Ashley Lamar (not her real name) recalls how she and her sister first realized the scope of their mother's incontinence when they went to her apartment in Santa Monica. "There were big white bleach spots all over the pink carpet, and we asked the caregiver, 'What are these about?'" says Lamar. The caregiver told her that her mother was having "accidents."
"The thing I didn't realize was that my mom, who has dementia, had no sense of it. Some people have shame -- my mom didn't have any. She was walking around the house getting feces all over the place. She wasn't wearing underwear and refused to wear diapers."
Lamar had to make a special trip from her home in San Francisco to Southern California to get her mother to wear diapers, because her mother wouldn't listen to the caregiver. "It took three days. I just told her, 'This isn't your decision. It's not optional.'" Finally her mother got used to the idea and stopped protesting.
What causes fecal incontinence?
Fecal incontinence, which affects more than 5 million Americans and is more common in older adults, is often caused by weakness in the anal sphincter muscle, which normally contracts to keep stool from leaking out. Another cause of fecal incontinence is damage to the nerves that signal the need to have a bowel movement. Childbirth, straining to go on the toilet (which can happen with constipation), and diabetes can all cause injury to these nerves. There can be a disconnect between the brain and bowel caused by Alzheimer's, stroke, Parkinson's and other diseases that strike older adults. Even some medications cause fecal incontinence.
If the person you're caring for hasn't seen his doctor about it, schedule an appointment. Bowel incontinence could also be a sign of a more serious medical problem, such as fecal impaction, a condition in which hardened stool is lodged in the bowel, causing an obstruction and leakage of loose stool around it.
Like DragonFly, my father is refusing all solid foods and is subsisting (quite well, actually) on Ensure and pudding, neither of which have any fiber, and was having weekly episodes of fecal incontinence. He would wear diapers for the 24 hours or so after each episode, but then would insist on returning to boxers. His doctor suggested adding fiber to his diet. We were able to bulk up his stool, and eliminate most of the fecal incontinence, by adding fiber (Benefiber) to his Ensure, and by offering him daily milkshakes with bananas or peaches added in. We started seeing improvement with 9-12 grams of supplemented fiber. We have all been delighted by the condom (external) catheter, which has solved the urinary problem. For whatever reason, Dad finds this more "dignified" than the diapers.
my mom in law dosent realized when she has a bowl movment or pees in her dyper. she has dementia, and only, dose this at night while she is sleeping. her doc said in sleep her muscles relax. during the day she might pee, once, when I take her to the bathroom,every other time she dose not go.She is on an ensure diet. thats ALL she will consume. if it wasent for her ensures, she would not be with us today.
I have been taking care of my husband since 1992. He is incontinent for bowl and urine. I use a male external catheter and drainage bag for urine. I use a dulcolax suppository every night for bowel. It works Very Well!!. Only 1 accident in a year. He does NOT wear diapers.
Hi anonymous, Thanks for your comment. All the tips listed in this article are still applicable to fecal incontinence. If you do a search engine (Google, Bing, so on) search for "fecal incontinence products," you should find some helpful results. I hope that helps, take care! -- Emily | Community Manager
I would like to know specifically what underwear protective garment is suitable for FECAL incontinence. All articles are geared toward urinary incontinence.
Just diapers? Please talk to your doctor...there are new minimally invasive treatments now available on for bowel control disorder (bowel incontinence). The doctor needs to determine the cause of the incontinence then can recommend treatments. One effective and FDA approved one just introduced this fall is call Secca Therapy. Go to www.secca-therapy.com.
I have dealt with this incontinence issue while taking care of my mother. The article really hit the nail on the head. Watch the diet and make changes accordingly. My mother is diabetic and all the sugar-free foods were adding to her diarhea. Yogurt, rice crackers, bananas all helped slow things down. I also eliminated all the dried fruit, which she loved. We also put her in Depends which was helpful. The suggestion that helped the most was taking her to the bathroom 1/2 hour after each meal and letting her sit there for as long as she wanted (which is a while). That has helped her decrease the accidents a lot. She also has a little lactose intolerance so we give her Lactaid at all meals that have milk products in them. The other thing that wasn't mentioned in the article that we do is to put diaper rash cream on her bottom a couple times a day (especially before bed)so if she does have an accident and sits in it for a while, it doesn't irritate her bottom. This also helps for urine incontinence. This has really helped with redness on her bottom. You really have to take a many facetted approach and try all the suggestions in the article.
You could also try Bed Pads. you can lay them on the bed at night time. http://www.ionmeds.com/Adult%20Diapers%20Home.htm
My mother had an incontinence problem. I think that the best way to handle it is Adult Diapers. I get hers at http://www.ionmeds.com/. Hope this helps