Few things can be as embarrassing for your elderly family member as dealing with incontinence can be. Incontinence can also get expensive and feel as if it’s something your senior is constantly dealing with all day long.
Here are ways to help reduce those hardships.
Be a Little More Understanding with Yourself
It’s frustrating to deal with incontinence. You might feel as if you need to be doing a better job with getting supplies for your senior or that you’re not being patient enough with her. Start out by being more patient with yourself. This type of issue can be a lot more taxing than most people think and it takes a lot out of you both.
Get Tips from Other Family Caregivers
There are so many reasons for you to join a support group, and this can be one. Other caregivers have been in your situation before and they can offer you advice you never even knew to ask for. They can help point you toward resources that can help you immensely, like agencies that offer incontinence products or manufacturers who help aging adults with their incontinence products.
Seek Out Product Savings
If your elderly family member has already found products that work well for her, she may not be able to be as flexible with other products that are on sale or available through bulk purchasing. Talk to her doctor about a prescription for those exact products, because sometimes that will allow insurance to pay for those products. Contact the manufacturer directly, too. They sometimes have subscription programs that make the products much more affordable.
Get in Touch with Senior Agencies
Agencies that help seniors in your community know all about the different challenges that aging adults face. They may have a program through which your elderly family member can sign up to receive her favorite incontinence products for free or for a reduced price. It’s worth investigating to see if programs like this exist in your area.
Hire Home Care Providers
It’s possible that neither you nor your senior have really dealt with incontinence before and that can make the situation even more frustrating and exhausting. Home care providers can also show you both ways that you can save time and energy while also maintaining your senior’s sense of dignity about this whole situation. Incontinence isn’t always easy or convenient to deal with.
As you and your senior get more of a handle on her incontinence concerns, managing this as an ongoing issue will become easier. Remember to keep a firm grip on your patience and your sense of humor.