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Can ANYONE please recommend a good overnight bladder protection product or process. My Mom is 85 and recently had bladder surgery, she sleeps thru the night and I have her on overnight pads in addition to a diaper coverups to protect clothing, bed liner pads and she goes thru all of them. I have tried Walgreens, Walmart, Jewel, Tena brands and nothing seems to work so I have to wash her clothes in addition to the liner and sheets every morning. There HAS to be a product out there to help for overnight sleep and bladder protection?


Thank you for listening. This is really annoying to do on a daily basis.

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As per the permanent catheter---

Mother has always had bladder issues. Had Big babies, I guess caused some pelvic floor damage. She likely never did Kegels like we were taught (ah, I am doing them NOW :) which are a great help. She's had several surgeries to correct the pelvic floor and to help with bladder leakage and nothing helped. I think partially b/c the skills to do this just weren't as good as nowadays.

Finally, the installed a supra-pubic cath (which, BTW looks absolutely gruesome and actually hurt her as it tugged and the cath bag is strapped to her leg. She has constant UTI's--has as long as I can remember. with the supra pubic (the cath is surgically inserted in the bladder with a tube coming out--stitched into place and must be maintained very carefully!) This ceased to keep the leaking at bay so she opted for the permanent one. It's 100xs worse looking than the outer one. And she STILL leaks. And, b/c she doesn't feel the urge to urinate, she doesn't check the cath bag and it fills up pretty quickly, and will leak, a lot, really fast. The bag is supposed to be strapped to her leg, but a lot of the time she just drapes it over her walker. Or drags it behind her.

She also wears a 'light' depends, and a couple of poise pads, but she can soak those in a minute if the bag is full. Also, not changing often enough adds to the UTI's...it's a constant battle.

She could use the nighttime cath bag which is about double in capacity, but is shows under her clothes and she's embarrassed.

Recently she's had some bowel incontinence, which she doesn't know I am aware of. Ugh.

All this cleaning and re-arranging of clothing makes her so tired, she just..doesn't. So the cath bags are not cleaned properly, the tubes are supposed to be sterilized and hers are lying on the bathroom floor.

She never tried plain thicker Depends with a pad in it, she says she's fine with the cath bags, but the smell it abhorrent and I can't think it's in any way comfortable. Mostly, I think she's being cheap. Money spent on bladder leakage control is money she can't spend at BINGO.

I really, really don't want to get old.
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Pattypies May 2019
Is is your mama Medicaid because they do cover the pads. Medicare, of course, does not. You might even want to try Goodwill because my sister's got quite a few of them from there for my father because I guess people buy them and they don't use them but if it was me I would be buying the pads for my mom if things were easier and make up some kind of story that a friend's mother passed away and had all these so she gave them to you
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I found that Sam's club brand is the best for my dad.

He could soak a full size bed edge to edge.

These have the latest greatest technology, I did the research and I think they are the best. Comfortable and absorbent. Best price as well.

I feel for you, I used to cry because I was so tired and then had 5 more loads of laundry for the day. Overwhelming!

Hugs, you will find a solution.
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anonymous432569 May 2019
Thank you for your information. I have read thru all comments here and am trying other brands, I went online to various sites that offer FREE samples so will try that route. Yes, it is annoying to change/wash clothing daily.
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My wife Christy sleeps naked on washable 4 x 4 cotton face bedpad with cotton sheet cover.
Has for years. Disposal briefs, diapers, are for our convenience and cause UTIs.
Sleepwear adds to the inconvenience and can be restrictive.
Yes, it can be a lot of laundry, but I have a happy, healthy wife.
UTIs are more expensive, troublesome, not fair caused by our inconvenience.

