Find Senior Care (City or Zip)
Join Now Log In
C
Chill10549 Asked June 2017

My bowel incontinence is every ten days or so now. She will wake up 3 or 4am with poop all over her, her bed, and the floor. Any tips?

We had mom and her bedroom all soiled and had to be cleaned at 4 am yesterday, she flushed a paper towel and flooded a large area . I had just changed her sheets too so that had to all be done over. My questions are
1) we use Imodium d, would nighttime depends help?
2) if she was in assisted living what would have been the likely clean up process? Do they ring a bell and an attendant helps? What would they do better or worse?
This is really nasty to deal with so any tips will be hugely appreciated. Thanks!

MsMadge Jun 2017
My mom gets periodic bouts of diarrhea since she's been in memory care either from the food or the antibiotics for UTIs or lord knows what

She has her own full size bed which is wrapped in a zipper protector then a waterproof pad then washable bed bads then her sheet then more washable pads

One morning her personal caregiver had to clean her and change her sheets and 15 minutes after putting her back to
Bed - it hit again and she had to ask for help
The whole facility had a bug

She wears pull ups which don't contain a lot

She got everything covered yesterday- her wheelchair the cushion and her clothes
Facility staff didn't do a great job cleaning her but private caregiver got her clean

If I have a personal caregiver with her then they'll rinse the clothes out and hang in the shower otherwise they're tossed in a plastic bag and taken to the laundry - could sit overnight- - yuck

Difference between home and facility is attendant doesn't do laundry and if the carpet needs heavy cleaning then that's up to housekeeping

They will wear masks and use glade air freshener - if you place some vanilla extract in a dish in the room that helps too

Grammyteacher Jun 2017
I like the Prevail extended use briefs. I have never had them leak. I prefer the washable bed pad, but everyone has their preferences.
I am with cwilly, not sure which is worse, not going, or going too much. I have decided that at this point, not going is far worse. Much luck and do try the shaving cream trick...I learned it on another chat room.

ADVERTISEMENT


dejavu Jun 2017
I recently switched my mom from overnight depends to the tab style briefs. They hold much more and along with a disposable bed pad (over a washable one) have made changing her less messy.

cwillie Jun 2017
In my experience pull up style incontinence underwear does little to contain loose bowel movements, everything will gush out the legs. Tab style briefs are better simply because they tend to be larger, but they really won't absorb much either, merely contain it somewhat better, and a pair of fitted sports style boxers briefs (longer snug fitting legs) over the brief can help hold things together until you get her to the bathroom for clean up.
I'm sorry you have to deal with this, I never knew which was worse, worrying when mom hadn't gone for over a week or dealing with the blowouts when the laxatives finally kicked in :(

Sunnygirl1 Jun 2017
Does your mother have dementia? Is she going in the bed, due to her incontinence, or does she have diarrhea due to medication, food allergy, irritable bowel, etc.?

Is she sleeping in Depends? If not, then, I'd explore doing that each night. Also, do you know the reason for the mess? Did she create it with her hands? If so, there are some adult onsies that button in the back and therefore prevent the person from removing their underwear and also from digging into their dirty Depends.

I think there are strings/chains/buttons that can be used to summon staff in an AL, but, if she has dementia, she may not have the ability to summon help. I found that with LO, she had lost the ability to summon help, so they just had to check on her regularly to confirm if she needed help. If there is a dirty situation, they clean right away. That's been my experience. You'll need to check with your state's regulations, but, in some states, unless it's Memory Care, a regular AL is restricted to residents who are not double incontinent.  So, if you are both, you'd need another type of facility. 

Grammyteacher Jun 2017
Bladder and bowel incontinence is a normal part of the progression of Alzheimer's. My mom has both at this point. She wear disposable briefs all the time and a washable bed pad (they have disposable ones too). At this point she just goes continuously like soft serve. When there is a blowout, which happens, use shaving cream. It instantly helps with the smell and helps with cleanup. I use lots of baby wipes too!

ADVERTISEMENT

Ask a Question

Subscribe to
Our Newsletter