My mom is 86 and has become obsessed with going to the bathroom every 30 to 60 minutes during the day and night. She lives in assisted living and also has in home caregivers to help her to and from the bathroom or help onto the bedside commode as she has mobility issues and is a fall risk. She does not have a UTI. She has tried various meds for overactive bladder but they did not help. She wears depends and rarely is incontinent. We try to distract her and keep her busy and sometimes that works. She has mild vascular dementia expressed mostly as confusion now and then and possibly this bathroom fixation issue. My concern is that she is not getting enough sleep. While the up and down to the bathroom is hard to be witness the issue i’m most worried about is lack of sleep. What has been your experiences with bathroom fixation and lack of sleep ? Are there medications that can help ? She is on pain meds for back pain and meds for stroke and heart management. I have read previous questions and comments on this topic from years past on the forum but other than patience and commode i didn’t see additional options. Thank you in advance for your thoughts and experiences.
The first is a very good consultation (and I would have a gerontologist recommendation here) for a very good Urologist used to dealing with issues of aging.
Something is going on here. It's either in the brain, the gut or the bladder.
So you are stuck finding out which. The gut and bladder will be the easiest issue with "Mom, are you going to urinate is do you have to poop?" You need to know what she THINKS needs to be addressed in the bathroom.
Once you have ruled out things you may be down to it being the brain.
There isn't a lot you can do about brain issues, and when people have an obsessive behavior hit, it will either run its course or be permanent.
Once you are sure there is NO medication that will work to calm the bladder, and there are no issues of constipation making her continually think she has to go but can't you will try with the brain issue. Some gerontologists are having some luck with mild and low dose anti-depressant for some reason, tho admittedly this isn't an issue of depression.
When obsessive behavior involves gut or the bladder it is somewhat a crucible. Our earliest memories, fears, punishments, rewards, all seem to have formed around toilet training.
The embarrassment throughout our lives regarding fear of "accidents" keep these memories cemented in our consciousness in a way that--when our aging dementias set in--happens easily.
If someone were to ask me what is the most common obsession for elders in the throes of dementia I would say two. #1. is "stuff". Our things. Our acquisitions, possessions, valuables, money. Paranoia over fear of loss of them and loss of control of them is horrible for the demented mind. #2. Always is around toilet issues.
Woe to the family dealing with BOTH at once.
I sure wish you good luck. I sure hope you'll update us if you go on this mystery tour.
Meds are definitely in order here! Mom took Ativan and max dose Wellbutrin for depression which kept her a lot more balanced than she would've been w/o them. A must have for elders with OCD issues and dementia in my experience. And once a stroke happens, more strokes and TIAs are likely to occur, causing more and more issues with worseni g dementia as time goes on.
Best of lucking addressing these issues as they arise.
My late husband who had vascular dementia was going to the bathroom to pee every hour on the hour day and night, and because he was a fall risk I would get up with him over night which meant that neither of us were getting any sleep.
After many sleepless months and my husband trying all the active bladder medications that didn't help, his urologist finally recommended that my husband get a supra pubic catheter, which he did, and we were once again able to sleep all night long and I only had to empty his catheter bag once in the morning and once in the evening.
It was a godsend for sure.
Might be worth talking to your moms urologist about that.