Book: Later Stages Symptoms

For many people, as dementia progresses, they find it harder to use the toilet and may experience accidents or incontinence. This could be urinary incontinence (urine leaking by accident) or faecal incontinence (faeces leaking by accident) or both. Incontinence may be an occasional leak or a total loss of control.

For some people with dementia it may be that

·         Incontinence develops because messages between the brain and the bladder or bowel don’t work properly. This may mean people don’t recognise that they have a full bladder or bowel. They don’t recognise the need to go to the toilet.

·         The person may forget where the toilet is

·         not recognise a toilet (white bowl) when they see it

·         they may not remember the sequence of events i.e. pulling down trousers, then underwear  

·         or it may be that they associate toilets with poor smells or unpleasant memories

There are a number of reasons why people develop problems as they get older. These include various medical conditions, many of which can be treated. Possible causes include:

·         urinary tract infection (UTI)

·         severe constipation

·         side effects of medication

·         prostate gland trouble