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My mother was in assisted living for 9 years, she moved in with us 1 month
ago. She used to walk the floor at Atherton Place(AP) for hours at night.
She has no dementia and was able to describe why.  Part of the problem was,
of course, plain old circadian rhythm disturbances as I am told are common
in PD.  She, however, attributed most of the problem to what she calls 'leg
cramps'.  From the reading I have done I wonder if it cramping she
experiences or restless legs syndrome.  She describes her legs as tingly,
crampy, and she has to move them. So she would cruise AP with her walker,
sometimes seemingly all night long.  The only relief was sleeping medication
so strong she was at risk of falls or confusion.
Lately this problem has been much better.  The only changes are 1.she moved
here,   2.the  Doc added an antidepressant.  He said this med. is one that a
younger person would hate because of the sedating effect , but for the
elderly that is often a welcome side effect.  For mom the sedation has
helped greatly at night and has not seemed to make the daytime sleepiness
any worse than in already was.  The med. is called Remeron.  It would be
interesting to see what your neuro has to say about it.
Could this leg problem be what is adding to your mom's night-time troubles
but perhaps she is unable to communicate it ?
Anyway, just another way to look at the problem, I seem to have to look at
mom's different problems from every which way but up before I figure out
what is happening.
PS Mom swears that soaking her feet in HOT water with Epsom salts in the
middle of night often gave relieve and allowed her to sleep.  Not too
scientific, but she thought it worked so for her it did.
Good luck, and good luck getting assisted living to work with too many med.
times!
Kathy
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