My first post here. I have been reading many of your posts during the past weeks and am impressed with the care you all are giving your loved ones. It's also fascinating to me to see the amount of support the British receive when caring for their loved ones at home. Here in the US, we are pretty much on our own, unless we can afford private caregivers or the patient qualifies for hospice care.
My husband was diagnosed approximately 2 1/2 years ago. He was a busy OB-GYN when he started having difficulty with word finding and balance. Now, he cannot walk, use his hands or articulate his thoughts/needs. Fortunately, he is able to eat and drink without difficulty.
Do any of your loved ones have difficulty starting the flow of urine? Recently, my husband will feel the urge to urinate, but when I get him up on the "sit to stand lift" (he doesn't like to urinate sitting down) he cannot go. I t seems that his brain is unable to get the sphincter to relax. Usually, after several attempts he is able to relax and the flow starts. Incontinence at night seems to be a more frequent occurrence as well.
If anyone has any suggestions on how to deal with this problem, I would appreciate it.
Thank you.
Sorry. We fought that for a while. I tried everything. It's common. Trying a catheter, with much awfulness resulting, finally broke my guy of his habit of urinating, or trying to, and now he wears layered depends and we manage. He seems now unable even to know when he is urinating. Wish I had better advice. The urologist wanted to install a supra public catheter, but as fiddling with the regular kind got us to the ER, I can't see that working. You might have better luck if your husband is able to comprehend and cooperate. Best wishes to you. Ec
Thank you, EC ,for your response. We just started using the depends two nights ago, just in case of an accident. Will look into these external catheters.
Convene is the main brand. I also tried Afex, which is a rigid cup held in place with special briefs, also with a leg bag. That works fine during the day, but is no good at night, as my guy isn't aware enough to keep it in place.
Will check this out. Thank you!