Incontinence

Kenbob

Registered User
Jan 11, 2019
23
0
Struggling now My wife has become incontinent I am washing her and then changing her pull ups three or for times a day. I keep asking if she wants to go and she says no she is alright but it’s too late.
Now recently started wetting at nighttime through the pull ups, bedding and bed protector.
I have thought about having an agency to come but chances are my wife would dirty herself after they had been and I would still have to wash and change again. Do I need to contact the incontinence service yet?
 

nae sporran

Registered User
Oct 29, 2014
9,213
0
Bristol
Not sure if I can help @Kenbob ,but I use two kylie sheets overlapping with a disposable sheet underneath, plus a disposable under the sheet and so far that has covered the problem most times. The incontinence service will only (at least in our experience) advise some bladder control exercises which don't work with dementia and arthritis, but they can provide pull ups so the cost is reduced. They do ask you to fill in a diary and will decide who many you need from the information though. It did take about a month to get an appointment so it has to be worth asking your wife's GP for a referral and see if they can provide something more absorbent.
 

marionq

Registered User
Apr 24, 2013
6,449
0
Scotland
Definitely contact the Incontinence nurse through your GP practice. Look at products they can offer and which might save a bit of money. Timed toileting every couple of hours can help up to a point. Bedding requires a waterproof mattress cover, kylie sheets, sometimes pillow waterproof covers especially for men, occasionally waterproof duvet covers. I also used at the latter stages pyjamas which zipped up the back as recommended by @Izzy and these prevent the pad being moved or removed. They are expensive at £47 so just buy one pair to start with to see if they work for you.
 

Kenbob

Registered User
Jan 11, 2019
23
0
Not sure if I can help @Kenbob ,but I use two kylie sheets overlapping with a disposable sheet underneath, plus a disposable under the sheet and so far that has covered the problem most times. The incontinence service will only (at least in our experience) advise some bladder control exercises which don't work with dementia and arthritis, but they can provide pull ups so the cost is reduced. They do ask you to fill in a diary and will decide who many you need from the information though. It did take about a month to get an appointment so it has to be worth asking your wife's GP for a referral and see if they can provide something more absorbent.
Thanks for the advice I will try the disposable sheets.
 

Kenbob

Registered User
Jan 11, 2019
23
0
Definitely contact the Incontinence nurse through your GP practice. Look at products they can offer and which might save a bit of money. Timed toileting every couple of hours can help up to a point. Bedding requires a waterproof mattress cover, kylie sheets, sometimes pillow waterproof covers especially for men, occasionally waterproof duvet covers. I also used at the latter stages pyjamas which zipped up the back as recommended by @Izzy and these prevent the pad being moved or removed. They are expensive at £47 so just buy one pair to start with to see if they work for you.
Thank you I will ask the nurse from our memory clinic for a referral
 

Sirena

Registered User
Feb 27, 2018
2,324
0
I do keep asking if she needs to go and I will help but she says no I don’t need to go !

Rather than asking, just tell her it's time for a loo visit, and take her every two or three hours - if you ask she will say no, because she no longer realises she needs to go. My mother's care home kept her continent for a further year by scheduling regular loo visits like this. If your wife will co-operate it might mean you can keep her continent for a bit longer during the day, if not at night.
 

LizzieM

Registered User
May 6, 2019
54
0
@Sirena - wish this would work for OH but sadly not.
@nae sporran and @marionq are spot on re bedding, can also add have had success with lightweight washable/tumble dry duvet with a fleecy blanket over the top both of which survive wash well and the blanket seems to be a comfort for OH too.
 

LizzieM

Registered User
May 6, 2019
54
0
Echo others on getting Continence Service on board but push to get enough pull ups per day otherwise they try to fob you off with not enough and expect your OH to sit in it as ‘surely you can’t need more than 4 per day?’ They’ll also push you to accept net knickers and pads (cheaper for them no doubt) - don’t do it, hold out for pull ups!!
 

DRS

New member
Nov 26, 2020
4
0
Echo others on getting Continence Service on board but push to get enough pull ups per day otherwise they try to fob you off with not enough and expect your OH to sit in it as ‘surely you can’t need more than 4 per day?’ They’ll also push you to accept net knickers and pads (cheaper for them no doubt) - don’t do it, hold out for pull ups!!
Grateful for some advice as I am an inexperienced carer of my wife with FTT dementia. I take it "pull ups" are knickers with built in absorbent pads which are then thrown away? We have been referred by our GP to a 'Bowel & Bladder service' [part privatised?] which only supplies pads to be inserted, although they will also supply a few boxer type shorts which are washable and can take the pads. My wife finds these uncomfortable and I suspect she will continue to leak into the knickers and trousers , even if she could be persuaded to wear the shorts. I think the answer must be to go back to the 'all in ones' , perhaps with added inserts, which we started off with from Boots . Has anyone managed to get the NHS to supply the right prodcut?
 

nae sporran

Registered User
Oct 29, 2014
9,213
0
Bristol
My partner was prescribed pull ups by the Bladder and Bowel service @DRS. They are disposable and absorbent. I hesitate to use a comparison to nappies, but that is the closest I can think of. She was given the chance to try to less absorbent one first. It was a struggle where we had to go back a second time anyhow as they were asking her to do floor exercises before assessing. Good luck.
 

