recognizing and treating UTIs

Timmyd

My DW is late stage 5, early stage 6. She is still able to toilet by herself, but her hygiene is deteriorating. I am doing my best to help her stay clean and dry, but success is limited due to lack of cooperation.

From what I have read, I should expect UTIs to become increasingly common. How will I recognize when she has UTI? She is still verbal but is not good at communicating specifics.

How do I treat the UTI? The pre-ALZ way was making an appointment for our PCP, getting a urine sample, then a prescription for antibiotics. That feels like it will be an ordeal by itself.

Does anyone have advice on recognizing and treating UTIs with minimizing the need for a trip to the PCP, and urine sample?

We have a visit with her PCP in a couple weeks where I will bring up this topic, but I thought it would be good to hear other people's experience.

harshedbuzz

@Timmyd

UTIs in older women, even those without dementia, are often "silent" which is to say the individual doesn't experience the typical pain, burning or urgency. Instead, a sudden change in mental state or behavior is generally a clue. And they can be insidious in that they don't always present the same; my mom (no dementia) had 2 in 6 months that landed her in the hospital overnight. The first time her PT and I noted agitation, clumsiness and high BP while the second time she was weak, sleepy and had dangerously low BP. Both turned out to be E.coli.

We now have a standing order for a testing including a culture (critical for getting the proper antibiotic on board) and a nun's cap to use at home for collection. You'll need to supervise this to assure a "clean catch".

HB

cavenson

CVS sells Urinary Tract Infection Test Strips that claim to give accurate results in 2 minutes. The current Extra Care price is $8.63 for 3 test strips. I bought some for my DH but haven't used them because I was pretty sure he had a UTI and asked his PCP to run a test, which was positive. However, I have the test strips as a back-up.

terei

Unless she is taking some med that contra indicates taking it, (I have not run across any)IMO she should be on a daily dose of D=Mannose which is for prevention…it does no good to give it after she has an infection. It may not stop all UTI s but I am convinced it can be extremely effective cutting back her occurances.

Carl46

Another sign of UTI is unusually frequent urination. And another way to prevent them is to be sure she drinks enough water to keep her bladder flushed out. Drinking enough water is good to prevent constipation also.

I have been advised to give DW a probiotic when she is on antibiotics, to prevent diarrhea and yeast infections. DW won't eat "slimy" and sour foods like yogurt and kraut so I buy capsules at Walgreen's.

Timmyd

Thanks to everyone who responded as there is lots of very useful advice provided. I will discuss this issue and the advice I got here with our PCP next week and see if we can come up with a plan so that we are best prepared to detect and treat a UTI.