Can a UTI really trigger dementia? What other issues could cause memory loss?

Interrupted sleep where an elderly persons body and mind never gets to experience R.E.M. sleep which is supposedly restorative. I think a body needs approximately 4 solid uninterrupted hours of sleep as well as 8 dark hours without blue light . Wacky stuff happens with cells. It makes sense because both my folks have Alzheimer’s symptoms and they both never fell asleep until wee hours of the morning . They both disrupted each other’s sleep in some way as well. That’s why it’s bad to get into a clinical setting to restore health with elders that are cognitively declining unless the institution has learned of this circadian rythem issue.

Yes, UTIs can cause various issues with behavior and mental issues.
I went over and over with my sister about this but she would not listen
Ourge daughter is an RN. I've talked with Mom's Doctors and have our daughter go over the tests.
Per our daughter who would check on her Grandma until our daughter moved here to Texas; UTIs especially people with diabetes, will never ever get grid of them....EVER!
Tge toxins created with kidney failure stays in the blood system. Because of the diabetes, the brain is the final organ for the toxins to attack.
I know when things are starting up with the UTI because Mom will accuse people of things that have never happened and becomes very aggressive as well as her memory goes haywire.
If Mom starts to complain of pains in her side or hurts when she urinates....signs that the UTI is attacking. Get her to the doctor or hospital!!

I posted this in another thread, but it might be useful here as well.
My 97 yr old mother has been prone to UTIs for years. She takes antipsychotic medication. Two things make her goofy, a UTI and morphine. Now a third issue has popped up. A month ago she begin hallucinating after being admitted to the hospital for heart failure due to excess fluid around her heart and lungs. I was assured she was not given morphine while in the hospital, and that she did not have a UTI. Turns out the hallucinations, weakness, and dementia was from kidney failure brought on by the new medication for the heart failure that she received in the hospital (I had no idea hallucinations can be a symptom of kidney disease). She's been off the new meds for a week now and the hallucinations are gone. However, her short term memory and the ability to read and play games have deminished considerably. Medication was lisinopril, furosemide, potassium.

In the past twenty years the morphine and UTIs (also Abilify) have caused severe dementia to the point where we considered placing her in a memory care facility only to have her rebound to nearly normal. Each event seems to be the final slide into obivion, and yet she bounces back.

Bless your heart, Lizzy! Sending you a hug and prayers :)

Yes is the answer. both my parents were in the same situation as your mom. dad and mom both 93. Dad got a terrible infection UTI, and when I took him to the hospital he knew me and still was my dad if you know what I mean. after three weeks of all types of medicine, I went one day to visit him and he didn't know who I was. he had no memory of a wife and family. he was quiet and lost is the best way to describe it. I was heart broken. speaking with the specialist he told me that as seniors become older their bodies cant fight off disease, germs etc as it did when younger.

mom a few weeks after dad came down with the same systems. she also did well with the medications after a month or so.
from hospital to rehab and than to my home to care for them.
they were never the same.
their dementia, alztimers began to grow rapidly. after a short period of time they were living in their own little worlds.
dad died a few months ago and mom passed away three weeks after dad.
I also was in denial but I had to come to terms that my parents bodies and mind were preparing to leave this life and go to the next journey of their life.
I love and miss them both so much

My 97 yr old mother has been on antianxiety meds for decades and she's had numerous UTIs in the last 10 years. The UTI can cause memory loss and many other psychotic issues. Over the years she has had severe dementia so bad we feared she couldn't care for herself. But as soon as the infection cleared up, she'd be back to normal again. We also learned she can't tolerate Morphine. It gives her horrible nightmares and haluciations. I truly believe your mother is going through a temporary stage. Get a new doctor and get her out of the hospital as soon as possible.

Some medications that treat various illnesses can cause temporary dementia. My mother was given high doses of furosemide and prednison to combat a lung infection and, while this cleared up the infection, she was thrown into a demented state. She knew us but everything was a question......Am I supposed to get out of bed, Am I supposed to get dressed, eat, etc. She did not remember that she uses oxygen so kept turning the machine off. It took an entire month before she came back to normal. It was very scary but was so sudden that I suspected it was the medication. Sure enough this cause was confirmed by her primary care physician.
She also had temporary loss of hearing after taking antibiotics for another lung infection.
Shop around until the right doctor can give a correct diagnosis or give it some more time.

