Urinary Incontinence

[Lesliemara]

My 68 y/o Dad had a stroke in February. He finally is home after hospital and nursing home. My stepmom is having a lot of trouble with him wetting the bed 1 to 3 times a night and now during the day. The nurses told her he was NOT to wear adult diapers to bed. She is really stressed out about this and I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts or recommendations on this subject. Thanks.

[UroDoc]

I am not sure why anyone would say that a patient can not wear adult diapers to bed, I would check with his doctor. With a stroke you can lose control of your bladder (bladder acts independently when it is full it empties, you no longer get the warning and you can't shut it down so that you can get to the bathroom). Medications like detrol, vesicare, etc may help, but you will also need to do timed voiding because these medications will allow greater filling (more volume) of the bladder but once it becomes full it will still empty on its own. Patients with this problem needed to be toileted on a schedule every 2 to 3 hours usually. In regards to night time if he is not very mobile then he is probable accumulating fluids in his legs, if you can put his feet above his heart for and hour or so in the evening prior to bed this should make him void then and less so in the bed, good luck

[Lesliemara]

Thank you so much for the advice and information. I will talk to my stepmom about this.