Grandparents have been sundowning for 30+ years

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here,. There must be multiple definitions. The one I've read about in AARP is the frequent life reflection, need for extra accommodation, and emotional neediness around being elderly and particularly at end of life.

LOL, in healthcare, there IS only one meaning, and by that, there is NO effing way that your GParents have been doing it for 30-40 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here,. There must be multiple definitions. The one I've read about in AARP is the frequent life reflection, need for extra accommodation, and emotional neediness around being elderly and particularly at end of life.

Why are you reading AARP?

To educate myself on issues facing my parents and grandparents and to understand their perspectives.

Please don't let AARP be your "be all, end all" source for healthcare info. Sundowning is a REAL medical condition. And what your describing is NOT sundowning

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here,. There must be multiple definitions. The one I've read about in AARP is the frequent life reflection, need for extra accommodation, and emotional neediness around being elderly and particularly at end of life.

LOL, in healthcare, there IS only one meaning, and by that, there is NO effing way that your GParents have been doing it for 30-40 years.

Seriously! Working nightshift with a sundowning patient... you are dealing with near psychotic episodes! You think you know what sundowning is... until you've truly experienced it.

[Anonymous]

I can't be around my mom after 5:00PM. She becomes really critical and mean. I understand she is tired but she still thinks we all should meet up for dinner but danm she is a witch. I feel bad for my dad. He mellowed with age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My grandparents (all 4 of them plus an assortment of step parent's elderly parents) are now in their 80s and doing a lot of sundowning. They are all actually in quite good health and have full mental capabilities. I'm so happy they are still alive. However, the problem is that they have been behaving and talking like very old people since they were in their 50s. The grandchildren have been understanding of and helpful with the types of things that go hand in hand with aging family members...for 40 yrs!

In retrospect, I think they could have waited a while before seeing themselves with one foot in the grave. Some amount of sundowning and life reflection and neediness is understandable but it's just been going on my entire life. And now it is starting with our parents! I'm completely burned out.

Is there any advice for sundowning fatigue? Any conversations we can have with our parents to nip this one early on?

How old are you? My parents and ILs are/would be in their 80's. We are in our early 50's. Our children are in their 10's.

Not OP but my grandparents are in their 80s and I'm 36. My oldest child is 15. It's possible (and very common) to be an adult and have grandparents in their 80s.

I know it is possible, my youngest is 15 (eldest is 18) and his grandparents are in their 80's. It is interesting that one family has 4 generations in the same time span as another's four generations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My grandparents (all 4 of them plus an assortment of step parent's elderly parents) are now in their 80s and doing a lot of sundowning. They are all actually in quite good health and have full mental capabilities. I'm so happy they are still alive. However, the problem is that they have been behaving and talking like very old people since they were in their 50s. The grandchildren have been understanding of and helpful with the types of things that go hand in hand with aging family members...for 40 yrs!

In retrospect, I think they could have waited a while before seeing themselves with one foot in the grave. Some amount of sundowning and life reflection and neediness is understandable but it's just been going on my entire life. And now it is starting with our parents! I'm completely burned out.

Is there any advice for sundowning fatigue? Any conversations we can have with our parents to nip this one early on?

How old are you? My parents and ILs are/would be in their 80's. We are in our early 50's. Our children are in their 10's.

Not OP but my grandparents are in their 80s and I'm 36. My oldest child is 15. It's possible (and very common) to be an adult and have grandparents in their 80s.

I know it is possible, my youngest is 15 (eldest is 18) and his grandparents are in their 80's. It is interesting that one family has 3 generations in the same time span as another's four generations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sundowning more commonly refers to decreases intellectual functioning at the end of the day. Better mental acuity, memory, reasoning early in the day; increased confusion, belligerence, etc as the individual tires. So - if Grandpa saw the doctor at 8:30 a.m., it may appear that all is well; but at 8:30 p.m., it would be clear there was a deficit.

OMG!!!! This is what I (43 yr old SAHM to 2) have!!!!
Being a mom, and enduring YEARS of restless sleep, my memory is shot come afternoon.

THanks OP!

[Anonymous]

I thought is meant going to FLorida in the winter - kind of like being a snowbird....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sundowning more commonly refers to decreases intellectual functioning at the end of the day. Better mental acuity, memory, reasoning early in the day; increased confusion, belligerence, etc as the individual tires. So - if Grandpa saw the doctor at 8:30 a.m., it may appear that all is well; but at 8:30 p.m., it would be clear there was a deficit.

OMG!!!! This is what I (43 yr old SAHM to 2) have!!!!
Being a mom, and enduring YEARS of restless sleep, my memory is shot come afternoon.

THanks OP!

It's much more than being less-than at the end of the day. It refers to old people who are in a psychotic state when the sun goes down.