UTI WILDNESS

MattyBoy

hey GUYS...

my MOM started acting strange (-r than usual!) the past few days... she was sleeping MUCH MORE... and her eating was LESS...

then, she started to seem off-balance and her (generally good!) walking suffered...

this scared me... i brought her to her PRIMARY CARE physician... she checked her out... she was happy with her GENERAL HEALTH... and suspected a UTI...

we did some tests... it is a UTI...

and now we started some MEDS...

her SYMPTOMS really scared me and made me believe we were onto FINAL STAGES... except for the fact that they came on so randomly and abruptly...

would love to hear some thoughts and/or stories you may have about this !!

i am really hoping these MEDS help!

Quilting brings calm

Yes.  Mom had some issues in earlier years due to a fall,  then a slight stoke in 2018. But in the summer of 2019, I noticed a lot of issues on the phone.  They decided to move from an RV to independent living.  Boy, what a mess. Confusion city, couldn’t take care of her own medications.  In sept  2019, the doctors told us it was delirium from the move.  Then they claimed dementia.  We kept telling them she was prone to UTI’s , they kept telling us she didn’t have one.  By Oct 2019, she was wandering, couldn’t clean herself up after the bathroom. couldn’t  pick out clothes or fully dress herself, didn’t want to shower. Was paranoid and delusional.  Wouldn’t sleep more than 15 minutes at a time and  shadowed us.could barely walk.  Home health thought she needed an actual nursing home.  We emergency moved them back to our home state, took her right to the ER and  she had urosepsis. Two different kinds of IV antibiotics and a month of rehab and she seemed like stage 4.

SusanB-dil

Hi MattyB - I hope the meds help.  They should.  We suspected UTI with MIL when there was a rather sudden increase in agitation, irritation, and overall more cranky, (ugh!) and yes, maybe a bit more unsteady walking.  2 weeks of antibiotics, but even after maybe 3rd day (approximately), she was doing much better.  

We are 99.9% sure she isn't cleaning as well as she should, so we know we really need to keep an eye out for any really unusual changes.  A UTI can wreak havoc and cause a myriad of issues.

editing to add - to QuiltingBC - so sorry they didn't listen to you in the first place. That's just frustrating!!

Ed1937

My wife had recurring UTIs, maybe 5 or 6 a year. One she had resulted in over the top confusion, and while I was trying to help her get on the porta-potty, I think she thought I was trying to rape her, not knowing who I was. She was screaming at the top of her lungs, but luckily no neighbors heard her. She wound up in the hospital for 3 days until it was under control. I put her on TheraCran One, which seemed to be the trick. She went about a year with no UTI, then finally got another one - then another one. I bought a bidet, and I think the combination of the bidet and TheraCran One is now keeping her UTI free. I picked up the tip on TheraCran One on another forum, and I'm sold on it. There are other supplements available online, if you'd rather try them. Just Google UTI supplements. Best of luck to you.

Rescue mom

One of the really bad things about UTIs in elderly is that they do not have the pain many of us (especially women) had. The elders often have no such pain, but do have the infection.

Several facilities I know test for UTIs immediately when they notice abnormal behavior that “comes from nowhere”; or when they see bad/off behavior with no other apparent reason. I’m told they usually find a UTI, and antibiotics fix infection and behavior.

Wild-West

Yes! Yes! Yes! So many UTI's, so little time. ER UTI's, hospital UTI's. No sooner does mom end a round of antibiotics, than she has another infection. We also got a bidet and the cranberry concentrate gel caps, and that seems to have helped. Her behavior gets so bizarre when the infections kick in. My usual sweet little mom gets mean and cranky, and hallucinates wildly. As mentioned, she doesn't feel pain, so it's been weird. The hard part for me is always trying to figure out if it's a UTI or the progression of disease.

Malka

My LO has had only one bad UTI. Fever, delusions, etc. I thought he had gone over the edge. Fortunately, he didn't. His doctor told me to buy the UTI Home Test kits to use whenever things started not to feel right. Dizzy, do the UTI test, stomach hurts, UTI test. These home tests have saved my LO and me dozens of hours in the ER and days of who knows what else. This doctor gave me very sound advice. The doctor makes me bring a catch so they can send it to the lab, but will always give me an antibiotic to start if the home kit tests positive. Once it took 4 different antibiotics to get the UTI to go away for good.

May flowers

I’d like to use a home test, but there anyway to get a urine “catch” if they are incontinent in diapers?

I asked hospice for a UTI test  before we went on a short vacation as I suspected he had one, and was told it would happen. Now a week later, just getting home, I am convinced - he is very agitated, uncomfortable, and his urine is really strong smelling.  I had to call back today to request again. Frustrating. 

toolbeltexpert

Malka wrote:

My LO has had only one bad UTI. Fever, delusions, etc. I thought he had gone over the edge. Fortunately, he didn't. His doctor told me to buy the UTI Home Test kits to use whenever things started not to feel right. Dizzy, do the UTI test, stomach hurts, UTI test. These home tests have saved my LO and me dozens of hours in the ER and days of who knows what else. This doctor gave me very sound advice. The doctor makes me bring a catch so they can send it to the lab, but will always give me an antibiotic to start if the home kit tests positive. Once it took 4 different antibiotics to get the UTI to go away for good.

Malka did the doctor recommend a certain brand of test strips. I didn't know they had them till I read this post.thanks

MattyBoy

hey... thank you, GUYS !!! your thoughts and suggestions (as usual!) have been extremely HELPFUL and COMFORTING...

we are in SECOND DAY of MEDS... she is sleeping a lot (makes me uncomfortable, but i am "breathing" through that!)... but, when i give her some light food and water, she is receptive... and looks more "resting" than ILL...

hoping for a TURNAROUND... but trying to stay COOL and allow some APPROPRIATE TIME...

THANKS AGAIN !!