Why do elderly people suffer from diarrhea so often?

I'm sole caregiver for my 93 YO Mother. She is somewhat mobile but suffers from frequent diarrhea and can not move fast enough to get to the toilet. So she wears briefs. Sometimes several times a day she messes herself up. Cleaning her up wouldn't be too bad if she would let me help from the onset of the mess. Instead, she does not tell me and tries to clean herself up. Since her vision is so poor, she has stool all over the toilet, the grab bars, the toilet paper holder, her legs, etc.
I become so frustrated because I have to clean up her and the mess! I tell her repeatedly to let me help as soon as she goes, but she will not. Her trying to be independent is one thing but having to clean up stool every day is becoming unbearable, not to mention unhealthy!
She has had every kind of test to determine why she gets diarrhea, there is no conclusion. She takes 1/2 Imodium daily but still has frequent & runny BM's.
This problem has been placing a terrible strain on out relationship. I love my Mother and will do anything I can to keep her out of a nursing facility but I don't know how to get her stop trying to "clean herself up". Any suggestions?

They were given an immodium a day prescription. They say they are taking enough pills, so they dont take that one. Since that was their doctor that did that, I take that to mean it is normal for their age group. But it doesnt help my frustration or disgust about it. I feel this way because many plans have to be changed because of these bouts. I live with them so then I have to stay close to home so I can help them while they recover from the latest bout. They have kidney failure, diabetes, and high blood pressure, all of which have a very sensitive balance to each other. If one goes, they all start going out of control. No picnic for them, but as their primary care giver, I get very angry that I cant do what I need or want to do because they couldnt stop themselves from eating something they know may have that affect on them. Just very frustrating.

I've noticed the same thing. I sometimes think older people aren't as aware of the effects of diet. There didn't used to be as much focus on that as there is now. My mother thinks it's all hogwash and she should eat as she wishes which pretty much involves lots of snacking, lots of sugar, lots of things that a more contemporary person with IBS would avoid. It is frustrating - especially when she (we) ends up in ER or hospitalized for a severe bout. I think the diet we would like to see them eat just tastes bland to them. I wish I had a solution for you but want you to know you aren't alone in trying to maintain a healthier diet for their sensitive digestive systems. Have you tried probiotics at all? Don't know if it will help or not but we're giving it a try right now. If they won't eat yogart, there are capsules available.

What does their doctor say?

Simple answer is everything changes as we age, muscles weaken,sphincters get slack, things that shouldn't bulges, memory gets bad, eyesight becomes poor, dietary habits change, adverts bombard us with pills to cure everything, pills get too difficult to swallow. The list goes on and on and sooner or later all of us will have some of these little difficulties that we would prefer others not to know about. Have you seen the recent adds for Depends with young people parading around in the latest design with not a care in the world. Mighty fine I am sure till one of them gets taken short crossing the street. All the suggestions are good and will be helpful for some people.
Talking to the Dr is the first step and having any advised tests and proceedures. Attempt to control the diet. if it is definitely lactaid intolerence buy Lactaid free milk which is four times the price of regular. You can take lactaid pills but thats a lot more pills to take. Personally I like the chocolate almond milk. As noted with the supliments name brand and generic, read the labels care fully. if the Dr advices the Immodium pills be sure to take an adequate dose. Metamucil seems to work well by bulking up the stool and reducing the number of bathroom visits. there really isn't an easy answer it's jsut a fact of aging and be treated as such not hidden and scolded.

My mom, 84, diabetic, afib, etc. has recurring diarrhea. Much of her problem comes from uterine cancer and the over radiation she got in the 80s. She's ok if she watches what she eats. I think with elders on so many meds it's almost impossible to tell what meds trigger diarrhea . When you read all the side effects it's ridiculous. Mom is still mentally alert, wears her depends and can cope but it's horrible agony for her. I remind her every day how bad the last bout was and to not eat the junk food dad brings into the house. Dad has dementia and he ain't gonna change nothing no way no how. (Ask me about my patented eldercare chokehold.....)

There is a powder that can help stop diarrhea that comes on quickly after eating. It was something that our son has to drink before meals due to his body's reaction to having his gall bladder removed.
Also to take note of is that if a person takes any time-released medications they may not be getting the full benefit of the medication. I would certainly ask the doctor.

My 87 yr-old mother is diabetic and is on Metformin. We found out that the metformin she is on can cause diarrhea. So now she only gets a half a pill at night. Also, she was using Splenda and I've heard that can cause diarrhea as well. So it could be medicine related or diet related, so check with their doctor. Also, you might want to get them checked out for c-Diff, especially if the stool is a yellowish color and has an extremely foul smell..

imccarthy, my mother was on metformin until she was 86. She visited a endocrinologist who specialized in diabetes. He did not like that she was still on the metformin. He told us that it is not recommended for people over 80, even though it may do no harm. I checked later online and saw that it wasn't so healthy for the liver, so I understood the doctor's concern.

We discontinued the metformin and found that there was no change in her glucose levels. She didn't need the metformin at all -- just her two daily Levemir shots. That was good to get rid of the extra medication.

When she was handling her own medication, my mother would overdose on Metformin quite often. She would get up at night and take an extra one or two so she could snack on crackers. She started having gastric problems, feeling gassy and nauseous. We chased around to different doctors, even getting an MRI, with nothing but gas showing up. Then I counted her metformin pills. Goodness! She had been seriously overdosing on them. The symptoms she was having were exactly what would be expected. I was relieved and mad at the same time, since such a large part of my life (and also Medicare dollars) had been consumed by dealing with this self-induced problem.

lmccarthy, your mother looks a lot like mine. When I look at the picture, it looks like you're sitting with my mother. :)

I hate to be the one who brings up a different reason, but here goes....Cleanliness, just plain old hygiene!!!!

My father got to the point where he NEVER would wash his hands, refused to bathe, would not wear clean clothes, did a horrible job of washing dishes, etc. He had chronic diarrhea and would hide soiled clothes and sheets from me.

He was very beligerant about me "being in his business" and telling him to wash or offering to help. Fast forward to being in NH,,,,,no diarrhea....hmmm.