I am old, painful arms and shoulders, but I am always willing to roll Christy out of bed, pull bedding and underpads, replace bedding, shower Christy, tuck her back into a clean bed and throw the soiled bedding in the washer. Sleepwear would add to the task. Tucking arms into sleeves is a chore.
It is easy to throw the fresh 4 x 4 pad and flat sheet onto the mattress. Fitted sheets are tedious.
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Midkid58 Jun 2019
You are wonderful. Most men wouldn't even begin to take on such a chore, God bless you in your caregiving for your beloved wife.
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I used the peepodmats. three feet by five feet. It was enough for us. Still I had to do the laundry up to three times a day. But I did not have to strip the bed, only the mats.
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anonymous432569 May 2019
Thank you, never heard of those. I have jumped on AMAZON for products and received some samples but again nothing working yet.
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Just an idea, but don’t offer any fluids (4hrs or so) a few hours before she goes to sleep which may work to decrease the amount of urine she passes during the night.
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NeedHelpWithMom May 2019
Won’t work for my mother. She takes meds before bedtime. I wish I could cut back on fluids in the evening.
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Hi Helen. Oh, have been there. I found a tip a few months ago on this site. I too was using a pad and depends together for my mom and bed was soaken most mornings. It was a day of celebration when the bed was dry on a rare occasion. The tip was to score the back of the pad so that once filled with urine, additional urine would flow through the pad now that you scored through the plastic backing and into the depends. It works fantastic for my mom. Most days are dry and doing the celebratory dance more often, good luck to you. I hope this helps.
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NeedHelpWithMom May 2019
Sweetstuff,

I wondered if this could be done. A friend told me that she tried to cut a long length poise pads to a shorter size and it didn’t work, fell apart. But please explain what you mean by scoring it? Where exactly did you cut it and how much and how deep of a cut, because I have wanted to try this. It does seem like it would then be double protection. Thanks for sharing this solution.
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Generally people on the forum with problems like yours are using products that aren't easily available unless purchased on line or from specialty suppliers, if you google "free incontinence underwear" you will find a whole lot of companies that will send samples of their products to try. In the mean time you might find that the tab style brief are more absorbent that pull ups.
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anonymous432569 May 2019
Great - will try that route. Just very frustrating buying products, wasting money on items that do not work :(
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My mother finally had to have a permanent catheter installed (sounds like she was getting new brake pads--'installed') after her supra pubic cath leaked badly.

It was not to be "until she heals or gets stronger" it's PERMANENT. I've had one cath my whole life that I recall (had 5 C-sections, so they put them in and took them out before I was not numb) The one that was left in for 24 hours was one of the most awful feeling things I ever experienced and I had just gone through 48 hours of hard labor and an emergency C-section--yet it was that darn catheter I couldn't stand!

I don't know how mom lives with it!

On top of that, she wears a thin depends type thing in the day and also a couple of poise pads---she absolutely soaks everything. The nighttime cath bag holds about 3 cups, the nighttime depends holds almost 4 cups and each poise pad holds about a cup a piece. Yet she still manages to pee the bed many nights.

She makes her own bed, and I know that she has to have brother strip the sheets to the mattress frequently. He works as am EMT and I know he gets products to protect the bed that we can't get. Hospital grade, I guess.

Considering mother drinks less than 32 oz of fluid a day--I don't KNOW where all this liquid is coming from!

She has just recently become bowel incontinent. A whole new issue. She lives in an apt attached to brother's home, but the smell of old urine has permeated their entire house. SIL said she needs to get a new washer and dryer as mother has essentially ruined the ones she has, due to being skimpy with the soap and not doing extra rinses with vinegar or things that help remove the urine scent.
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anonymous432569 May 2019
Thank you for your reply. Oh my dear I am so sorry you are dealing with all of this. Thank God for this online forum to share thoughts, ideas...it is very helpful.
a quick note on your stinky smell issue, I LOVE Febreeze products, I spray most of Mom's sheets/towels, clothes and it helps ALOT in addition I add baking soda and vinegar into the wash to kill the smell, hope that helps you.
I had no idea they could put in a perm cath? we are not at that level yet.

Happy Mothers day to you and your Mom. God Bless you for caring for her. It is quite a life changing situation.
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I found the Tranquility brand Night Time works best for my husband who is night time incontinent. However, some nights, at least once a week, he gets up and pulls them down and pees on the floor in his bedroom or down the hall (as he did this morning), leaving the diaper completely dry. Anybody got a solution for this? Making me crazy! Hate to open my bedroom door in the morning, afraid of what I'll find on the other side. Don't dare go barefoot anywhere in the house! :>(
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Pattypies May 2019
Unfortunately people with dementia do that. Dealing with that with my father now and I know it's not fun. I dont know if there is a solution. What about a commode next to the bed with a light so he will go towards it. Dont know cb if it will help but it might be worth a try
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Maybe talk to her urologist and find out if she needs medication to control urine flow. Sometimes they will prescribe vesicare for a few weeks to see if that works, although generally they don't like to do that for elderly. Also, if they do prescribe, they usually give free samples.
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