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hey guys in this video today we are going to talk about sundowners syndrome or sundowning as related to dementia and Alzheimer's I got my notes right here again as always on the side of my laptop okay this is not medical advice I'm not a doctor this is not legal advice I'm not an attorney if you need medical or legal advice please speak to a doctor or an attorney at law in your area all right let's get into the video sundowning also known as sundowners syndrome is a group of symptoms that can occur in people with dementia in the late afternoon or early evening it's characterized by changes in behavior okay and I got some notes right here this might run 20 minutes so watch it whatever you can whenever you can okay this is notes I'm sure from my own personal experience dealing with my parents okay I'm gonna read this again sundowning also known as sundowners syndrome is a group of symptoms so it's not one symptom it's a group of symptoms and by the way there will be links in the description box below so you can click on those to learn more information I'm not getting paid for these YouTube videos I'm not making any money on these links so please click on whatever I have there and learn all that you can to help your loved one or yourself all right so remember it's a group of symptoms that occur and people with dementia or Alzheimer's in the late afternoon or early evening it's characterized by changes in behavior so if you begin to notice changes in your loved one's behavior or if you're a caregiver working in a home a nursing home at home somewhere assisted living whatever and you begin to notice someone's behavior if they have dementia or Alzheimer's they could be experiencing sundowning or sundowners syndrome okay some of those behavioral changes are agitation restlessness or pacing now I got that on some of my notes here my mom used to pace my dad couldn't pace because he had a stroke but he was limited to a wheelchair but he might be up at night or something like that but he didn't really have dementia too bad not as bad as my mom okay agitation you know restlessness they just don't know you know they're just restless and they gotta move around or they feel anxious or panicky or afraid about something when there's nothing to be anxious or panicky about it just happens okay and they're just agitated about every little thing that goes on so that could be sundowning it doesn't mean that your loved one needs a heavy dose of antidepressants or something to calm them down and maybe something that okay you can work through that by easing the symptoms by keeping them company which I got written down here you can keep somebody company you can hold their hand you can watch television listen to music stay over the night you can tell them that you love them you can have multiple people there visiting keep the lights on there's all different types of strategies to help ease the symptoms of sundown okay another one confusion confusion is big because I saw that a lot my mother she would be confused and then you just have to gently kindly lovingly reassure the person that everything's okay and just remind this is Sally this is James no you want to remind them who everybody is no I'm Dennis I'm Elizabeth whatever your name is you want to remind him I'm your son I mean in a gentle way yeah maybe play some of their favorite music if it's around Christmas time play some Christmas music if they like do something to keep them calm keep the extra lights on and just help them to relax hallucinations or delusions that could happen now when I lived in one of the apartment buildings with my mom I used to you know I was on the second floor I used to look out sometimes and I'd look out if I looked out to the right to the right I'd look out onto a cemetery well one night I was looking out and I see this white shadowy figure walking on I'm like I'm looking at it like I do it again and there's a lady walking around in a white thing so I go out in the one of the women that used to hang around my mom you know during the weeks and stuff like that she's over in a cemetery looking for her husband and by the time I could get it and get over there to talk to her she was laying down on the grave saying oh well he'll be home soon he's there but so trying my best to talk to this person and explain to this person who's experiencing sundowning sundowner syndrome the person beneath the grave whether it was their husband or not has died it didn't work so I ended up having to call the police and the police had to come by a female officer three or four hours came by and they helped her back to the building and she was still kind of delusional they called the family and they end up taking her to the hospital eventually she had to go to a nursing home but these are some of the things you will see you know in hallucinations they think oh somebody's talking to me my mom's talking to me they're 80 years old my mom's talking to me now I know some people are famous they they're in their 80s and one of their parents is still alive for the most part that doesn't really happen okay pacing and wandering you know they might just a little anxious and they want to wander wander wander pace pace pace walk the stairs down the stairs in and out of the house so you got to be careful you have to write everything down so you can share it with your doctor okay okay let me see rapid mood changes they can be real happy all of a sudden or they can be screaming something and then be real it's just a rapid change it could be anything just take notes of things and understand that if it's getting towards the late afternoon early evening that's typically when it could happen okay sadness or anger I don't know if there's any right rhyme or reason to this my mom had this sometimes to be sad sometimes you just have to find ways to work around your loved one what works for you in your situation may not work for another people or ten other people it's your individual person that you're taking care of because you're the caregiver what works best for them is it music is it a hug it's a nice television show with no monsters no creatures no gunshots no bombs explosions you know something like you know some some kind of show where they're selling things or anything that's peaceful train so if the person with dementia Alzheimer's wakes up no like they're not seeing a scary face and not seeing something violent and then they become violent and agitated right always make sure that they're going to bed at night if you're not sleeping over I believe a very peaceful channel and hide the remote so they can't change the channel and hopefully they can't figure out how to do it okay shadowing others that's what a lot a lot of these people with dementia and Alzheimer's do I know I know someone my mom was in the nursing home one of the I'd be walking down the hall of error and somebody you know somebody else was not following or I'd be walking down to go see my mother and somebody before me they think you know you're related to them that you're their husband or brother or father I've had a couple of older ladies tell me that you know oh you know come sit down with me for dinner sweetheart okay which turns out that they thought I was their husband and the nurses were saying he's not your husband he's here to visit his mother they didn't know anybody it's not a big deal no but these are things some of the things that can happen so just remember your