My mom has advanced dementia and was having 5-6 diarrhea/BMs per day. Sometimes she knew she needed to go and sometimes she went in her pants. Because it was so frequent, there wasn't always a lot, but it was a lot of laundry and mentally and emotionally exhausting and depressing for me.
She is in renal failure and we have a hospice nurse coming in twice a week. The nurse was able to prescribe Diphenoxylate which has remedied the diarrhea and reduced the BMs to once or twice a day. It has also eliminated the leakage between BMs.
The initial dosage was 2 pills 4 time per day. My mom is extremely tiny and that dosage seemed excessive to me. So I started with 2 pills at night. That wasn't quite enough, so I tried 2 in the morning and 2 at night. That was a little too much. Tried 1 in the morning and 1 at night. That wasn't enough. So now we're at 2 in the morning and 1 at night. That seems to be the correct combination, but it took 2 weeks of trial and error. And you have to try the dosage for a few days to see how it's working. Initial side effects were drowsiness and extremely dry mouth, but after 2 weeks the side effects have subsided.
Although the nurse warned that as the dementia progresses even further the medication might not work at all. That she might become more like an infant where she just releases any time. I hope this was helpful. Also, I found Huggies Natural Care wipes are much better than toilet paper. Larger, stronger, more gentle.
Luz was taking iron tablets and that, with her at least, turned a very loose mess into a substance more akin to dark clay. Much easier to clean. Check with your primary on this.
Lots of toilet paper and Huggies baby wipes. They are big and thick. I didn't know it at the time, but pull ups rip down the sides. Making easier to get off. Willie's idea is a good one.
One thing you can try is to get your mom on a toileting schedule - most people tend to go at more or less the same times every day, usually after meals, so having her spend 15 minutes on the toilet or commode at those times can help cut down on accidents. As for cleaning up - I was fortunate in that our hand held shower can easily reach the toilet, so I could giver her a good wash and rinse there. There are simple bidet sprayer attachments that will hook up to your toilet water supply, unfortunately that would be cold water only.
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She is in renal failure and we have a hospice nurse coming in twice a week. The nurse was able to prescribe Diphenoxylate which has remedied the diarrhea and reduced the BMs to once or twice a day. It has also eliminated the leakage between BMs.
The initial dosage was 2 pills 4 time per day. My mom is extremely tiny and that dosage seemed excessive to me. So I started with 2 pills at night. That wasn't quite enough, so I tried 2 in the morning and 2 at night. That was a little too much. Tried 1 in the morning and 1 at night. That wasn't enough. So now we're at 2 in the morning and 1 at night. That seems to be the correct combination, but it took 2 weeks of trial and error. And you have to try the dosage for a few days to see how it's working. Initial side effects were drowsiness and extremely dry mouth, but after 2 weeks the side effects have subsided.
Although the nurse warned that as the dementia progresses even further the medication might not work at all. That she might become more like an infant where she just releases any time. I hope this was helpful. Also, I found Huggies Natural Care wipes are much better than toilet paper. Larger, stronger, more gentle.
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I didn't know it at the time, but pull ups rip down the sides. Making easier to get off. Willie's idea is a good one.
As for cleaning up - I was fortunate in that our hand held shower can easily reach the toilet, so I could giver her a good wash and rinse there. There are simple bidet sprayer attachments that will hook up to your toilet water supply, unfortunately that would be cold water only.