Number of UTI’s

ImMaggieMae

It seems like my husband gets a lot of UTI’s. He’s had 6 in the last year, the last two a month apart. How many UTI’s has your spouse had in the past year, if any? What do you think is the cause?

Ed1937

My wife is no longer with us, but she had recurring UTIs. Probably close to the same amount you're dealing with. I'm pretty sure she stopped wiping after urinating, and that probably started it. Then she became double incontinent. I think that is the biggest cause of repeated UTIs. It all comes down to cleanliness.

If the bladder doesn't fully empty when urinating, that could cause it too.

LJCHR

My dh has had several in the past year and I agree that lack of cleanliness is the reason for his. He has an ileostomy and doesn't take care to wash his hands after managing the appliance. I constantly tell him to wash his hands and he is compliant when I remind him.

It is a constant battle -

easy23

I know this is unusual but, my DH had recurring UTI's, so the urologist ordered a CT scan and did a cystoscopy. These tests showed a fistula (tunnel) from his colon to his bladder. He wound up having surgery to correct the problem.

gampiano

Hi Maggie Mae,

My husband has had 3 UTIs in the past 4 months. We change frequently, but he is terrlble about hand washing, so now i'm doing it for him. He didn't have any problems like this until he reached stage 6. The last infection was so severe that he lost the use of his legs and had tremors and was off balance. I would add that hydration is also a big factor. Lots of fluids, and maybe some italian ice, soup if he can handle it, and cranberry juice . As soon as I see a sudden change in behavior I get a specimen over to the lab. These things are insidious.

Hoping for prevention for you and your DH,

Maureen

ImMaggieMae

Maureen, these are the same symptoms with the walking, trembling that my husband got with this last UTI. But the shakiness when walking has continued. There are times during the day that he can barely stand up on his own. Other times, like this morning, he will walk to the bathroom by himself. (With me walking next to him, ready to grab him if he starts to fall.) The trembling is mainly in the late afternoon and goes along with the sundowning, or when he first wakes up in the morning. He doesn’t have it the rest of the day. But he holds on to furniture when he walks. Some of the weakness is probably due to lack of exercise. It’s hard to get him up and walking for more than just a few minutes.

One reason I ask is that I talked to a local Hospice yesterday, just looking ahead and to get information. When I mentioned UTI’s, the rep told me that if a patient has frequent UTI’s they don’t treat them with antibiotics because it means that antibiotics are no longer helping. They would let the condition follow its normal course and go into sepsis, but keep the patient comfortable until the end. That idea would be terrifying to me.

gampiano

Hi Maggie Mae,

We seem to have the same situation. After the last UTI, my DH improved ever so slowly, but he is still off kilter, Has the same walking issues as your husband. We still have trembling as you do, and everything gets more pronounced late in the day. I have a transport chair here from elder services, just in case, because we sure needed one a few weeks ago and i was caught short. Also am trying to get a ramp through the VA, as we have some tricky thresholds here even with grab bars.

I was a bit shocked to realize that we are probably at stage 7, after he was evaluated for palliative care. Hospice is great, but it is a difficult choice to make for sure. My husband has been having what sounds like mucous in his throat for some time now. I learned that this is because his swallowing muscles are thinning out.

Within a week of this assessment, he began to complain about certain foods "getting stuck", and we are now on a soft diet. I know we've been made aware of these things, but when it actually happened i felt so unprepared.

Today is our 55th wedding anniversary. He doesn't know my name, doesn't remember getting married, and can't articulate much, but he's in there somewhere.

My wish for today is that i find the stamina to continue. And that he will sleep through the night tonight.

One day at a time.

Sending hugs and kinship,

Maureen

Iris L.

Recurrent UTIs in a male are different from recurrent UTIs in a female patient. In general, the reason for recurrence should be investigated. It is possible that prostatitis seeds the urinary tract with hidden bacteria that are unaffected by antibiotics. A urologist can determine the cause. At the same time, one wants to consider how much investigation to give to a late stage patient. How invasive? IMO, if there is a reasonable treatment that can relieve pain and keep him more functional, I would consider it. UTIs can progress to urosepsis very easily in a frail patient. There is a book, Hard Choices for Loving People about this topic that has helped other members.

Iris

Joydean

Gampiano happy anniversary, hope you did something nice for yourself!!

gampiano

Thank you Iris. I will get my hands on that book. Your insight and wealth of knowledge are greatly appreciated,

Maureen

gampiano

Thank you Joydean!

MN Chickadee

Does he have prostate or bladder issues? If something is causing the bladder to not move urine fast enough it is more likely to sit and get infected. Is he drinking enough fluids? Is the lab culturing it each time? Is it the same strain of bacteria or different with each infection?

I have dealt with recurring UTIs in both parents although only my mother had dementia. She passed before we were able to figure out a solution, though we had discussed options. With my father (no dementia but countless UTIs in one year and he's elderly) he had so many in a row; the urologist was the one prescribing at the time because the initial infection was related to a urology procedure. But you can't just talk to a specialist very easily. He kept prescribing via his nurse 5 days of abx and that was it. Eventually I made an appointment with dad's primary doctor to discuss the problem. He decided to put him on a longer course of antibiotics and this did the trick. The other doctor just kept throwing 5 day courses at the problem and it wasn't working. The 10 day course seemed to wipe it out for good. There are also some medications designed to prevent UTIs and alternatively some people are put on ongoing antibiotics. My dad is now on Methenamine which makes the urine more acidic and less likely to breed bacteria. I have no idea how safe this med is for dementia, but I would discuss options with his primary doctor. Continuing to throw the same solutions at it for months did us no good.

Iris L.

After the infection is cleared, you may want to discuss D-mannose as a prophylactic with the urologist.

Iris