Suggest treatment for difficulty sleeping suffering from Alzhiemer's

Posted on Thu, 20 Mar 2014

Question: Hello. I have recently moved home to care for my father with Alzhiemer's. Have extreme difficulty sleeping. Am interested in obtaining Ambien or other prescription type sleep aide

Answered by Dr. Praveen (3 hours later)

Brief Answer: Ambien is a good choice in absence of depression Detailed Answer: Hi.Thanks for writing on HCM. People with Alzheimer's disease(AD) commonly experience changes in sleep pattern like difficulty sleeping which includes - waking up more often, staying awake for a long time during night, many a times yelling- disturbing the caregivers sleep. Have you been watching such signs? In case of difficulty sleeping I would check for depression which is commonly associated with AD. If depression is present then I prefer starting on antidepressants like Nortriptyline/olanzapine. In the absence of depression Ambien is a good choice to enhance sleep improves memory.Starting dose is 5mg and has to be taken at once per night and before bedtime.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Shanthi.E