Bathroom

Isiah26:3

hello! Recently my dad who has EO has been waking up in the middle of the nights to use the bathroom and he has been unable to find the toilet. Causing him to pee on the carpet and honestly anywhere except the toilet! Any advice? I’ve thought about the alarms to wake me up when he gets out of bed but I’m looking for something else as I am going away in a few weeks and I know my brother will not be fond of that idea of waking up every time dad does! I’ve tried keeping the lights on in the bathroom too but he either unplugs them or ignored them completely. Has anyone else found any solutions for problems like this? I’ve thought of diapers too but he will just take them off while sleeping.

Lynn24

My mother has been with us for over a year and a half. She takes Seroquel to help her become more cognizant in order to find the bathroom when she gets up early am. We leave light on in the bathroom at night.

Taking depends off is also very common with this disease. My mother takes her off every day. We have hard wood floors on the floor of the house where her bedroom is located. I used to have a huge area rug in her bedroom and had to remove it due to random incontinence issues.

mabelgirl

is there a medical reason for his using bathroom during night or just restlessness? The melatonin seemed to be the key to my mom staying asleep through the night.

Isiah26:3

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/206556#Comment_206556

How did you combat the depends being taken off? Every night I feel as if I am running to catch him before he goes to the bathroom on the floor or I am cleaning up the floor with paper towels. I am worried about the urine reaching the walls and developing mold. I feel like I am out of ideas.

JulietteBee

Get Him a urinal and teach him how to use it. This way he will not have to get out of bed, and 2, if he misaims, he would only be wetting the bed.

April23

The urinal is a great idea. He can slip and fall if the floor or tile is wet with urine. I would also make sure there are no trip hazards (i.e. rugs or mats) anywhere in the bathroom or his path to it.

H1235

I remember someone here saying they bought clothes that fastened in the back and could not be taken off without help. If used with depends this might work. It might also cause frustration. I wouldn’t expect him to be able to learn how to use a urinal. Learning new things is difficult for someone with dementia. I hope you can find a solution.

SDianeL

2 reasons they can’t find the bathroom: they don’t remember where it is and they have visuospatial problems. Put lights all the way to the bathroom to mark the way. Close all other doors. In the bathroom I bought a small LED battery operated light that does not plug in and put it on top of the toilet tank. I had to charge it every day. I put toilet bowl cleaner that turned the water blue. Other suggestion I found online was to get a contrast color toilet seat and put a sign on the bathroom door saying it’s the bathroom. Place it at eye level. Another was put bright tape on the floor marking the way. Get splash guards for the toilet seat and disposable mats that go on the floor around the toilet to catch drips. Google dementia finding way to the bathroom aids and you may get other ideas.

Anonymousjpl123

My mom used the clothes that fastened in the back when she was really really bad with the depends.

You can get them at Buck and Buck or Amazon. She loathed them, but it got her through a really rough time when she was still mobile enough to take off the depends and not cognizant enough to know why it caused such stress for everyone.

Eventually, his disease will progress and he won’t be able to take them off which will take care of the problem. For now, I highly recommend the urinal and as a last resort the onesies. They actually did look like clothes and got us through the worst of it.