 |
 |
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