Mom has dementia. 92 yrs old. Living in her home with my youngest sister as her caretaker. Mom has had issues lately with constipation and has taken to pulling off her diaper in the middle of the night and pulling her feces out by hand. Sister is finding Mom sleeping in the mess in the morning. Then having to clean her up, tear up the bedding to be washed and wait on her the entire day (food and bathroom). Is there Amy solution that can be suggested to prevent Mom from doing this gross behavior ??
Many gerontologists swear by Miralax.
Give that a try.
I like Citrucel (not metamucil) but if she cannot take the required full glass of water it will ADD to constipation, not make it better, as she will have a gel filled clot of feces rather than just feces to dig out.
Your goal is that she is going.
I swear also but the squatty potty stool which helps especially the elderly have a good position to rid of bowel of poop.
You aren't going to stop this action of hers. That's part of her failing mind during sleep. So the goal is to eliminate the constipation without moving into diarrhea, and THAT is tricky indeed.
Wishing you good luck.
Yes, you can throw out all her cloth undies and replace them with protective disposables; yes to considering adaptive antistrip clothing on amazon.com or Silverts.com.
Being severely constipated can kill your appetite and make you feel sick in general, plus cause abdominal pain. This needs to be addressed first and foremost. It may be an option to take her to the ER if you think she won't cooperate with an enema at home, or your sister doesn't feel confident in giving her one. I have ER nurse friends who tell stories about people brought in for pain and an enema was the answer.
And just in case: make sure her fingernails are trimmed really short so she doesn't injure herself if she gets past the preventative measures.
You could try tightish spandex panties / bicycle shorts over her diaper . Maybe she won’t be able to pull them down on her own . 🤷♀️
If Mom uses diapers with tabs, try duct tape over the tabs .
There are also antistrip suits for Alzheimer’s/dementia patients . Amazon has some .
Good Luck .