My mother in law is diagnosed with both Alzheimers and Dementia and has extremely good in home care. Recently she is not bathing often, has frequent accidents but is not drinking much despite bringing her water very frequently, having a functioning sink and a water cooler in her room. Nevertheless often we catch her drinking she has taken to drinking from the toilet. We had to shut the water off because she was flooding the house with the clogs and running tank, and we don't want to cut off her use of the toilet and sink altogether when she needs the bathroom. She refuses adult diapers, sheets or portable toilets/ bedpans and flies into violent rages if anyone changes her routine. Does anyone have any ideas?
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My mom refused Depends but she accepted a potty chair. I do believe she’s switched to Depends at the ALF. Depends have saved me while I’ve had intestinal influenza, this is my first use but I was desperate!
As for refusing to wear incontinence products, many have posted that they simply remove all the regular underwear and replace it with pullups - the new ones are comfortable and look very much like underwear. You don't have to tell her what they are, just say you bought her new underwear.
For drinking I would ask her caregivers to make sure she has a glass of water (or whatever else she likes) always ready by her hand, you can get nice spill resistant glasses and mugs.
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Thus, experiment with room drinking temp water. Or try flavored bottled water to try to lure her away from the bathroom.