How to manage minor incontinence?

My mother is almost 80 years old, is of sound mind and good health. However, for the last year or two she has been having water trouble in that as soon as she feels she has to go to the toilet she has to go and is unable to wait on occassions.

This is hampering her life to a large degree and is embarrassing for her. Are there any methods of managing this?

Unfortunately this is a common problem for many women. If she has not been seen by a urologist, I would recommend you ask her GP to refer her, to find out if there is an underlying cause.

Not sure if you are in the UK, but if so, try to find your local continence service - ask your GP or practice nurse. They have specialist practitioners who teach patients pelvic floor exercises and can help identify if there are any causes for the incontinence which can be modified. Also, if it's appropriate, your mother may be able to get continence pads on the NHS, they can be ordered in all sizes, even if she just needs a small one to contain urine until she reaches the toilet. This can help, as incontinence pads can be very expensive if you are using 3 or 4 per day.

Hope this helps.

They sell pads that are made especially for women who have incontinence and she should be wearing them. It's NOT embarrassing at her age to have minor incontinence. In fact women much younger, even in their twenties, sometimes experience this on a chronic basis. They have several medications that can help so the urge isn't so frequent but in my opinion they don't work good. The best thing is just to admit that you need to wear a pad and do it. They do not all look like the typical Attends or Depends in the Diaper fashion. For women with minor incontinence, the pads are much smaller almost the size of a menstrual pad. And I'd recommend that you buy her wet wipes (baby wipes) to use also as they clean good when you get urine on you. And I'm talking from personal experience. She can talk to her doctor about it too, but at her age she may not want to start doing Kegal exercises unless she is in good health. When she has a pad in place, and she no longer gets urine on her clothes, she'll feel much better overall. Best of luck for her!

I would try to get her to chat to her doctor, just in case there is a medical reason of the incontinence that could be treated. To give her some reassurance she could try using some of the very discreet incontinence pads, such as Tena, which are available to buy from pharmacies

Best of luck.

buy a chamberpot to keep near her.

go to a urologist. try doing muscle control.