I don’t know what to do about this?

[Lebowski6715]

  My brother who had a severe stroke , motor skills speech , short term memory has been either severely limited or gone completely.  He is living with my sister who is 76 and she is having to do a lot for him . The biggest problem is he constantly has to go to the restroom. I have taken him to urologist and he has had a colenoskopy done they say everything is normal. I believe it’s in his head due to the stroke.  Now the problem I need to find him something to do during the day to tire him he sleeps all day and stays up at night going to the bathroom every hour.  What can I do to help?

[Sara_MHModerator]

Hello and welcome to the forum.  Thank you for the question and I'm so sorry to hear about your brother. I appreciate a family of siblings who take care of each other. This has to be very hard on all of you.  Do you have any type of person coordinating things for him like a social worker or rehabilitation coordinator? Does he still receive any rehab care? Some guidance from them would be so helpful here.

If I'm understanding you, the issue is he feels he has to go to the restroom every hour and this is at night. And because of the limitations post stroke, this is hard on your sister in charge of getting him into the restroom for this? Days and nights are also flipped. Is he depressed? I would think he may be. This is very hard to have your life upended like this. It sounds like he has had a upset in his internal clock. Anything that keeps him awake during the day is helpful.  Even if it is constantly bugging him a bit. This may initially agitate him but could switch things. He likely wakes and does a lot of drinking later at night as well which does not help the urge to use the restroom. Is he anxious? That also can increase the desire to go to the restroom. Sleep aids or medication during the day should obviously be avoided. It may take some time.  Is your sister or others home with him during the day?