It’s been many months since my husband has had sundowners and is up in the middle of the night doing mindless things. I just recently added Seroquel and it seemed to help for three days and now he’s back back to getting up. I can’t get any sleep myself and I’m exhausted and full of eggs and pains. I don’t know what to do to get the sleep. I need to keep caring for him.
I also moved out of the bedroom I shared with him. I keep the tv on at night for him, and I have been sleeping in the spare bedroom full time.
Another suggestion I can offer for dealing with sundowning, and agitation in general, is to keep a consistent daily routine. A time to get up, a time to have a snack, a time to wash, a time to watch a favorite TV show or go out for a walk, whatever he enjoys doing with his time. Keep it simple, and keep it the same every day. Try to avoid lots of unexpected interactions with friends, or impulsive outings.
I also went around and started closing all the drapes before the sun goes down, and turn on the lights in every room of the house. That helped to "fool" him into not recognizing that is is evening. I think sometimes the evening and the darkness and dark shadows down the hallway create a sense of fear.
Once you both get into a regular daily routine, (it could take a while) he should start going to sleep at bedtime. I also play a tv show that signals it is bedtime.
He'll have a favorite which I play every night at bedtime, and that lasts about a year before he gets tired of it, and we find a new favorite. For a while it was Antiques Roadshow, back to back episodes, streaming. Now it's Monster Trucks. There is a channel on Pluto TV that plays Monster Jam events 24 hours a day! LOL.