You don’t mention how long your mother has had Parkinson’s disease, but I would ask you to consider this, that Parkinson’s disease can sometimes lead to a form of dementia (organic brain failure).

Your mother may not be ‘lying’. She may simply not recognise the signals that she’s getting, telling her that she needs to empty her bladder.

In my own experience, one of the things that you might like to try is getting your mother to sit on the toilet every few hours, just to see if she can pass anything. Although it may cause some ‘disagreement’ between you as to why you’re requesting her to keep going to the toilet, it will aid in your fight against incontinence. (I apologise unreservedly if I’m ‘jumping the gun’ here. I’ve certainly no wish to cause undue anxiety with regards to any untoward assertions that I may be accused of making.)

I wish both yourself and your mother the very best of luck and good health.

First of all, take a look at the following website which lists several identifying categories:

http://www.healthinaging.org/public_education/eldercare/10.xml

Your mother might need the addition of magnesium to her alternate health care regimen. Like Kegeling, this addition helps to strengthen those muscles. Please consult her doctor.

Over the years of tending to a family some women have developed a tendency to ignore their bodies’ signals to stop and pee. (Just have to wait until this comes to a boil. Just want to get these last dishes washed. I’m in the basement folding laundry, when I’m done…) We build up a tolerance for denying the signals until it is convenient. As our bodies age and lose muscle tone, the ability to ignore is overridden by the need to go. But we forget what the signals are.

It is possible that when she does urinate she is not completely emptying her bladder and therefore is always receiving those signals. sometimes that addition of magnesium (rather than the pharmaecopis with all of those side effects) may be just enough to help her empty her bladder each time she does go to the bathroom.

You might want to know if she is also constipated because that can give confusing signals to the body.

You want to help her resolve this issues as she has plenty which cannot be totally resolved with PD. In the meanwhile, make sure that she does have a supply of pads for dribbling protection when she does not get to the bathroom in time.

There are other reasons for the impaired ability to recognize the need to urinate. Check the site below from the Mayo Clinic:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/urinary-incontinence/DS00404/DSECTION=causes

The signals which she is not receiving may be caused by lack of her ability to get the message.

Her problem is not uncommon with PD patients.

Best of luck to you both.