situation is unique whatever tips tricks strategies techniques you may use to keep your loved one cool calm collected may not work for someone else get to know how things work with your love stubbornness that happened a lot with my mother stubbornness stubbornness what you have to do is just back off take a break go outside walk around do whatever you're gonna do deep breaths in and out whatever and come back and just go at it again go at it I mean just peacefully address the issue and eventually you can repeating questions or interrupting and that can be nerve-wracking right when somebody's repeating questions but what are you gonna do it's just part of the illness they forget right okay sundown and can occur at any stage of dementia but it's more common in the middle in later stages the exact cause is unknown but some possible causes include tiredness hunger or thirst pain or other unmet physical needs not enough exposure to sunlight during the day that's a good one during the day especially when it gets dark earlier if you live in a place where it gets darker we're in earlier burn like November December January February even though it's starting to get lighter in late December stuff it's still dark early make sure while it's during the day have the shade have the shades up the curtains open the blinds drawn let as much sunlight in put an extra light on if you want to put the TV on you always did that with my mother always pointed things out well look at the snow she'd be like oh look at the rain oh look at the little birds sometimes the birds fly and land on the windowsill so do whatever you can to keep them amused right keep the light coming in and write things down put it on your phone send it through mass emails and text whatever to your family and friends everybody who goes to visit that loved one so they also have the strategies of how things might work okay just to help them relax overstimulation during the day yeah you don't want to over exercise you don't want to over socialize keep it a balance and maybe they rest for a little maybe they exercise for a little maybe they socialize for a little keep the balance you know if somebody gets tired let them rest disturbances in REM sleep I don't know you can talk to doctors about something to help you sleep maybe maybe that works maybe it doesn't but you got to be careful because and I'll make another video on this sometimes medic certain medications and make them sleep during the day and it doesn't make sense to have somebody sleeping all day after they slept all night they have to be awake to socialize eat their food without food they're dead and drink their fluid they need the fluids to take their medication so they need the fluids or the dead that need the medications some of them are dead so being in catatonic zombie mode all day long doesn't work okay it's actually cruel and inhumane people make them help them to sleep eight or ten hours a night if that's what they need but during the day they should be up and moving around and here's another one inappropriate medication use maybe there's too much medicine doctors aren't perfect nurses aren't perfect but they do help us but you know and they're just trying a lot of times it's a guessing game because one medication that works for this person might not work for another and that's just how it goes you might have to try things in very small doses figure out what works be patient but be ready to advocate sticking to a schedule may help arranging time to get sunlight each day being physically active each day it's good if you live in a warm climate all year and you can get the person your loved one friend whatever oh for a couple of hours you're bringing over coffee will go sit on the balcony go sit on the patio get out you know if you can't get out and it's wintertime it's cool but it's sunny sit by the window I used to go to the nursing home where my mom was would sit by the window and the Sun like a man and watch the TV or play the game and have fun listen to music there's lots of ways to keep people amused and keep them feeling love and keep telling the person I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I used to tell my mother oh I love you I love you so-and-so is coming over later and then so-and-so is coming after that oh this one's coming on that one and they were blatant lies but it kept my mother calm you know she remembered oh so-and-so is coming over so-and-so is coming over so-and-so I used to write signs on the walls and here's this is a tip that you can do you can write signs on the walls you know at the hospital at the rehab at nursing home please remind my mom my dad grandma grandma whoever it is my brother my sister whomever that you know his or her kids are coming by his or her brothers are coming by his or her friends are coming by they'll be by soon oh yeah I can't wait to see you and the person gets excited they're gonna forget about it but for that little while they're at peace they're happy they're thinking about and then they'll begin to forget it because of the disease but you know you're lying to them but I hate to say it's a good lie it's a lie but I had to do it all the time even my friends did that when they went to visit my mother even my other family members oh so-and-so's come by just a little while so go take a shower and do this and that she go get ready or he'd go get ready blah blah and then somebody either come by or they went but my mother had more visitors than anyone anywhere she went always had round-the-clock business okay so this is about a little over 16 minutes guys okay I pretty much read all the stuff off that I was gonna read off stay with them be patient it gets frustrating at times take a walk if you get frustrated go outside have a cigarette if that's what you do or do something and then come back in when it you know blood pressure is down you know spend the night if possible that helps them get through the sundowning situation maybe grandkids can visit or something like that okay set the station TV station for a nice like we said earlier nice stations with nice things on okay and just be just be prepared that something's are gonna be a little bit more challenging the others with sundowning or sundowner syndrome but you can get through it we used to decorate my mom's rooms wherever she was all year round go to Dollar Tree it's not expensive by the stuff you know Valentine's Day St. Patrick's Day Easter all the way to through Christmas always something on the walls something in the windows made them feel very good and then it was something to talk about oh you got a nice decoration sometimes my mom say yeah I just got that the other day with my friend we went out for coffee oh did you really know that was nice that's a good pick keep that conversation going and if they can remember their friends and their friends names that's great right all right guys so I'm gonna end this here at around 18 minutes you found value in this video and please give it a thumbs up it really helps the video to get out to more people who may need it and please consider subscribing to the channel as I'll be making more videos some I try to keep short some might be a little longer because I have more information to share please look in the description box below for those links that can direct you to other websites about this topic nothing to buy okay guys so I hope you're all doing well beautiful fall weather you guys take care of yourself and I'll see you in the next video