In the beginning, Ma was a bit of a ‘dribbler’ so she’d put a ‘normal’ continence pad on when we went out. Then she caught an extremely bad flu where she coughed and sneezed so violently, she had very little control. We had to search for a pad with greater capacity. So, I chose one at the supermarket which had the most ‘drops’ coloured in (with different brands you get to choose from circles, squares and drops). Great marketing guys! Unfortunately these products were next to useless. They just didn’t do the job and the accidents continued. Horrible for Ma and extremely frustrating for me! Surely if you have the maximum number of ‘things’ on your packaging coloured in, that means you have maximum absorbency? Of course then you have colour coded packaging as well as the words light, moderate and heavy bladder leakage… Definition anyone?
I started scrutinising the packaging further…. Apparently for light bladder leakage you could have 4 circles coloured in… so what does light bladder leakage mean? A wee amount? (sorry) like maybe 50ml? or are we talking a cup? Who would know? Do you have to wee in a container and measure your wee to know what product is the best? The packaging sure doesn’t tell you what their capacity, no wrong, absorbency is! I found the market flooded with a plethora of different continence products. A bit of standardisation with their absorbency or having their absorbency on the packaging would be a help.
I gave up on supermarket items as their capacity didn’t cut it and moved on to chemist shops in my search for a solution. I remember my man and I standing in the chemist shop scanning the packaging of continence pads trying to find out which ones were the most absorbent. In desperation I resorted to my friend ‘Google’ and found the Continence Foundation of Australia. They came out to the house and assessed Ma giving valuable advice on:
- how to regulate her bowel (she suffers chronic constipation which impacts on your continence)
- obtained a multitude of free continence products from various companies;
- how to manage her incontinence; and
- filled in the paperwork for the Australian Government’s Continence Aids Payment Scheme that provides a payment to assist people that suffer permanent and severe incontinence.
After some trial and error Ma settled on the MoliCare pull up pant which has a 2250ml capacity/absorbency. They are just over $30 for a packet of 14. We get a free packet for every 6 we buy which I think is amazing! Just for the record, the MoliCare pants has only 4 drops coloured in BUT has a capacity of 2250ml! The Poise Overnight pads have 6 circles coloured in but only has a capacity of 500ml.
Tips:
- Contact the Continence Foundation of Australia, they are really helpful and the free samples are a real blessing.
- When you go out make sure you have an ‘emergency’ kit which contains a change of pad/pants or pull-up; a skirt or trouser; wet wipes and disinfectant wipes, in case there is an accident. You may never need them but it’s peace of mind.
- Accidents happen, don’t make a big deal out of it. Just clean up and move on. They feel bad enough as it is.
aged carer experience 