Alzheimer’s disease and incontinence

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia and is a physical disease of the brain. People with Alzheimer’s lose certain mental functions such as memory, judgement and language. This loss of mental function can affect the ability to control the bowel and bladder. Approximately 60 – 70% of people with Alzheimer’s  develop incontinence problems.

Incontinence is not an inevitable symptom of Alzheimer’s. It is important to visit a health care professional who can assess whether incontinence is related to the disease or if there is another reason and possible treatment to prevent or manage it. For example treatable, causes of urinary incontinence include urinary tract infection or the side effects of some forms of medication.

If a person with Alzheimer’s experiences incontinence  there are a number of reasons that can explain this:

• The correct signals that are usually sent to the brain to tell a person that they need to go the toilet may not be getting to the brain or the sufferer may not be able to recognise what the feelings mean.
• Not being able to move in time to reach a toilet.
• Not being sure where a toilet it is. Maybe the sufferer can’t remember where the toilet is or the toilet is no longer where they expect it to be.
• Not being able to identify objects correctly. A confused sufferer may not be able to identify what a toilet looks like and this may result in the person going to the toilet in the wrong place.