Hi EeeBee. Hope things are getting better for you. My MIL in her mid-70's had a UTI that landed her in the hospital unaware of who she was, who we were, or who her husband of 53 years was. It was very painful to watch an intelligent, spunky, fun woman turn into what appeared to be a patient with complete Alzheimers in just a matter of a few days. We were told the hospitals see this often with elderly patients and are not sure why it happens when a UTI is present. Once the UTI cleared, it took a few weeks for her to be fully cognizant again. Stay strong. You will remain in my prayers.

As Snow mentioned, it is delirium and not dementia. But when a caregiver observing,it is just as frightening and dramatic. Amazes me how little Dr.s know about this and quickly throw out ALZ meds.

Your mom's situation sounds very similar to mine...I have been with her for 2 weeks since her discharge from a 4 week hospitalization. She had a fall at home in bathroom , went to ER, happy , talkative, seemingly uninjured and no identified trauma. However, a UTI was noted and she was given a very strong antibiotic ( a black box drug) with an immediate psychotic reaction, severe confusion, increased fall risk and incontinence. She was then diagnosed as encephalopathy and acute renal failure due to Levoquin Toxicity. The Levoquin was discontinued . However, She has not returned to her baseline level (driving independently, paying her bills, managing her own diabetes and insulin) after 6 weeks. In fact she cannot perform simple things like how to put n her dentures or change her incontinence brief. She is a little better everyday...but also very flat, not talking much, quite depressed in her presentation. So, might want to check out her treatment of the UTI as much or more than the UTI!

A great preventative to geriatric UTI’s would be drinking an once or two of colloidal silver everyday along with a good probiotic supplement.
And remember for every RX drug taken you’ll need at least three more to offset the side effects. My advice stay away from docs and RX drugs, your live a much happier, quality life.

Yes it can. it is very common for seniors to get UTI and the older the more dangerous it is to them according to the hospital specialists. dad 92 went into the hospital not feeling well. his mind was fine when we took him in. once they finally got rid of the infection dad was a different person. confused, not sure of things . very forgetful and lost most of his memory. he than got it again a few months later and that was a really bad one. he was in the hospital for quite a while. and came out not knowing me. than mom gets it while dad was in the hospital. I was running from one floor to another in the hospital for almost a month... mom became as confused as dad. very sad . you should tell your doctor to test her urine. they told me to watch the smell, and color of the urine and the thickness of the urine . that's how you can tell if they have or are getting one. best of luck....

Snowcat60 your statement is not entirely accurate. Though often they both might happen. A Geriatrition was wonderful helping to balance mother's meds. Removed some to settle the delirium. Then we conquered the uti. Nobody has mentioned that the very potent antibiotics they throw at tge patients mess up the patient additionally. Probiotics can help and may be needed up to 6 months out from the last antibiotics. Perhaps adding natural Probiotics can help. Found in some yogurts, avoid sweetened ones, and kombucha..a little at a time. Remember also often dehydration can be the initial culprit for a UTI. Likewise delerium..memory problems , etc. And Dementia is not just the one symptom of memory loss but many other signs. As it gets worse, ADLs suffer as well as the abilities to communicate and so on. Prayers for your mom Eebee.

UTI’s can cause delirium not Dementia. These are two different things.

Ultram, the new replacement for hydrocodone in the US, caused me to have bladder spasms and I couldn’t completely empty my bladder. Other meds have also had this effect. If a dementia patient takes this pain pill and it has a similar side effect, they could be getting one UTI after another.

This is happening with my mom. Some doctor told her Ultram isn’t addictive (it most certainly is) so she has it in her mind that she’s sticking with the Ultram. She says it helps her pain and I can’t argue with her.

So once a month, she gets her UTI and goes on a rampage. It’s very tiresome for everyone involved.

Another point I’d like to bring up is doctors who leave patients on strong drugs and twenty years go by and doc hasn’t taken ten minutes to make an informed decision and discontinue the drug(s) PROPERLY. I wonder if they even think ‘Does this patient still need this drug at this time?

After my recent prolonged illness I had begun thinking about that. I realized I was taking three drugs with a big dose of steroids in each. I stopped taking them. At my OV with my internist I told him I’d stopped taking those. He took me off my BP med because my pressure was 110/70! Also I had a very fast pulse over the last few years that has dropped to normal range, so steroids can cause racing pulse...

This is the third time I’ve had to overhaul my meds. Because basically I’m sent to a specialist who prescribes another Rx or 2. Then before you realize it, the drug wars are going on in your body!

The worst drug I ever withdrew from was Paxil. It took two months to get off Paxil completely. I had to use a razor blade and remove a tiny slice daily, to very slowly taper down. I still felt like I was losing my mind.

