'Shedding Water'

I have no idea where mom ever got that phrase from, but she used it one night when she had to get up to, 'shed water'! That night was a doozy! She got up at 12, 1, 2 at 4:15, 6:15 and then at 7:45! I wanted toget her up for breakfast between 7 and 8 but i was so exhausted form all the trips to mom's room to help her during the night and early morning, I couldn't get myself up and going until almost 9:00! So, I got her up shortly after that. I explained that nights events to her, to which she was appaled! She never remembers come morning how many times she geets up during the night, but I sure did!

These were days that I was basically doing everything to assist her, after she had broken her ankle. Even once she was mended and mobile again, I kept on doing it all. I realized later on, that I was in fear of her falling if I wasn't right there to help her move around.

The next night after she went to bed at 9, I did some research on the sleeping problems of the elderly, to see if there were changes we could make to help her change the habit of waking up and going to 'shed water'. I found a number of sites that gave me very good information. So, the next day we bagan to implement the necessary changes to hopefully help us all to get a restful night sleep!

Mom spent her life consuming very little water. Staying hydrated is very important for the elderly, so we were very serious about getting as much water in her as we could throughout the day. Mom is a sipper, we have to encourage her to take 'real' drinks, guzzle that water down. Well, maybe not guzzle, but you know what I mean. More recently, when she drinks, she may cough a lot, because she holds the water or juice in her mouth then swallows it and breathes at the same time. So, we have to tell her to swallow it right down, don't hold it in her mouth. She can take 4 to 6 hours on a large glass of water, with us telling her repeatedly to drink. Her evening glass usually takes her till bedtime to finish. 'Hello'! That means 'shedding water' during the night of course! Also, some of her meds have a dieuretic, which also adds to the problem. But, to get up that many times to 'shed water', is just not the norm at all.

Time for new plan! All juice and water is to be drunk by supper time, and trips to 'shed water' done about every 2 hours.

The other issue has been her bad sleep habits. She has slept when and if she wanted to for years, establishing a real problem with night time sleeping. I set a regular bedtime or 9 for her, which is later then when she is used to going to bed. I cut bakc on her nap time and also changed her morning get up time. The day changes worked out pretty good, but the nights continued to wreak havoc at that time. So, new plan, up earlier in am, which will vary upon what the night before was like. No naps during the day, which is a tough one for her to deal with. She actually did pretty well with the changes. She dozed off in the rocking chair instead of crawling into bed for a nap. She still needs to get some kind of rest during the day, although there have been days where she does actually stay up from morning till bedtime, or later! The goal in all this is for her to get a decent nights rest, and me too!

Ok! That plan didn't work! Keeping mom up all day just added to my daily stress, and took away my afternoon quiet time, and didn't change her night pattern at all! For some reason she has to 'shed water' at night more then during the day. Where have been a few occasions where she has slept 4 or 5 hours straight, and I do mean few! It was suggested to m by a couple of nurse friends to try her on Melatonin or Benadryl. I tried both, they each worked well once or twice, allowing her to sleep maybe 6 to 7 hours each time, and that was it. Then it was back to the usual patterns.

I went back to having her taking a nap in the afternoon. She needed it and so did I! Summoning me to help her every 1 to 3 hours, every night was very tiring. Something needed to change and I didn't know how to change it. In August, I made 2 trips to the emergency room for high blood pressure attacks, now I'm on medication for it. Lack of sleep, not enough exercise, eatting to much, stress, all contributors to that condition. Had to get rest at night. Had to make changes.