 21 hour days. I am my dads 24/7 caregiver. He is now on Trazadone 50 mgs. Last night it did not work for him or me so well and he was up again after 4 hours sleep. My dad likes a bottle of beer at night and I am wondering if this somehow interfered with the way the drug worked Thank you
Wed, 3 Apr 2019
Hello,
I must say that your father proves one of the reasons I am not a fan of Trazodone.
It does not work well at all in states of dementia and in fact, may cause behaviors and sleep hygiene to get worse.
Trazodone can also increase the chance of seizure disorders and cause severe headaches.
Unfortunately, your father's condition of sundowning makes it very difficult to prescribe a medication to control since there is nothing specific for brains that are experiencing atrophy and loss of cortical to subcortical connections.
The use of alcohol of any type and prescription medications is always a questionable combination since alcohol can and does inactivate many medications by ramping up liver metabolism.
But nonetheless, I do not believe trazodone in any dose will be his best option.
Has he tried melatonin which I believe has the least chance of severe side effects, withdrawal symptoms, or drug to drug interactions?
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Take care
Regards,
Dr Dariush Saghafi, Neurologist
I must say that your father proves one of the reasons I am not a fan of Trazodone.
It does not work well at all in states of dementia and in fact, may cause behaviors and sleep hygiene to get worse.
Trazodone can also increase the chance of seizure disorders and cause severe headaches.
Unfortunately, your father's condition of sundowning makes it very difficult to prescribe a medication to control since there is nothing specific for brains that are experiencing atrophy and loss of cortical to subcortical connections.
The use of alcohol of any type and prescription medications is always a questionable combination since alcohol can and does inactivate many medications by ramping up liver metabolism.
But nonetheless, I do not believe trazodone in any dose will be his best option.
Has he tried melatonin which I believe has the least chance of severe side effects, withdrawal symptoms, or drug to drug interactions?
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Take care
Regards,
Dr Dariush Saghafi, Neurologist
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