My mom has severe dementia and has caregivers with her 24/7. She will not lay down to sleep. Physically she is declining, but she is still able to get up off the couch or her big chair in her bedroom by herself. The other night while she and her aide were sleeping, my mom woke up, jumped up out of her chair quickly and fell on her right side. Her aide woke up too late to catch her. We took her to Insta-Care, and luckily was broken, but she is bruised. My real question is: Is there a benign restraining device that we can put on her chair (not on my mom) to keep her from getting up on her own and falling, in the future? We can't be the only ones with this issue. It's hard to keep a good woman down and my mom was always an exerciser, so she loves to get up and attempt to walk, even though her legs no longer want to cooperate for any length of time. We've tried telling her not to get up without help, but with her dementia, she has no understanding. In her mind, she thinks she still is strong. She does not need or use a walker or wheelchair, but walks with the help of an aide or family member.
That worked for my Mom who was an escape artist when it came to her bed and any type of chair. The nurses found the pillow under the knees would work, unless Mom was able to wrestle the pillow out from under her knees.
Maybe it is time to get Mom into her bed, she can still sleep sitting up with one of those back rest arm pillows. I know she must love that overstuffed chair but make it uncomfortable for her to use, so that she would feel more comfortable when the Aide puts her into her bed. I don't know if that would stop her from trying to get out of bed or not. Penney's sells those backrest arm pillows fairly inexpensive.
Some times elders sleep sitting up because of acid reflux. I have that issue, but Tums before bed time really helps [get doctor's permission first].
My Mom use to doze off in her wing back chair, head down to her chest or leaning one side or another. Eventually her spine started to curve, and she would complain of neck pain.... well, no wonder. We tried to get her to use a neck pillow [like ones uses when flying] but she didn't like it.
You can also try an alarm that goes off when someone rises. That would work, but if she's super fast, she could fall before her aid could catch her. I would think that an aid sitting next to her, would be fast enough to get to her if she rises and an alarm goes off though. I'd try that along with the geri-chair.
Again, let me reiterate, my mom will only sleep sitting up with her feet planted firmly on the floor. We have an amazing reclining lounge love seat, and we've tried to ease her into sitting back and raising her feet. She goes into complete panic mode, and it isn't pretty. We even tried to recline her when she's sleeping, to no avail. She will not let her back touch the back of the chair and her feet must be on the floor. We really have tried. I tried laying on a bed with her. That lasted mere seconds. The aides can't even get that far with her. So sitting up with her feet on the floor is HER WAY OF LI FE. Period. Not a thing we can do, so I just want to keep her as safe as possible, in the meantime. She will do the same thing; jump up unexpectedly when we're sitting on the couch with her, before anyone can spring into action. She's 91 and frail, but extremely strong, despite having balance issues and being unsteady on her feet. We may need to devise a restraint ourselves that we can affix to the sides of her chair to keep her safe from falling during the night. Thanks to all of you for your responses.
There are alarms available that do not alert with a loud sound. Some vibrate, others beep only on the device the caregiver wears on their waistband. It doesn't have to wake up anyone but the caregiver.
I'd discuss her odd sleeping rituals with her doctor. If her sleep is that out of sorts, she may benefit from medication.