I am new to caregiving and am currently helping an 88 year old woman to begin her day. She has completely lost control of her bladder. A combination of Depends and a Poise pad works fairly well during the day. But her sheets are almost always wet in the morning. And when she gets out of bed, the urine simply gushes. The carpet is wet every day when I get there and the room is beginning to smell. She has a portable potty right by the bed, but simply can't get there in time. What in the world can we do? We have considered rubber pants, but they are so uncomfortable. We have also considered placing some sort of washable runner next to the bed. But she uses a walker, so we can't use anything that she could trip over. The mess isn't even as bad as beginning every day in such a discouraging way. We can't be the only ones struggling with this! What can we do???
1 - Your charge needs to wear the "overnight" Depends and an "overnight" incontinence pad. Get the pad in the largest and thickest size you can find.
2 - Get puppy pads -plastic on one side and thick adsorbent materials on the other side. Place several on the bed from upper back to midthigh and across the width of the bed.
3 - Expect the Depends and Pad to last about 6 hours. Somebody may need to check her depends in the middle of the night and/or encourage her to use the commode.
4 - Cover the floor. My husband has had a mini "workshop" inside our home while in the military. To keep floors intact, we came up with this solution. First place a thick plastic tarp on the floor (in your case the whole room would be a good idea). Then, place interlocking foam panels like the ones for children's play mats. The foam is solid enough to give good footing and has enough traction too. The foam and plastic tarp will keep urine from reaching the carpet.
5 - Clean soiled areas with cleaners for pet accidents. Those usually have enzymes to break down nitrogenous wastes so the smell will go away.
Ideally, your client should be woken up at some point in the night for a Depends change in bed, if necessary, to avoid having such a large volume of urine collect.
You can purchase nighttime Depends which are extra absorbent, and then add an overnight Poise pad specifically designed to absorb extra liquid.
https://www.amazon.com/Poise-Overnight-Incontinence-Ultimate-Absorbency/dp/B01NAX7KC7/ref=sr_1_24?dchild=1&keywords=inserts+for+depends&qid=1631126018&sr=8-24
Buy Extrasorbs chucks and put them underneath the woman when she sleeps, and on the floor, too:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GYZNDY8?ref=nb_sb_ss_w_as-ypp-rep_ypp_rep_k3_1_10&crid=2OMHYSPV03OOL&sprefix=extrasorbs
These pads are huge & hold a gallon of liquid apiece! They work very well for the situation you describe.
The family can contact the doctor as well for advice; there may be medication to prescribe for her. Her liquids should be cut out before bedtime as well.
Good luck!
You may need to limit her amount of liquid in take at night. Tea, coffee and soda's irritate the bladder so you go more. Taking her to the bathroom every two hours may help.
I have never understood how a pad being used with a Depends works. The pads have a plastic liner that makes it impossible to any extra urine to get to the Depends.
Simply gather up the pads and wash in the machine.
They are not cheap but saves throwing money away every day.
House never smelled and still does not.
Prior to the pads, I would use a wet & dry vac to clean and dry the carpet No fun hand shampooing carpet on the knees at 3:am.
It's not practical to clean the carpet everyday, and that is what we'd have to do. Plus, at some point, the urine is so strong smelling that it's overtaken the place.
She lives with YB. He did replace the kitchen and hall with laminate wood. When he pulled the carpet up it was black on the sub floor and he had to remediate whatever THAT was before he could lay the floor. Mold? IDK.
Mother WANTS linoleum, and personally, I think she should have what would work best for HER, but YB will not allow linoleum in his home.
Upon reflection (and hindsight being 20/20!) when daddy died we should have gutted the entire apt and replaced the floors with a sturdy non slip linoleum. But, that didn't happen and now she is living with 23 yo carpet that smells beyond toleration---and it's filthy to boot. You just can't keep cleaning and cleaning carpet.
Doesn't matter WHAT is placed under or around mom, she can 'dribble' enough everyday to make things pretty bad. I think she relies too much on that catheter to catch all the urine, and it does, but she only empties it once a day.
She's 91 and in pretty good health. I fully expect her to live 5 more years, easily. YB, however, is in terrible health and we all fear he will die before mother does.
i have found these diapers good up to 12 hours.
Unique Wellness Brief Original Adult Diaper (Tape-on ) with NASA Technology.
Chux will help prevent leaks from wetting sheets. These are pads with a plastic backing. I have found the puppy pads mentioned to be cheaper than pads through any medical. supply. Costco ones are about 15¢ each.
it is not uncommon for any movement to trigger emptying of bladder - such as loosing it before making it to bedside toilet. It may be time to consider round the clock diapers that are changed in bed.
I am not incontinent but wore the above a couple times before I got vaccinated to enable me to stay out of public bathroom. Never had to use them but hey are quite comfortable moving around.
I put high end vinyl in my husband’s room. Carpet would be impossible to keep clean. It is indistinguishable from wood - which we have had.
Good luck to you. .
The other things we do is limit her fluid intake after 6pm as much as we can and at night she uses a nighttime Depends (she prefers them day and night) with an additional pad that is designed to work inside incontinence underwear and allows the fluid to soak down through to the pull up once it’s full. Mom has recently added rubber pants that go over the Depends, we got them at the medical supply/pharmacy and she loves them but I’m not so sure they are a good thing from a UTI risk perspective…
A second suggestion would be getting a couple of carpet-like mats (material over a rubber backing with a small rubber edge that lies flat to the carpet) and placing one under the bedside commode and her bed. They should lie flat enough to not be a tripping problem and you should be able to place the mat where the edge isn't in the walker path. Hopefully, the mat will absorb the overnight wetness and you can swap the mat out in the morning and wash it/them. You might be able to place a wetness barrier under the mats IF they are heavy enough to stay flat.
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