Not taking herself to the toilet
- Thread starter claireizz
- Start date
Has she forgotten where it is? Or forgotten the sequence of actions so that she is unsure what to do? Could you take her to the toilet every 2 hours? Does she no longer recognise the urge to go? Do you need to contact the incontinence nurse?
Just throwing out some thoughts here.
Just throwing out some thoughts here.
As you probably know, it's very common for PWD to get to a point where, for whatever reason, they can't take responsibility for their own toileting. As canary says, there can be a number of reasons. I would agree that the local continence service would be the first port of call.
Sorry to disagree with you Stanley and confuse the matter for Claire, but we found the continence service or bladder service to be useless for OH. The nurse recommended pelvic muscle exercises which were impossible for a lady with dementia to follow or remember. When I said so she said we ought to go back to the GP for other advice.
That would really just leave you with kylie sheets which are good for keeping the bed dry if you or any carers can be there to wash and change them every day. I find the pull ups are better than pads for soaking up accidents. Boots and Superdrug are best for getting the most absorbent pull ups.
That would really just leave you with kylie sheets which are good for keeping the bed dry if you or any carers can be there to wash and change them every day. I find the pull ups are better than pads for soaking up accidents. Boots and Superdrug are best for getting the most absorbent pull ups.
No worries. We too found our local continence service pretty useless but I can't believe they're all bad so it is a starting point. I agree that incontinence products will probably be needed, as well as some carer visits if 'she' lives alone or is alone for much of the day.
my dad has started to forget that he was on the way to the toilet, gets distracted on the way, does something else, goes back to the living room... then repeats.
I've taken up suggesting that he needs to go, and following him to the bathroom to keep him moving in the right direction.
Fortunately we just don't have these problems at night, auto pilot takes over and he goes to the bathroom.
I've taken up suggesting that he needs to go, and following him to the bathroom to keep him moving in the right direction.
Fortunately we just don't have these problems at night, auto pilot takes over and he goes to the bathroom.
OH has had a few accidents lately frustratingly just after I got a call from the continence service and I told them there had been an improvement - he had been in hospital due to a stroke and they put him in pads. With him it seems to come and go and seems to be a mix of lack of recognising that he needs to go and getting the process wrong. When it happens I use pull ups and then wean him off by regular "supervised" toileting but i think I have been lucky so far to get him back out of pads. Oddly he also rarely has a problem at night or early morning, it tends to be late afternoon, or when we come from day centre - he goes into the loo there but doesn't seem to actually "go" and its always urgent when we get home. Sometimes when I am with him in the loo he asks what he has to do.