Bunpoots

Volunteer Host
Apr 1, 2016
7,344
0
Nottinghamshire
My dad passed away 2yrs ago so it might be different now. I was initially told there was no way he’d get pull-ups from the NHS but I asked for them anyway. Dad had to try pads first but he was just taking them out of his pants so they were useless. In the end he was given 4 pull-ups a day. It took three visits to the continence clinic to get them prescribed @DRS

I remember dad being told to do pelvic floor exercises @nae sporran . Of course he told the nurse he’d do that ... I still remember the look on his face when I tried to explain what they were ?
 

jenniferjean

Registered User
Apr 2, 2016
925
0
Basingstoke, Hampshire
Has anyone managed to get the NHS to supply the right prodcut?
The continence nurse arranged for my husband to have pull-ups straight away and there was no talk of using pads. That was when he first started and had one a day as it was more of a precaution. When it became more of a problem it was increased to three a day. Then when I contacted her to ask if we could increase our allowance again, when he was also marking with faeces, she tried to get me to change to pads and supplied a sample. This didn't work and he just removed it. She wasn't happy but I managed to get her to agree to continue with pull-ups but it stayed at three a day. At the moment I'm in contact with one of the other nurses from the same department and she has sent me more documentation which I need to complete and then they will look at increasing to pull-ups with a higher absorbency rate. I've only just received that documentation yesterday, so that's a job for over Christmas.
 

lollyc

Registered User
Sep 9, 2020
947
0
Grateful for some advice as I am an inexperienced carer of my wife with FTT dementia. I take it "pull ups" are knickers with built in absorbent pads which are then thrown away? We have been referred by our GP to a 'Bowel & Bladder service' [part privatised?] which only supplies pads to be inserted, although they will also supply a few boxer type shorts which are washable and can take the pads. My wife finds these uncomfortable and I suspect she will continue to leak into the knickers and trousers , even if she could be persuaded to wear the shorts. I think the answer must be to go back to the 'all in ones' , perhaps with added inserts, which we started off with from Boots . Has anyone managed to get the NHS to supply the right prodcut?
I never knew we could get these on NHS, so have been buying them online for the last 3 years. I buy in bulk ( currenty using Vivactive ones), which is much cheaper than buying from the supermarket. These companies also do incontinence sheets, and other incontinence underwear. Mum also has a pair of washable knickers that look just like normal ones (no pads etc needed). I doubt they would deal with much, but I use them at night, over the pull-ups, as a sort of belt-and-braces, in case of leaks, or if she decides to mess about with the pull-ups.
We use a lower absorbency level during the day - Mum worries that people will notice them otherwise (would be nice if we saw any other people!!) - and a maximum absorbency at night.
 

pippylongstocking

New member
Apr 1, 2020
9
0
My local authority wouldn't provide pull ups, only pads, which MH wouldn't contemplate wearing. At least the pull ups were almost like wearing pants, in his mind. The best and by far the cheapest, I bought in Aldi. Unfortunately, things have moved on since then and he now has to wear the pads, as it was too much like hard work trying to get his trousers off to change the pull ups. The pad is more like a nappy, so I just need to get his trousers down, to change, rather than off. Mind you, even that is no mean feat!! He is " allowed" 3 a day, not the max absorbency though, as he doesn't drink enough, according to a fluid chart that I had to fill in for him! I don't know where all the pee is coming from, then!!!!!!!!!
 

lollyc

Registered User
Sep 9, 2020
947
0
In my experience output frequently exceeds input! I don't know how my mother doesn't look like a shrivelled up prune :) Was way worse when she was on Donepezil.
I used to buy Aldi pull-ups , but we have to go about 10miles to our nearest store, so not an option in recent times. Certainly as good as branded ones. Something a carer showed me when changing pull-ups with trousers, is to take one leg out of the trousers, then feed the trousered leg, plus all the trousers, through one leg hole. Then put the untrousered leg through the other leg hole, then put leg back through trousers. (I hope that makes sense!) Still a bit of a faff, but better than the complete undressing. We are moving onto the nappy types at night now, as Mum's mobility has worsened. Still buying Vivactive, maximum absorbency. So far, so good..