Has anyone experienced Sundowning or Sundown syndrome in their loved one with dementia?

Yes - my Mom got more agitated in the evening. The two things that seemed to work the best for her were: 1. routine - fortunately, she was a creature of habit so we just kept a regular routine when she moved in with us and that seemed to help 2. distraction - I couldn't reason with her so I would get her interested in a quiet activity that she liked. Usually, I'd get her ready for bed and put on some of her favorite music (old church hymns or recordings of my Dad singing) and get her all comfy in her lift chair/recliner and she was set for the night! You just have to find what works in your particular case.

I've had mom with me since April 2019, but cared and arranged caregivers as need he past 4 years. I love having her with me, it's so much easier for me and money has become tight. $8,000 a month for her to stay home. Nights are our special moments. She's much more alert at night. We watch TV together after I put her to bed and I sit in the recliner next to her. She sleeps a lot 18-20 hours a day. Immobile and incontinent and a great sense of humor. She's a doll BUT...does sundown sometimes. She wants to go home to her childhood home with her mom and dad, and wants me to take her. Sometimes she'll go all afternoon and evening, and I tell her I'll see what I can do. Then I leave the room for a few minutes, go back in and ask her if she ever cooked in a pressure cooker, or what color should I paint the room, or something from her past. I never ask her a question that would make her have to stretch her thinking because she drops her head and doesn't answer, almost as if she understands the questions, but has no idea how to answer it. Distraction...Distraction. NOW, if they become combative, and you cannot calm them, as long as their personal needs are met, they are dry, not hungry or thirsty, sometimes you have to let them go on and go about your business (maybe with earphones), especially when they call you 50 times within 5 minutes or less. BUT...rest assured, at night when you put them to bed, they have no idea about how they felt earlier and called constantly for you. Just love them keep their environment the same and they will become more comfortable. Sometimes I wonder it I take her out for me or her, She's much rather be home watching Tom Selleck in Blue Bloods...Truth.

My husband have Alzheimer's/dementia and what I would do I would take him for a ride every evening when he was very agitated. We would ride for fifteen to twenty minutes pass that house a couple of times then when he would tell me that I passed up his house I would turn around pull into the garage bring him in the house and get him ready for bed; and call on the Lord a lot. You have to go along with their agenda; because they don't know what's going on.

Yes. Experienced. If the dementia is FTD, there is no medication and Alzheimer's medication will be very harmful.

This is my wife before we found the only medication.

https://www.facebook.com/ellery.sir/videos/vb.1478413961/10210349485401673/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

This is after we found the medication and have been using it since 2013.

https://www.facebook.com/ginger.rose3X3/videos/10202389374773028/

Many good suggestions. You will have to try various things to find what works best for your mother. Everyone has their own "thing" they do, so it will be a trial and error to find what works.

Our mother never lived with one of us after dementia kicked in. Initially the plan was to allow her to stay in her condo and bring in help as needed, for as long as we could, but after less than 3 months, she refused to let the aides in (it was only 1 hour/day, weekdays, and mainly a sanity/took meds check - she didn't need help with ADLs yet (wasn't cooking, but eating frozen dinners and boxed stuff at this point.)

To keep tabs on her and who was coming/going, we put in some cameras (we are all too far away to check on her daily.) Her "sun-downing" was outside the norm, sort of... It started just before she would go to bed, generally 8:30-9:30PM. Initially it would only be some nights, for a couple of iterations, but eventually became a marathon, lasting 1-1.5 hours! She would check the door lock, the sidelights, something in the kitchen that was out of range of the camera (turned out to be the dishwasher) and then the living room (light would shine through the pass-through onto the kitchen cabinets.) She repeated this over and over, tripping the camera every time (it only recorded a short bit after trigger, just enough to see what was going on, who came in, etc.) THIS would trigger my phone twice, once for the camera trip and once with an email clip sent - every few minutes, up to that 1.5 hours! OB was stupid, didn't understand when I sent him a link to sun-downing, and would call her to try to stop it. I suggested he do what I did - turn the sound off the phone until she stops. You can still check, mine still would vibrate, but the annoyance stopped for me by doing this, while still being able to monitor things. A few times she "snuck up" on the sidelights, like she thought someone was out there. Clearly it was her sun-downing, although it was outside the general time of day it happens. It can happen any time of day really, but most have it late afternoon/early evening.

We moved her to MC when the place we choose finally finished their rebuild and she didn't have any more issues, EXCEPT with a UTI. When I first joined this site, I would read about checking for UTI and thought it was hogwash, mostly. That changed when mom had her episode! It did coincide with later afternoon/early evening and she would rant and rave, wanted out because she had guests coming and had to go home! They called me to come - like I could do anything??? By the time I could get there, they had managed to get her into her room with a magazine. Of course this happened on a Friday evening, no access to doc. She did have an appt Monday anyway (wrong time but it was their mistake, so we used it to test for UTI.) Sure enough, she had one. Doc Rxed Lorazepam along with antibiotic. This solved the issue (she only had to take it until the UTI was under control, then she was back to as needed only.)

The nice things about this med, for us anyway, are:
1) it doesn't take days/weeks to "work". Within 10-15 m, even first time.
2) we can start/stop without issue
3) the minimal dose was enough to take the edge off
4) it didn't dope her up, just soothed the anxiety

Again, what works for some might not work for others. Certainly I would try all the non-Rx methods first - less is more, but if none of those work, you might have to "experiment" with medications. This one, as with others, is considered a potential fall risk, but I would rather that than her in that state which could cause more injury for her, the staff or another resident! It never caused any falls for her and was the lowest dose they use.

Regarding sundowners, my Dad [94] was experiencing that.... for him it was quite interesting. He would climb into his time machine and transport himself back to the 1940's.

Dad would call me saying the meeting at work ran late so he missed his bus home. So he will be staying the hotel for the evening. I believe Dad was thinking he was talking to my late Mom. And I knew this was the 1940's as that was last time Dad used bus transportation to get to work. The hotel was actually his room at senior living.

I didn't correct Dad on anything he was saying.... I just played along which I believed made him feel better. Correcting him would only confuse matters more.

Dad would power up that time machine usually after dinner. During the day, he had just normal age memory decline.

Also Check out the web site Dailycaring. there is so much information about dementia, behaviors, how to handle situations what to say what to do. You can sign up to receive daily emails or weekly emails with valuable information. So worthwhile.

we use lavender essential oil. it's a HUGE help. We try to use it before the time of day that happens, to prevent it, but even once it has begun you can use it and within about 15-20 min it will soothe them.

There are articles, questions and answers in the ‘Care Topics’ part of the site, which will give you a wide range of information. Click on Care Topics on the right top of the screen. It will come up with an alphabet. Click on S, then scroll down until you come to Sundowner’s Syndrome. 13 articles, 4 discussions, 149 question threads. I hope you find something that helps!

lavender essential oil with a roller ball - roll up and down bottom of the feet and at the base of the big toe about the time of day it normally happens. It will help sooth and calm them within 15-20 minutes usually. You can use it as often as needed. Sometimes I use it on my mom's wrists and back of her neck if at other times to avoid having to remove shoes and socks multiple times a day. It still helps alot to do it that way...