Bowel incontinence

Debhen

My DH is still in the mild stage. I can leave him home alone for a few hours. He walks the dog without getting lost. But, he has urinary incontinence at night. Lately he has developed bowel incontinence. I’m not sure what to do about the bowel incontinence. Any ideas?

harshedbuzz

@Debhen

Hi and welcome. I am sorry for your reason to be here but pleased you found this place.

Typically, fecal incontinence develops after urinary some time in stage 6 which is considered late stage dementia.

That said, there can be medical issues that complicate this. For my dad, prior radiation for prostate cancer did significant tissue damage causing incontinence earlier (mid-stages) than is usual. He remained quite verbal until the end, so it seemed very early for him. Some caregivers are able to mostly manage this with a toileting schedule if their LO is relatively regular in their habits. Most still use a disposable brief to manage accidents.

Another issue could be encopresis. This is when a person becomes constipated and blocked which causes soft stool to leak around the blockage. Seeing her PCP or GI doc would be prudent if you suspect this. Often it's treated with a Miralax clean-out and subsequent toileting schedule.

Good luck
HB