Toilet issues

[VijayJ]

My mother soiled herself about 8 weeks ago and ever since she has been scared that she will soil herself over and over again. As a family we have tried to reassure her that she will be okay but this doesn't seem to help.
Initially she was going to the toilet every hour, then every half an hour, than every 15 minutes, then every 10, then every 5 and now we seem to be down to every 2-3 mins. Each visit consists of her just wiping herself and not doing anything else. At one stage, anxiety kicked in and there followed a couple of days where she was screaming and shouting constantly about wanting to go to the toilet. We got the doctor involved and we're prescribe lorazepam to help with the anxiety - 0.5mg in the morning and the same dose in the evening. It is now coming up to 2 weeks since we started the course of lorazepam. Again this helped and we didn't need to give the tablet too often but I feel that mums system is getting used to the meds and they are not as effective and the anxiety is setting in again.
As her carer it's getting difficult to stop her going to the loo every few minutes. I know mum doesn't like to be told no and gets very angry. It's becoming a bit of a losing battle on this but at the same due to her toilet habits changing she needs supervision as her cleanliness is getting worse - using the hand towel to wipe herself down if not supervised.
Is anybody else going through similar issues? Are the anxiety meds just a quick fix or can they be used on a intermittent basis.
Look forward to any help or advise on this.

 

[Tin]

My mum has a prescription for Lorazapam when anxious, at the moment half mg. Its a bit hit and miss and I have been told by a nurse who works on a Dementia ward that it depends when you give it. On a scale of 1 to 10, not good to give if her anxiety levels reach 10, it just will not work. Gp told me if I rely on and use it too much it simply won't work and in order for mum to 'tolerate' longer use I should not use more than 1mg a week!

My mum tends to get very anxious at night and after a full day of caring, the last thing I need is a sleepless night watching her spiral out of control. If I get it right it helps her to sleep, but there is a lot more confusion the day after taking it.