I am not a doctor but I have been working with Alzheimers patients for
the past 7 years and generally know what works. I personally logged on
to ask if anyone had any idea on how to better deal with someone who
is combative and aggressive.

Hi,

What sort of combativeness are you seeing?  Usually that sort of thing is
the result of delusions having to do with the way they see reality.    They
can be compelling and even terrifying to a person suffering from them.

When that happened to my mother in law the doctor gave her Risperdol to
control the delusions.   It absolutely worked.   She was much calmer on the
Risperdol.

But I have to tell you that as time went on, her illness got worse (as it
inevitably does) and she needed LESS Risperdol as time went on.   By the
time she was ill enough to go into the nursing home, she was off it
altogether.

He use to be combative and very agressive but he has calmed down a lot.  He
seems very tired.
My sister doesn't give him too many sleep aids because he wakes up at night
and urinates, if he takes sleeping aids he will wet the bed. He also has
problems with his prostate so he has to get up so many times at night.
He cannot cover himself so he wakes my sister up all during the night.
I am sure she is going to get help soon.  She has had breast cancer about 5
years ago and she went to get a blood test to make sure she is okay.  They
found her tumor rate was higher than normal. So now she has that worry too.
She is going back for another blood test in a month and if it is necessary,
she will have chemo again.
Thank you for answering. I really appreciate your comments and support.  I
usually pass these on to her and it helps her to understand a lot about her
husband.

Bri

On Feb 22, 1:57 pm, "brianna_1938 via MedKB.com" <u35594@uwe> wrote:

Aricept helps to slow the disease. It can help slow the disease but
only if it is diagnosed in the early stages. It also has some side
effects such as what you are seeing. It generally takes the person
several weeks to get adjusted to the pill, but when they do it can
help. One thing you have to keep in mind is if you don't see
improvement, then contact the Dr and let them know. I would ask for
something to help him sleep such as Ambien CR. It is a low dose
sleeping pill that works over the course of the night, rather than all
at one time.
I am not a doctor but I have been working with Alzheimers patients for
the past 7 years and generally know what works. I personally logged on
to ask if anyone had any idea on how to better deal with someone who
is combative and aggressive.

I'd be very careful about giving a dementia patient the drug Ambien unless
there was someone staying with the person with dementia at all times to
watch out for whatever might happen. You have read about the zombie like
effects Ambien causes in healthy people - well this goes double for people
with dementia. They can wander around at night like a zombie, not knowing
what they are doing and tending to fall repeatedly. After a few trial nights
using ambien as a sleep aid we gave up on ambien and switched to trazadone
which for us proved to be a much safer medication - plus we did not have to
worry about having to again nurse our LO through a broken hip from her
falling down.
Our LO was not causing any real behavior problems but just had her days and
nights totally mixed up.

If this person is already having delusions then it is more likely that a
drug like Risperdol might be of more help in solving both the behavior and
sleeping issues.

The bottom line here is that he needs full time care, either in assisted
living or from a full time caregiver. It sounds like he is past being able
to live alone and expecting any medication to be taken as directed.
Dementia is just not that simple to manage with just a new sleep medication
or with Aricept.  AW