5 Important Tips for Incontinence Caregivers

Caregiving for Those with Incontinence

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With 25 million adults in America experiencing incontinence, there is a great need for caregivers who specialize in incontinence. Incontinence is not ageist, anyone at any age can experience incontinence, but sometimes it limits mobility. In some cases, incontinence is caused by mobility problems due to injury, arthritis, or health conditions like multiple sclerosis. In any case, knowing how to care for someone with incontinence is important to improving their lives.

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For all the caregivers out there (specialists, family, friends or otherwise), we’ll start off with the basics of caregiving for incontinence.

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1. Diet

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Specific foods and drinks affect symptoms of incontinence. If you eat or drink the wrong things, you can severely increase leakage in your patient. But if you create a healthy, balanced diet, your patient may see a significant decrease in leakage.

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Foods and Drinks to Avoid: alcohol (check out Incontinence – friendly cocktails), coffee and tea (too much caffeine negatively affects ADH levels so the urge to urinate becomes strong. Drinking less than roughly 400 mg daily is okay). Diet sodas contain false sugars and aspartame which are known to irritate the bladder. Foods high in carbohydrates and sugar should be avoided because they negatively affect blood flow so the pelvic floor muscles cannot strengthen. These foods can also cause weight gain (if there is too much weight on the pelvic floor muscles, incontinence symptoms increase).

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Foods and Drinks to Encourage: Water, water, water! Have your patient drink the recommended amount of water every day (6 glasses of 8 0z water a day) by sipping slowly throughout the day. If your patient drinks too much water at once, the urgency to urinate will increase. If your patient does not drink enough water, that will irritate the bladder and increase symptoms of incontinence. High fiber foods are incredibly important to implement in an incontinent patient’s diet. Fiber is great for the digestive system and has an amazing amount of nutrients that the body easily breaks down and absorbs.

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Limit fluids in the evening so your patient’s incontinence symptoms wont act up in the middle of the night.

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2. Safety

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While caregiving for your incontinence patient in or out of the home, there are environmental factors to take into consideration. For example, rugs. Rugs can easily cause your patient to trip. A home without handrails in the bathroom, shower, stairs, or other frequented areas can increase the risk of falling as well. Keeping a can or walker near the bed, and using a bedpan, or bedside commode at nighttime is also a very good idea. This way, when the patient has to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, they don’t have to blindly search for support. Which brings me to my next suggestion, always have  the light on (or at least easy access to lighting). Your patient may have great vision, but if they have limited mobility lighting is incredibly important (because they may trip over the rug!).

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Frequent trips to the bathroom and the increased urge to urinate increase the risk of falls 26% and bone fractures 34%. In adults 65 years or older falls are the leading cause of injury death.

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3. Pelvic Floor Training

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Pelvic floor training is essential to caregiving for someone with incontinence. Incontinence can be immensely alleviated with the proper pelvic floor training. This will decreases the urge to frequent the bathroom, therefore decreasing the risk of falling.

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Pelvic floor training allows your patient to take control over their incontinence. After training their body to work around incontinence, they have a better chance of controlling their incontinence if you are not around. Although you may plan to be around all the time, your patient has to have some control over their incontinence for emotional and physical reasons.

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4. Hygiene

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Many people forget about the specialized cleansing factor when it comes to incontinence. The prevalence of bacteria is grand, so proper skin wellness is essential. You would think that a regular cleanse of soap and water would properly remove bacteria and odor, but this is not entirely true. Soap and water can irritate the skin, dry it out, and increase the amount of bacteria that will enter the body. Plus, using soap and water generally means there is scrubbing involved, which can be incredibly uncomfortable and expose fresh skin to even more bacteria.

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Special incontinence cleansers are available to remove urine and odor from your patient. The use of “no rinse” wash is definitely recommended above soap and water because it does not cause dryness. Wiping front to back is important as well, so the bacteria does not enter your patient’s private parts. Apply the incontinence cleanser to your patient and gently wipe any leakage from their skin.

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When you are away from home, or if your patients leakage is light and frequent, pre-moistening incontinence wipes are highly recommended. Again, wipe front to back, and you can effectively cleanse your patient on-the-go. These pre-moistened incontinence wipes allow you and your patient more freedom to explore the world because they are so convenient and effective.

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Special incontinence creams are important to have as well. These creams fight bacteria and provide a soothing experience for your patient. Similar to baby powder, special incontinence creams prevent rash and make wearing an adult diaper a more pleasant experience.

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5. Adult Diaper

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Adult diaper is an umbrella term for absorbent incontinence supplies. Adult diapers range from light pads, absorbent guards, adult briefs, adult belted diapers, adult pull ons, booster pads, adult swim diapers, overnight diapers, absorbent underpads, and reusable adult diapers and underpads.

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It’s important to know the range of adult diaper supplies because using the appropriate adult diaper for a specific situation can make a huge difference. Like at night, if you patient has heavy incontinence, an overnight adult diaper paired with an absorbent underpad can help them sleep. The overnight adult diaper and absorbent underpad will absorb more leakage so they don’t have to frequent the bathroom at night. Sleep is very important for your health because it lets your body regenerate (so if you have a healthier body, you may alleviate incontinence symptoms). Another example is, if your patient does not want to go to a special occasion because they are embarrassed to wear a bulky adult diaper, buy them a discreet adult diaper! Discreet adult diapers are very popular, especially when paired with incontinence-friendly fashion, because they absorb leakage and allow you to go out on the town.

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Explore Dry Depot’s large selection of adult diapers and incontinence supplies to improve your patients lifestyle.

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BONUS: Dry Depot ships in bulk and for free at your convenience. There’s no such thing as too many diapers, so if you order with us you won’t have to frequent the store. Plus, your patient can discreetly receive their adult diapers and incontinence supplies.

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