Incontinence is very common among those who are over 60. As a caretaker or a patient with incontinence, we should understand that incontinence can be classified into mild, moderate, and serious cases. The assistance and the nursing methods vary with the levels of incontinence.
For instance, for those who does not have leakage of urine in normal times, but would urinate involuntarily when laughing, coughing or sneezing, they would be classified as the mild case.
The following continence products are suitable for mild cases:
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Light incontinence pad: users may put stick it to the underwear so as to let it absorb the urine
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Fixation pants: they can be used along with the incontinence pad. Yet, one should wash the pants quite often, in order to prevent the bacteria from breeding
The moisture-absorbing power of the incontinence pad and fixation pants is usually very strong. Even though we use them for a long period, they would not produce unpleasant odor. Besides, their designs are quite firm, so wearing these products would not affect our daily activities. When patients need to go out for a long time, have social activities, or go to travel, these products can help them in terms of reducing the frequency of going to washroom.
Moderate incontinence denotes the situation in which the brain cannot effectively control the bladder, or the bladder does not have much contraction force so that the urine remains in the bladder. Patients with moderate incontinence would have to urinate and go to washroom very often. Moreover, some of them would even urinate involuntarily.
The following continence products are suitable for moderate cases:
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Fixation pants
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Moisture-absorbing insert pad: it can be used along with fixation pants or underwear. The moisture-absorbing power of the insert pad is higher than the light incontinence pad. These insert pads have different sizes and they are designed in rectangular bar shape or curve shape. They can be disposed and replaced with a new one once it is wet
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Adult diaper or incontinence pants: when using these products, the user or the caretaker should apply some cream on the hips and private parts
Besides using the abovementioned products, the patients with mild or moderate incontinence may also perform the following training in order to reduce incontinence. Nevertheless, they should consult doctors or professionals (such as nurses or physical therapists) before performing these training and exercises:
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Bladder Training: patients may cultivate the habit of going to washroom regularly. For example, at the beginning, they can go to toilet every two to three hours. Afterward, they can increase the time interval in-between. When the situation of incontinence becomes better, they may try to withstand the urge to urinate
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Pelvic Floor Exercise: it can strengthen the pelvic floor muscle, such that the capacity to control the urethra can also be increased
Lastly, talking about the serious incontinence case, it means the situation in which one cannot control urination and excretion, on top of the fact that he or she is disabled and cannot go to washroom immediately. For these serious cases, the patients’ self-care ability is relatively low. Hence, they must be accompanied by caretakers to go to washroom.
The following continence products are suitable for serious cases:
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Adult diaper or incontinence pants
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Underpad: patients with serious incontinence would not always wear diaper or incontinence pants, perhaps because of uncomfortableness, skin allergy or personal preference. In face of this problem, some retailers have already offered underpads to suit this kind of users. The coverage of these underpads is relatively broad. In addition, their texture is very crisp and their surface layer is soft, so they would not affect sleeping. More important, they are disposable and this can hugely reduce the caretakers’ effort in cleansing the mattresses.
Different levels of incontinence require different kinds of caring. Generally speaking, patients and caretakers must pay special attention to personal hygiene. For example, when they replace the continence products or lower body clothing, they should use wet wipe to clean the skin, so as to avoid the urine or excrement harming the skin. In fact, most of the abovementioned continence products can be easily found, and users may buy them in supermarkets. However, if they cannot find these products, they may look for some specialty stores. Actually, quite a number of specialty stores have already offered online order service, which is much more convenient for customers. Yet, they should consult doctors or specialists whether these continence products are suitable for them or not before using them.
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