On 10/17/96 20:55:01 Sheila Chaudoin wrote:
>
>My mother is having trouble sleeping at nights.  What do others with PD
>take to help them sleep?  She's so afraid she'll become addicted to over
>the counter sleep aids and refuses to take them for any length of time.
>.

My husband, like your mother, is concerned about becoming dependent on his
sleep aids. His strategy is to avoid taking any one drug more than two or
three nights in a row. He utilizes three prescription tranquilizing
medications, and the rest of the time he uses over-the-counter pain
relievers, like Tylenol PM or Alieve. Some nights he uses none of these
drugs. The three prescription meds he uses are Darvoset, Ambien, and
Lorazapam. The Darvoset is the most potent of the three, and it is reserved
for the nights when he knows he will need to be able to get around better
and longer the next day. A good night's sleep always helps a great deal the
next day. He takes just a half tablet of the minimum dose.

As for the relatively mild and benign Ambien and Lorazapam, he also
takes only a half tablet of the smallest dosage. He tells me what
medication he might want in the night, and I make just that half tablet
available for him to take if he cannot sleep. Since I have taken charge of
his night time meds there have been no more of the problems with the
hallucinations that we experienced several times this past year.

I cut the dose for him in half for two reasons.  A half of a minimum dose is
recommended in the PDR for elderly patients in the case of some of these
drugs. And also because my husband weighs only about 125 pounds. In
pediatrics, a formula called Clark's Rule is utilized to determine a safe
dose of medication for an infant, based on the baby's weight. Since my
husband's weight is less than average, and because he is 76 years old, a
full minimum dose is too much for him. The occasions when hallucinations
resulted happened when he had taken a whole pill. We have not had a problem
since we have been cutting the dose in half. There are many nights when he
is able to sleep fairly well without any medication at all, other than the
usual Sinemet.

During the night, he usually eats a graham cracker. Once in a while he will
ask me to make him a cup of warm cocoa. This usually puts him right to
sleep. I think hunger in the night contributes to sleeplessness. When we
sleep through the night, we do not become hungry. But when one is awake, and
in pain, and becomes very wakeful, hunger can set in and add to discomfort.
I have suggested providing a thermos of warm cocoa for him, but he hasn't
taken me up on the offer yet.

There is one other thing that we have found helpful. We have a CD player in
the bedroom and the sound of surf and shore birds and Pan Pipes playing
softly through the night are very tranquilizing. And in the afternoon he
falls asleep while exercizing to the songs of Humpback Whales. Very
soothing, but a bit too busy for night time.

Hope these suggestions will be helpful.

Martha Rohrer
CG for Neal 76/11