Can a UTI in a 94-year-old with dementia become untreatable?

also, if anyone has medicare check to see if they cover home lab visits. in my area there is a wonderful service that comes to draw blood, pick up urine samples, etc and it is covered by medicare. I always get a prescription at the last visit for the labs for the next visit. i call the home service a week ahead and the dr has the report by the day of the visit . eliminates energy draggging them around and you get what you need b/c the dr has the labs right there on day of appt. Just tell your dr to give you a prescription which you can fax to service or dr can fax.

Short answer, yes - UTI will recur if bladder is not fully emptying, if there is a stone, if there is a catheter left in place, if the person just cannot fight off infections. Diabetes does not help either. I once saw someone who drank about 3 liters a day and did meticulous catheter care have a negative culture with a Foley in place. Repeat, once. With a catheter in place, you don't necessarily treat the bacteria that usually grow in there unless they are clearly making the person ill - e.g. fever with no other explanation, a lot a lot of white blood cells in the urine, something else besides just the presence of bacteria. A few bacteria and a mildly abnormal urinalysis don't always warrant treatment with intermittent cathing either. It is not the age, but the other circumstances that would make it unable to be cleared up, only suppressed.

You can get a urinary anesthetic called pyridium that might help. And she might benefit from medication to relax the sphincter.

Sorry you are stuck with the resistant bugs - probably worth trying more fluids (unintuitive, since she is probably wishing she did not have to pee at all, let alone pee more!) and cranberry (mannose) supplements too.

elnmrp,

I am sorry to hear about your problems caring for someone with a UTI. Urinary Tract Infections are common health problems among the elderly and can be different than UTI's in the younger populations.

Here are two articles on elderly UTI's that our editors wrote that will help you when caring for your elderly loved one.

UTIs Cause Behavioral, Not Physical Symptoms in Elders
https://www.agingcare.com/articles/urinary-tract-infection-symptoms-151547.htm

Urinary Tract Infections in the Elderly
https://www.agingcare.com/articles/Elderly-urinary-tract-infections-146026.htm

Best of Luck,
Karie H.
AgingCare.com Team

Perhaps the antibs are clearing the infection up just enough to keep sepcemia at bay and leave her with a few days (weeks?) of repreieve, but never fully curing the infection, so it grows/returns again. I hope it clears up.

You can get D-Mannose(not sure of spelling) in health store, it is wonderful for chronic UTI's. It is just a capsule you take every day, not expensive. the problem with a uti in an elderly patient is they never really get over it, expecially since they are either incontinent or enough so, that they keep giving it back to themselves. an antibiotic will work for a short time, but it will come back.

My MIL has an indwelling catheter 29 months now and a UTI 29 months now. the UTI clears up somewhat when she takes antibiotics, but her bowels go crazy. With her doctor's approval, we put her on anti-diahrrhea pills 1/2 every day, sometimes 1/2 twice a day, plus acidophilus and Culturelle. Her doctor didn't want to put her on anything to clear the infection up until it made her sick. Now she has a kidney stone, blood in her urine and is in the hospital. He finally prescribed Cipro, but it's too little, too late. She's 93. I don't think she'll make it to 94.

This blog needs to be kicked back into action. Here is a little research I did.

http://www.nextavenue.org/blog/are-your-loved-one%E2%80%99s-dementia-symptoms-reversible

http://www.news-medical.net/health/Delirium-Causes.aspx

https://www.agingcare.com/articles/urinary-tract-infections-elderly-146026.htm

https://www.agingcare.com/discussions/elder-mother-walked-around-with-UTI-doctor-never-tested-her-136303.htm

http://www.parentgiving.com/elder-care/understanding-urinary-tract-infections-elderly/

http://www.aplaceformom.com/blog/unlikely-connection-between-utis-and-dementia/

https://www.agingcare.com/articles/urinary-tract-infection-dementia-155344.htm

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20716391

https://www.agingcare.com/questions/urinary-tract-infection-become-untreatable-152041.htm

You can't always go by the odor. If you want proof, eat a bunch of asparagus and check the urine odor the next day. Even skunks will run away.

mom has dementia - in care facility - constant uti's. No more meds are sensitive to the culture. The staff has to wear a safety suit and gloves to change or toilet her. She puts her hand between her legs and screams in pain after urinating. Will she just die from this and how long can she be in this pain. Because she has dementia, they don't treat her like they would a cancer patient. I don;t know what else to ask for.