She refuses any bladder support and we’re at a loss

My mom is pretty advanced in her Alzheimer’s. She’s been having issues with accidents and it’s just getting worse. It’s mostly because she doesn’t want to get up and go to the bathroom. She’s always been a very biiig couch potato and her roots are very deep at this point (to put it nicely). Getting her to do anything is a massive challenge.

She won’t wear a pad, depends or anything. The only solution we’ve been able to find is to get hospital grade bed pads and hide them under a blanket in her seat and keep A LOT of clean undies on hand. This isn’t a viable solution. It’s getting very unsanitary and stinky.

We’ve tried sort of tricking her (that sounds bad) to wear them and it didn’t work. We tried telling her the doctor said she needs to wear them or she’ll have feminine issues. Which has happened before. She doesn’t care. It doesn’t work. We’ve tried bringing her to the bathroom every hour. That doesn’t work and it’s like pulling teeth.

We can’t afford outside help and already have 3 adults helping out with her daily. I feel like I’m being negligent because I can’t keep up or help her in the way she needs and she absolutely refuses to budge.

Between her potato roots, stubbornness and Alzheimer’s, I’m at a loss.

Please help.

Posted Sep 11, 2026, 3:26 PM UTC

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