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If you’ve a parent suffering from fecal incontinence, you may discover that your mother or father’s residence is in a grim condition. An elderly person with fecal incontinence can face a situation in which that medical condition leaves his or her home in a contaminated condition in what proves to be a fairly short period of time. If you have a parent that suffers from fecal incontinence, there exists a set of steps you can take to make your mother or father’s home safe, healthy, and livable.
What Is Fecal Incontinence?
The National Institutes of Health defines fecal incontinence as:
Fecal incontinence, also called accidental bowel leakage, is the accidental passing of solid or liquid stools from your anus. There may be a strong urge to have a bowel movement and no ability to control it. There also may be anal leakage that a person is not aware is occurring.
Symptoms and Causes of Fecal Incontinence
The National Institutes of Health have identified some of the most commonplace symptoms and causes of fecal incontinence:
The symptoms of fecal incontinence include a strong urge for a bowel movement and not being able to control it as well as the passing solid or liquid stool without knowing it. Fecal incontinence has many causes, including both digestive tract disorders and various chronic diseases.
What Is Urinary Incontinence?
You may have a parent that suffers from urinary incontinence. The National Institutes of Health defines urinary incontinence as:
Urinary incontinence means a person leaks urine by accident. While it can happen to anyone, urinary incontinence, also known as overactive bladder, is more common in older people, especially women.
Symptoms and Causes of Urinary Incontinence
The National Institutes of Health has identified some of the most frequently occurring symptoms and causes of urinary incontinence:
- Weak bladder or pelvic floor muscles
- Overactive bladder muscles
- Damage to nerves that control the bladder from diseases such as multiple sclerosis, diabetes, or Parkinson’s disease
- Diseases such as arthritis that may make it difficult to get to the bathroom in time
- Pelvic organ prolapse, which is when pelvic organs (such as the bladder, rectum, or uterus) shift out of their normal place into the vagina or anus. When pelvic organs are out of place, the bladder and urethra are not able to work normally, which may cause urine to leak
- There can be other causes of incontinence, a fact that necessitates consultation with a medical professional in a prompt manner, which nearly always means immediately and without delay
Discussing Incontinence and Its Effects With Your Parent
Unless your parent is incapable of appropriately understanding what is occurring in his or her life – and the fact that there exist incontinence issues does not mean that is the case – your mother or father needs to have his or her agency respected and be involved in the process of addressing the matter at hand. The reality is that discussing incontinence can be a dreadful endeavor for both you and your parent. The fact is no one happily talks about this type of health matter.
One approach that you can take in regard to discussing incontinence and its effects with your parent is to involve you mother or father’s primary care physician or another healthcare professional. Taking this course takes some of the pressure off you in regard to having this type of conversation with your mother or father. In addition, by involving a physician or other appropriate healthcare or medical professional, you better ensure that you and your parent receive suitable information and meaningful suggestions about how to deal with this type of situation more broadly.
In addition to being able to address the physical aspects of why your parent may be having incontinence issues, a physician is also able to provide resources to assist with some of the ancillary issues that can arise from this type of situation with a parent. These can even include supportive resources for family members like you who are called upon to assist an older parent dealing with a challenging matter like incontinence.
Hiring an Incontinence Cleanup Professional
Incontinence cleanup can be a challenging task. Frankly, the best course for most people to take when incontinence cleanup is needed is to retain the services of a professional. Eco Bear is an example of a company that provides incontinence cleanup services is California, Nevada, and Arizona.
Eco Bear and its team of professionals will completely eliminate all traces of an incontinence issue in your parent’s home in a thorough and safe manner. The professionals at Eco Bear will also undertake the task in a respectful and confidential manner as well. In addition, Eco Bear and its team are available around the clock and can respond to any situation immediately.
