[Avocado Baby]

Hi everyone,

I've been paraplegic all my life so a used to the irregular BM's and dealing with the accidents but I moved into a flat a while ago, where the bathroom set up isn't quite as ideal as before.

At night I wear a big incontinence pad (like a nappy/diaper but I hate people calling it that) because I quite often have a BM in the night. Anyway, once I've cathed, I have to transfer from the toilet, back onto my chair to get into the showe. I've stared not taking my incontinence pad off til I get in the shower, although this is quite difficult, because I'm siitting on it (obviously) but I don't know what else to do or else you just get..erm...mess everywhere and it's disgusting and unhygeinic!

Anyone got any good tips/advice?

Thanks!

[Kwag_Myers]

Well, since no one has replied, let me throw this one at you:

Can you lay an old towel over your seat cushion and then take the towel into the shower with you to rinse it off?

[Brokeback Brenda]

perhaps you could get a shower bench that also has a commode so you can take care of all of your business right in the shower.

[Avocado Baby]

Kwag_Myers, on Jun 4 2008, 11:01 PM, said:

Well, since no one has replied, let me throw this one at you:

Can you lay an old towel over your seat cushion and then take the towel into the shower with you to rinse it off?

I could try but I'd have to put the towel in the washing machine after rinsing it.

The idea about the commode is a good one but 'the business' has already happened in my pad and it's more of a matter of getting clean rather than 'doing' the business.

Thanks for your ideas!

[qbounce]

I don't quite understand . . . you have a BM while you sleep at night then take a shower in the morning?

Why not move your BM/ shower routine to the nighttime?? I have, and it doesn't take up my precious morning coffee time!

If you already do your routine at night, but have an accident while you sleep,maybe you aren't fully evacuating everything out? Not to question your new solution, but why not take a look at why you have the problem in the first place.

[Kwag_Myers]

Pink Ali, on Jun 5 2008, 12:45 PM, said:

I could try but I'd have to put the towel in the washing machine after rinsing it.

How often does this happen? I can see it being a problem if it happens often. But if it's only once in a while, why is throwing the towel in the wash such a big deal?

The only other thing I can think of is to try disposable underpads. You should be able to get them where you get your diapers. And you can just throw them out with your diaper.



gbounce makes a good point about doing your program at night.

[Brokeback Brenda]

sorry, what I meant by 'taking care of business' was you can cath and also have easy access to your bum to clean the mess without having to sit in the mess, then you can shower--all in the same spot, just one transfer. getting your incontinence pad off would be the same as if you were on the toilet.......

[lune14]

My toilet is situated alongside my bathtub and my handheld shower will reach the toilet if I needed it. Is there some way you can reach the water faucet in the tub while you are on the toilet? If so you could just remove your pad while on the toilet and 'hose off' so to speak.

[Kwag_Myers]

lune14, on Jun 7 2008, 05:55 PM, said:

My toilet is situated alongside my bathtub and my handheld shower will reach the toilet if I needed it. Is there some way you can reach the water faucet in the tub while you are on the toilet? If so you could just remove your pad while on the toilet and 'hose off' so to speak.

Sort of a poor man’s bidet?

[Avocado Baby]

lune14, on Jun 7 2008, 10:55 PM, said:

My toilet is situated alongside my bathtub and my handheld shower will reach the toilet if I needed it. Is there some way you can reach the water faucet in the tub while you are on the toilet? If so you could just remove your pad while on the toilet and 'hose off' so to speak.

I used to do this in my old place but where I am now, the shower hose doesn't reach the toilet. I have been taking my pad off on the shower seat now cos it keeps all the mess in one place. I just need a better shower!

[gsp23]

qbounce, on Jun 5 2008, 12:16 PM, said:

I don't quite understand . . . you have a BM while you sleep at night then take a shower in the morning?

Why not move your BM/ shower routine to the nighttime?? I have, and it doesn't take up my precious morning coffee time!

If you already do your routine at night, but have an accident while you sleep,maybe you aren't fully evacuating everything out? Not to question your new solution, but why not take a look at why you have the problem in the first place.

This is exactly what I was going to say. I also changed my BM routine to evenings and makes getting ready in the mornings that much faster and I find I dont have accidents any more either. If you are having accidents frequently then you might want to check into why you are having them so frequently. If they are infrequent... well yeah we can all understand that.

[Avocado Baby]

Hiya,

Ok, maybe I need to think about my routine. I do a bowel wash out every other day. When I wake up the morning after having done it, I quite often have a leak, but not always and then on the mornings after the evenings when I haven't done it, I sometimes wake up having had an accident in the night...but again, not always.

Sometimes I have accidents during the day too and need to change.

As far as my bowel routine is concerned, I do it in the evening before I go to bed or a number of reasons. It leaves me feeling a bit bloated so it's more comfortable to go to bed afterwards to let it settle down. It also takes about an hour so I don't have time in the morning. I also got told that it works better after having had a meal, although I have to wait a while or it makes e feel sick.

My accidents are alot less frequent than they used to be before I was using this method.

[gsp23]

How long before bed are you doing you BM routine? What is your routine like? The reason I ask these questions is because certain types of things used, will continue to work for a period of time afterwards. For example, I use the MagicBullet and it begins to work within about 10-15 min for me but will continue to work for a period of time afterwards. I will do my routine and when it feels like I am done I check to make sure everything is really out. Then I go sit on the couch, etc for about an hour and then I go back to the bathroom again to make sure that nothing else is ready to come out (ie, if you dont wait long enough and something makes it through the track) and I check again to make sure I got all the leftover MB out. If you are doing a routine that leaves some chemical in there it would definatly explain leakage afterwards and potential accidents as well.

[Avocado Baby]

anks...that is quite helpful.

I don't use a chemical, just warm water. I found the leakage was much worse when I used a chemical and it's not really necessary anyway.

[Avocado Baby]

I've just a thought...I am going to try doing my procedure a bit earlier to let any leakage come out but the problem is not that accidents happen particularly at night....it's more dealing with them when they do happen. I could have at accident at any time of the day or night and still have the same problem. Am I making sense?

I think from now on I'm just going to stick to always changing on my shower seat when I've have an accident.