UTI confusion / delusions improve after treating UTI?

Holly H

My mom has been telling all kinds of tall tales the past month - and retelling stories from the past that are all jumbled up - all combined with paranoia (neighbors watching every move) and accusations.

We are getting her checked for UTI as I type. So if it is a UTI, will the delusions resolve? For the record, she's not officially diagnosed with anything and was mostly OK just a month or two ago. (2 years of short term memory issues and word finding)

Thanks!

Quilting brings calm

My mom ended up with urosepsis because doctors failed to diagnosis  a UTI.  She ended up in the hospital for a week, and then in rehab for a month.  Then into assisted living. Before she was treated, we thought she would go straight into a nursing home. Delusions, shadowing,  would only sleep a few minutes at a time, needed help with showers and toileting, needed help walking.   That’s how bad she was.    She’s been in assisted living for 2.5 years now.  She was much better by the time she went from rehab to assisted living.   I think she eventually recovered  to almost where she was before the UTI- which means she’s either got mild cognitive decline or mild dementia.  Depending on whom you talk to. 

Every patient is different though. 

harshedbuzz

JP-

It sounds as if you are describing 2 distinct symptoms related to dementia that can exist as part of the disease process and not necessarily a function of an acute UTI. That said, if there is a significant uptick or sudden onset of a new behavior, it's always best to R/O UTIs.

Delusions sometimes ramp up with infections, but they can just be part of the disease. IME conflated memory is often just more a function of dementia. My dad had a specific kind of alcohol-related dementia in which confabulation is a hallmark- for him this started in the early middle stages around the same time as we saw some word-finding issues. Initially it felt very like he was trying to rewrite family history and especially ascribed my late sister's bad choices to me. 

Sometimes "being watched" is related to a visual processing glitch where a PWD doesn't recognize their own reflection in a mirror or lit-room window after dark but not always.

I hope you get some answers and help around this.

HB

Phoenix1966

When my grandmother had a UTI, the infection did ramp up her symptoms. However, after successful treatment, she did not “return” to where she was before. The symptoms lessened, but did not diminish by much. 

However, she was already at stage 6e with other health concerns(AFib) before the UTI. 

Holly H

Thanks - my mom calls me JP by the way.