Bowel movements and the UTI bacteria. Any suggestions?

Mthr is on Cholestyramine mixed into her drinks 3x day. It is a bile sequesterant which swells up in the gut and firms her stool because she has a bile problem. Hubby is on it in a different form for cholestrol removal from his gut before it is reabsorbed and it will cause constipation if there is not enough fiber in the diet. It's been a wonderful relief for mthr to have this drug since she's suffered with loose unpredictable bowels all her life.

Probiotics are used when on antibiotics to keep from getting yeast infections. Cranberry tablets help with reocurrances. Iooked up Linzess which is for constipation and IBS.

Does Mom drink coffee? If so cut it out. Same with Apple juice. See what happens. Laxatives can cause a person to become dependent on them.

Is her 'regularity' really so serious to need prescriptions? Perhaps a Miralax-type product or Senna daily would be enough. Is she on a soft-food diet? I'm not sure how it works, but maybe that, with Linzess, is over-kill. Conversation with a nutritionist might help...

I will add one thing. Stay away from the med, Augmentin. It will send your colon into an "uproar disfunction."

A daily dose of colloidal silver will help tremendously. It’s much better than any antibiotics which destroy the gut. Also you can soak or spray it in wipes to kill any bacteria in her nether regions. You can take up to 4oz twice a day for an active infection for two weeks then taper down to an oz a day.
Its all natural without side effects. I used it with my Mom and my family takes 1oz everyday. I personally use for everything, in fact it was a Godsend when I had to have a tooth pulled a few years back. The less prescription meds one takes the better they will be. For every one prescription drug one takes they need 5 more to combat the side effects of the first one. Which at times is worse than the ailment in the first place. Also, you need to drink clean filtered water not tap water which is loaded with drugs. A Berkey water filter is a terrific choice, which offers fluoride filters. Or you could just buy distilled or spring water. I myself drink nothing but distilled water with minerals added back in.
I agree with istherealyreal, the good Lord gave us everything we need in nature to heal ourselves. Wishing you the best!

She'd best be on a probiotic. My late mother had this problem~going from being tremendously constipated to having diarreha. Then she would not take the relief product. Another help is Activia.

if you do a search you should find lots of similar questions on the general subject. For many of us poor hydration and physical activity tends to lead to constipation, which we have to struggle with. I gather you must have faced the same problem. So it is a dance between extremes, and gets worse as the patient gets weaker. My wife has been put on a permanent low level antibiotic as well as a laxative in an attempt to deal with the issue. Since she is incontinent they have not been able to get urinary specimens to test, and we hesitate to traumatize her with a catheter. Our solutions may be good for a week or so then we have to tweak it again with guesswork. Good luck.

Bananas are supposed to help for diarrhea. Cheese. Lots of water. Geriatricians tell me Probiotics are great but take a couple of weeks to work correctly. One thing I noticed was that the metamucil (tablets) really worked well - kept things moving and enough fiber to bulk up any loose stool

My Mom almost died from a UTI. Now we do probiotics and cranberry pills. They are definitely helpful! Wet wipes to clean thoroughly. No ice or hot tea. I was told they make u prone to UTIs. Push fluids too.

I manage my mom's bowels with lactulose. It's a kind of stool softener and works very well and is kidney-friendly. I titrate it to the point she goes daily and it's not too loose. she only takes 5 ml -- not the 15 ml. IT takes a while to find the right dose where it is not too loose or too hard. I also found that a product called "squatty potty" works very well for her and it reminds her to bear down. Go on Amazon and search The Original Squatty Potty. Between lactulose and the Squatty Potty I can count on her evacuating her bowels around noon and 1:00 pm. She is incontinent bowel and bladder. The Squatty Potty also helps her fully empty her bladder. Also make certain she has plenty of fiber in her food. Note SOME MEDICATIONS can cause constipation, especially narcotics. Luckily I never give my mom any and I exercise her daily in the park. She loves to walk.

Apparently the doctor did get her on a probiotic, not sure which one. She’s not fecal incontenent, but when the runs hit, she can’t always make it to the toilet, and when the day came for the ER, she had gone before the night worker could get to her.
my theory now is that about a month ago when she become weak and we got her tot he ER find it her sodium was 122, she wasn’t peeing by a couple times a day. I thought UTI, not knowing about sodium, but we were at the ER before checking the urine anyway. We got her fluids and she drank Gatorade and a few days later bounced back. Then when I was able to get a urine sample, she was put on antibiotics, so we had to wait. She finished them about the time this weakness hit her, and during the last two months we have been taking her off the laxatives too since Linzess works so well. So soft poop for a while, and low sodium, so less pee, and I think it all worked toward these bacteria being super happy.

Joanne, just curious, have you done any research about probiotics? Because they do not just come into play with antibiotics.

Did you know that most of the meat purchased in grocery stores has been treated with antibiotics and they are still present when we eat them?

Just curious, because I have seen irritable bowel syndrome healed through pro and prebiotic consumption on a regular basis. The Good Lord has given us all we need to be healthy and it is not necessarily a prescription drug from a doctor. Good gut health can even handle anxiety without drugs. Just my 2 cents.

UTIs can be a nightmare and can lead to sepsis

we are managing mom's frequent recurrence with hydration, a liquid cranberry, dmannose and prebiotic supplement, and cleanliness which isn't easy since she's immobile

periodic soft stool or diarrhea is hard to avoid entirely but the above regime helps plus she eats oatmeal every morning

You haven't said if the lady is fecally incontinent. If so, it is very hard to keep the feces away from the uretha bladder opening. Timing the bowel movements may be the best bet, and an unvarying diet can help - for me, chili makes it impossible for me to control timing and urgency. If she still uses the toilet, it may be that she is not wiping well enough. I have had this problem too. Wet One wipes work better than toilet paper tissue. I have a bidet, and if it seems a problem I wash the area with soap and water. When away from home, I have managed by straddling a basin on top of a low stool.

Since I learned that my frequent UTIs were caused this way, I have taken a lot more trouble in clean-up and have not had an infection in the last four years. If I get dehydrated, I can have a burning sensation similar to a UTI, but not the lower abdomen pain, and it goes within a couple of hours after drinking a pint of water.

I hope you are successful in coping with this difficult problem.

Bacteria in the bladder is not always caused by a bowel movement. It can also be caused by not being able to void completely. Allowing someone to sit for a while longer may help. Drink more water. Take cranberry tablets, not juice. Probiotics come into play when antibiotics are being taken. But Mom continued on a probiotic and cranberry pill until her death.

I would suggest a prebiotics as well as probiotics, it functions in the lower body works. So getting both is a complete system aid.

I use a 2 in one, Swanson vitamins is a good source for good quality reasonably priced supplements.

Also more fiber and protein will help regulate texture.

I hope you find something that helps.