Never again will I take an antidepressant! It was awful!

My mom would have recurring UTI's to the point of hospital ization, and doctor said every time she had one, it would just continue to make her dementia worse...which it did. So hard to tell in the elderly when they have one! Also, the new surroundings..hospital...can make her not know where she is also. Make sure they did get the urine culture...they probably did. Sounds like the meds, on, off, and new ones could be affecting her perhaps too. So hard! My mom is now in full time dementia care unit, in wheelchair, Hoyer lift too, after 2 hospital stays because she was too weak to stand, and incontinence, and sundowning...up All nite! I had no choice, couldn't bring her back home. Way too difficult for just me! Sigh! She's adjusting after a month now.

Caroli1, The reason, imo, that it has been said that cranberry juice is useless, is that most,if not all, commercial juices are not concentrated enough in the substance that naturally occurs in cranberries, namely D-mannose. It's a "sugar" that can be purchased in nutrition shops in a powdered form. It prevents the bacteria that cause uti from "sticking" to the urinary tract. For some, it may not cure it, but once a uti is conquered with antibiotics, can be preventative of futher infections. Don't take my layman's word for it. Google it!

EeeBee, A UTI usually causes symptoms of burning, urges, painful urination, itching, but not always in elderly people. If they are not aware of they symptoms or they are not that severe, the person does not raise concerns to their dr.

So, the untreated UTI's bacteria increases exponentially and quickly and a person can become septicemic ... in which other body systems are affected and if continued to be untreated can shut organs down. But as the bacteria multiple, usually (often because of the burning/painful urination), the person also drinks much less and also becomes dehydrated, so they have a lack of all the minerals necessary. One of those is sodium. Hyponatremia (low sodium) can definitely cause altered mental status and confusion.

Having dementia, can worsen the recognition that there is a UTI in process.

I just checked and there is actually a kit you can by online for urine testing strips for infection, very inexpensive. Maybe a good idea to have on hand for those caring for LO's at home.

UTI exacerbates Moms dementia, but a stroke caused it. We didn’t know the signs so didn’t take her in for the first 6 hours causing more short term memory, cognition loss.

I understand that UTI's can make sudden changes. I myself (I'm 72) have been on as many as 5 psych drugs at a time for 30 or 40 years. I can imagine that going off suddenly would be very distressing. If she has been on them for so long, she must have a diagnosis written down somewhere. Does she have a current psychiatrist or can you find one who is knowledgeable about elderly issues? It does seems like a bad situation for a regular MD to be mixing and matching the psych drugs with stuff for UTI's. Maybe she needs less of the psych drugs, but it needs to be prescribed by a psychiatrist. Good luck.

Betsey

@RosMus This is so true. Even when Mom seemed to be talking out of her head, I had been there earlier and I knew her point of reference. She wasn't talking out of her head; she made sense only to the person who had been there.

I'd find a new doc pronto! You don't wean someone off their anti-psychotic meds COLD TURKEY. WOW. I'd look up the drug sheet and what going off of it means. Or call the pharmacist.
Uti, dehydration and poor diet can contribute to a lot of problems.
Talk to the care team at the monthly care plan meeting. They might let you conference call in, if you can't get there. I Don't know they do that, but you can ask.
I worry that she had psychotic symptoms so they put her on med/s for that. What is the long term effects of that med alone? Interactions with other meds?
She might come around after her body re-adjusts to being off the med. It might take awhile. I'd let care team know she went off med cold turkey too. I think that seems cruel. But maybe the med is short acting and has no residual effects? You can find that out on the drug sheet. They have them online too. Good luck.

My mom has Lewy Body dementia. She gets a UTI at least every other month. She has been on medication to prevent UTI’s, but it doesn’t work. We can always tell when she has a UTI, because she gets very confused and it just knocks her dementia out of whack. My mom’s problem is, she doesn’t empty her bladder out and so bacteria grows and makes her have a UTI. She can go all day and not use the bathroom, but when she sleeps at night, that’s when it all comes out. We change bed sheets every morning. She wears 2 pull-ups all the time now.

absolutely! I've experienced it with my mom (97) no regular UTI symptoms like burning etc. confusion, and the like were very abnormal. tested for UTI - positive, got antibiotics and cleared up the confusion.

