He may well have asymptomatic bacteriuria rather than a true UTI.
This basically means chronically having bacteria in the urine. It becomes very common as people get older, in part because the immune system gets weaker with age. For this reason, it's really not appropriate to diagnose an older person with a UTI solely because a urine culture is positive. Instead, clinicians are supposed to check for symptoms like belly pain, pain with urination, and so forth.
Treating this condition with antibiotics does not improve outcomes.
I've written an article about it on my site, which has lots of links to the research and also some advice on how to determine whether an older person does have a UTI that should be treated. (It can be hard to tell in many cases.) Or you can learn more by searching online. good luck!
Several months is - - several months too long to have a UTI.
My DH kept getting Thrush-Mouth until I found out to put him on Candida Control. Dehydration causes a lot of infections to keep coming back. It's hard to get the elderly to drink fluids - I know because my DH is 96 and it's a struggle. Why? Because then they have to pee more so the "logical" choice is to drink less. *sigh*
A good probiotic would help and did you know they're supposed to be refrigerated? I didn't and had to buy all new when I found out.
The above suggestions by freqflyer and JoAnn29 are well stated.
An 82 year old woman with breast cancer once told me to start buying cans of cranberry sauce-no matter the brand or the cost, cheapest is ok- and eat 2-3 tablespoons per day. She said I would never, ever have UTI problems in my life if I stuck to her advice. Claimed kidneys will love it! Well.....she was right!
My father's body has been living with a UTI for 8 months. His body can no longer tolerate antibiotics (nearly died twice from diarrhea due to those hospital stays!). I have tried a series of Oil of Oregano (natural antibiotic) 3x/day for a month as well as MANY other natural remedies. That worked for a while. At some point though, as we're experiencing now, the body's degeneration doesn't cooperate. He has chosen to just live with it now (no more hospitals or urgent care or doctors). He's done trying and he seems to be doing just fine (!). No pain, always a good appetite... One of his nurses said some live with UTIs for years. I was shocked and had no idea about that...
Janet, take Dad to an urgent care facility and have them run a UTI test on Dad. Normally once the bacteria is identified then the antibiotic assigned will clear up the UTI. In the past, was there a 3 day wait before finding out what bacteria was the culprit? The wait is due to having the bacteria grow in the lab so it can be identified.
Then the facility will give Dad directions on how to keep the UTI from coming back. Such as if Dad wears Depend type garments, he needs to change frequently during the day. Cranberry juice is also recommended. My Dad's caregiver use to mix the cranberry juice with orange juice as the cranberry can have quite a bite.
When Mom was found to have a UTI they used a catheter to get all the urine out of her bladder. Then they used antibiotics. She was put on probiotics because of the antibiotics and cranberry tablets. Both were given to her till her passing. Problem with the elderly is they don't fully void. UTIs are serious for men more so then woman.
Cranberry Juice but make sure its organic not the supermarket stuff. Go to a health store. My husband is bedridden and it did work for him without antibiotics. As the above poster says, it is bitter when its the real thing, but mix it with something else or sweeten with sugar. The regular tetra pack stuff is often pasteurised or has preservatives which impact on the active ingredient. Best wishes
See if your dad's doc will prescribe Methenamine Hipp 1 gm/day. I read about it on AgingCare.com from someone who tried it for their parent with chronic UTI's. Mom would get them and get kind of crazy but when we would add the antibiotic become fully demented. I asked her doc to prescribe it and he said sure. This was in late Sept and she hasn't had one since even with occasional bowel incontinence. It alters the pH of the urine slightly so bacteria can't live in the urinary tract. It's difficult to give OTC cranberry stuff because in ALF Memory Care everything has to go through nurses giving them meds ordered by their dr so you can't ask them to do it. It was a positive change and cleared her cognition up a lot.
My wife is just getting over a UTI. For 5 or 6 days she didn't know who she was our where she was. Finally after 5 different IV antibiotics she began to come back to life. UTI's can't be taken lightly.
Tricky problem to have. Sometimes a catheter is necessary but catheters allow certain germs to "march right in." Also, before you try various herbal remedies check for drug interactions. I was going to try cranberry pills for my dad, but learned it would create a serious problem due to the fact that he was on dilantin for a seizure disorder. Hope you find something that helps.
This basically means chronically having bacteria in the urine. It becomes very common as people get older, in part because the immune system gets weaker with age.
For this reason, it's really not appropriate to diagnose an older person with a UTI solely because a urine culture is positive. Instead, clinicians are supposed to check for symptoms like belly pain, pain with urination, and so forth.
Treating this condition with antibiotics does not improve outcomes.
I've written an article about it on my site, which has lots of links to the research and also some advice on how to determine whether an older person does have a UTI that should be treated. (It can be hard to tell in many cases.) Or you can learn more by searching online. good luck!
My DH kept getting Thrush-Mouth until I found out to put him on Candida Control. Dehydration causes a lot of infections to keep coming back. It's hard to get the elderly to drink fluids - I know because my DH is 96 and it's a struggle. Why? Because then they have to pee more so the "logical" choice is to drink less. *sigh*
A good probiotic would help and did you know they're supposed to be refrigerated? I didn't and had to buy all new when I found out.
The above suggestions by freqflyer and JoAnn29 are well stated.
I have tried a series of Oil of Oregano (natural antibiotic) 3x/day for a month as well as MANY other natural remedies. That worked for a while.
At some point though, as we're experiencing now, the body's degeneration doesn't cooperate.
He has chosen to just live with it now (no more hospitals or urgent care or doctors). He's done trying and he seems to be doing just fine (!). No pain, always a good appetite...
One of his nurses said some live with UTIs for years. I was shocked and had no idea about that...
Then the facility will give Dad directions on how to keep the UTI from coming back. Such as if Dad wears Depend type garments, he needs to change frequently during the day. Cranberry juice is also recommended. My Dad's caregiver use to mix the cranberry juice with orange juice as the cranberry can have quite a bite.
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