| Losing Control: Caring For The Elderly And Incontinence |
Losing Control: Caring For The Elderly And Incontinence
Incontinence is an issue that very few people like to talk about. It is more common than you may think, with over 12 million United States residents suffering from it every day. People of all ages can suffer from the inconvenient and embarrassing condition, but the majority of those who do feel the effects of it are over the age of sixty. It is also much more common in women than it is in men. This is largely owing to the fact that it is the women who have children and thus the muscles that control leakage from the bladder often let them down. If you are planning to or already do care for the elderly then it is an issue that you will have to face sooner rather than later.
Unfortunately, the elderly are at risk of having at least one of the many causes of incontinence. These include, but are not limited to weakened pelvic muscles, urinary tract infections, an enlarged prostate gland in men, diabetes, high calcium levels within the body, a thinning of the vagina wall in women and an inability to move around. Most elderly people have at least one of the above, if not a combination of them and thus they cannot control their urinary functioning.
There are four different type of incontinence, and the elderly may suffer with all four if their pelvic muscles are particularly weak. They are stress, urge, functional and overflow. The pressure put on the bladder by the stomach muscles when laughing or sneezing usually causes stress incontinence. Functional incontiencence occurs when somebody cannot get to the toilet in time but generally has good bladder control. Overflow incontinence predominantly occurs in males with an enlarged prostate, which blocks the urinary tract to the point that bladder actually becomes overly full. All of these occur in the elderly, but the most common form of it is urge incontinence, where the person is not actually given enough warning before they have to go.
Unfortunately, incontinence is not necessarily treatable in the elderly. Younger people who suffer from incontinence can do a series of exercises to strengthen the pelvic muscles or practice bladder control exercises. However, it is unreasonable to expect the elderly to do this. Medication is available to help to stem the problem, especially if the senior in question has a bladder, kidney or urinary tract infection, but it is not advisable for diabetics to take it and it may actually make symptoms worse. It is a natural part of aging and should be accepted as such really.
This doesn't help you if you are caring for someone who suffers from incontinence. You may well find yourself changing him or her every hour or so, which would also create a sense of embarrassment and discomfort for the individual in question. This also runs the risk of getting pressure sores. However, you can purchase incontinence pad that work much the same as nappies, absorbing moisture and sealing it away from the body. Although it may not feel comfortable to wear them, it may certainly be much better than sitting in wet clothes.
Incontinence is an unfortunate problem for many members of the elderly population because it is a result of the body breaking down. It is just a matter of learning how to cope with it without making the senior you care for feel too embarrassed and ashamed. That is totally dependent on the individual.
PPPPP
582
|
A Beginner's Guide To Retirement Homes There may come a time in every caregiver's life that you have to make ...
read more
A Caregiver's Guide To Coping With Stress Caring for the elderly, whether complete strangers or those related to you, can ...
read more
As Fresh As A Daisy: The Basics Of Elderly Personal Hygiene Personal hygiene is an essential part of every individual's ...
read more
Caring For The Elderly: A Quick Guide To Hospice Care It is a common belief in society that life goes ...
read more
Caring For The Elderly: Senior Illnesses And What They Mean To You As we get older, we all become more ...
read more
Caring For The Elderly: Working With Their Money If you are the primary caregiver for an elderly relative, you will ...
read more
Counting To More Than Ten: Coping With Unreasonable Behaviour When Caring For The Elderly We have all, at one time ...
read more
Dealing With Debts Whilst Caring For The Elderly Anyone who has ever been in debt will tell you exactly how ...
read more
Develop Your Skills To Care For The Elderly: Wound Care If you care for an elderly member of your family, ...
read more
Effective Caring For Your Elderly Relatives: Home Help Caring for an elderly relative can be an extremely stressful process. If ...
read more
Getting Out And About: Taking Seniors In Your Care On Outings If you are caring for the elderly in any ...
read more
Here's To The Health And Happiness Of Your Elderly Dependents! People often get their priorities wrong in society today. So ...
read more
Losing Control: Caring For The Elderly And Incontinence Incontinence is an issue that very few people like to talk about. ...
read more
Money Matters: Essential Information About Being Power Of Attorney One of the most worrying things about looking after elderly family ...
read more
Promoting And Maintaining Independence Whilst Caring For The Elderly Sometimes, when caring for an elderly relative, it can be hard ...
read more
Taking Care Of Yourself As Well As The Elderly: Vacation And Respite Caring for an elderly member of your family ...
read more
The Basics Of Caring For The Elderly: Pressure Sores As a carer for the elderly, you have to be alert ...
read more
The Best Activities To Stimulate Mentally Ill Seniors As a caregiver, it is difficult to summon up the energy to ...
read more
The Best Five Ways To Maintain Mental Health Whilst Caring For The Elderly Caring for the elderly can make for ...
read more
The Golden Rule Of Caring For The Elderly Revealed! If you are caring for the elderly in any capacity, whether ...
read more
The Importance Of Medication When Caring For Seniors It is inevitable that, when you are caring for seniors, you will ...
read more
The Layman's Guide To Alzheimer's Disease It is a well-known fact that a high percentage of the elderly experience mental ...
read more
The Layman's Guide To Parkinson's Disease As a senior, you have to be prepared for any conditions that may come ...
read more
Watching Your Step: Avoiding And Dealing With Falls Whilst Caring For The Elderly Anyone that has even a tiny amount ...
read more
Your First Priority: Maintaining The Safety Of Seniors In Your Care Looking after the elderly can be a bit like ...
read more
|
|
|
Disclaimer:
The Publisher has strived to be as accurate and complete as possible in
the creation of this website, notwithstanding the fact that he does not
warrant or represent at any time that the contents within are accurate
due to the rapidly changing nature of the Internet.
This site
is a common sense guide to Losing Control: Caring For The Elderly And Incontinence . In practical advice websites,
like anything else in life, there are no guarantees of income made.
Readers are cautioned to reply on their own judgment about their
individual circumstances to act accordingly.
This site
is not intended for use as a source of legal, business, accounting or
financial advice. All readers are advised to seek services of competent
professionals in legal, business, accounting, and finance field.
Any
perceived slights of specific people or organizations are unintentional.
|