EeeBee,
I'm sure 99.9% of these posts are affirmative which is very true.
UTIs also effect men!
Once the onset of either dementia or Alzheimer's kicks in, the issues then become hygiene and eating habits. If one is not getting the hydration needed, then they don't urinate, toxins effect the kidneys, the blood which effects the brain.
The longer the infection goes without treatment the more recurrent it becomes. There will never be a complete recovery from this as antibiotics will no longer help due to their system no longer reacting to treatment.
This will cause extreme mood changes, more toward anger, agitation to physical combativeness.
I learned this very quickly this past month with my Mother. I had to learn and experience via on the job training. I live out of State and things being what they were for the past few years; I was never informed about the situation until it was all dropped into my lap.
I went home the 1st week of April thinking Mom had dementia only to find out she has Diabetes 3 Alzheimer's....a new and improved catagory!
The first week of May, me and my husband went back to deal with issues only to have an episode I truly had not expected or experienced with Mom.
I knew about the UTIs, but I didn't know the signs to look for when the onset of the infection would be noticeable. Had to call 911, get Mom to the hospital where they had to treat her for no less than 2 infections because the panels were not revealing the exact cause. Mom did physically attack me while I was helping the EMTs, but rather me than them and just part of the course.
Come to find out from my sister these UTIs were happening very frequently and I was experiencing what she had with Mom.

EeeBee, there are so many things that affect dementia/Alzheimer's that it's like reading a menu at a Chinese restaurant. Choose from column(s) A, B, C.
Talk with the doctor. Set an appointment for just you to have a lengthy discussion about everything that can possibly cause issues...it can be good too.
When we were with Mom last month, she played her last hand her doctor gave her and I had to place Mom/stepfather in an assisted group home...stepfather has progressive dementia.
Science doesn't know 100% what causes these conditions. What they do know is that they are not caused by metallic exposure as was claimed about 4-5 decades ago.

EeeBee, i would get an integrative MD on board who integrates more current research and will try things out. Dr Bredesen says Alzheimers involves the overhaul of approx 30 different things going on with the body and labs... And many people are experiencing a reversal of symptoms as well as a reduction and improvement in managing the conditions involving a variety of behavioral health conditions. As is the work of William Walsh on Epigenetics and Autism which his research initially included Alzheimers but older adults were less likely to apply the protocols than young parents with autistic children who were very compliant...

How much fluid is she getting? Being dehydrated can trigger disorientation, spaciness, etc. my husband is very sensitive to fluid changes and acts the same way.

To add to all of the confusion, the antibiotics she was treated with may have had a hand in this problem. You say she rarely has taken them; antibiotics can cause neurological symptoms in patients and on top of that your mom was on a lot of other meds. Things can get toxic. Someone mentioned cranberry. Just read up on everything your mom is taking. Some drugs, like dilantin, will contraindicate the use of cranberry. Consider cranberry like any other drug; it isn't always safe. Put together a memory book for her...pictures of close family members, pets, etc. to help her as her meds are reworked and things progress. I'm not a doctor, but I'm inclined to think this sudden condition is related to her sudden stop to all her meds. Who does that?

I have personally experienced the "confusion" with UTI with my mom. She is now 87 and still drives (very short distances) and is very healthy. But when she was 85, she got a UTI that would not go away and she became very confused and couldn't remember something that happened even a few minutes ago. She was definitely not herself. When the UTI cleared up, so did the confusion. I don't know the effects of the other drugs your mum is taking over such a long period, but I want to give you hope that maybe when they clear up the UTI she will be more back to "normal." Thoughts and prayers are with you.

As someone else already mentioned, for a change of mental state associated with illness or hospitalization, this is almost certainly delirium.

A UTI generally can't cause dementia but easily can cause delirium, and delirium can take a very long time to resolve, especially in people who have dementia or whose brains are otherwise vulnerable. We do see a certain number of people who are not diagnosed with dementia prior to hospitalization (although if we dig into the history and prior symptoms, we almost always find evidence that the person was not entirely normal before hospitalization) but then the dementia gets "unmasked" during or after hospitalization. People with all forms of cognitive impairment are at higher risk for developing delirium, and it's associated with acceleration of cognitive decline too.

Being inattentive or spaced out is a cardinal feature of delirium.

Many of us in geriatrics would say it's not really appropriate to definitively diagnose someone with dementia during hospitalization...technically one should wait until delirium has had a chance to resolve.

Now is the UTI the only thing going on, that's a good question to consider. Sounds like there is a comprehensive evaluation going on.

I must say I'm surprised they would stop antipsychotics cold-turkey like that...someone who has been taking them for 30 years presumably has a significant mental health condition that would predate any dementia.

Eeebee, hope your mom gets better soon.