What are some hands on things a caregiver can do to prevent urinary tract infections?

My 89 year old mom has been labeled chronic with uti's however i do believe that her uti's are caused by not getting treated correctly the first time out and the second and so forth. she is always given cipro which does not take care of the type of bacteria strain she has. over the years these antibiotics have now made her resistant to 12 antibiotics which leaves two given by iv which are hard on the liver and need to be monitored. these antibiotics can also cause you to lose your hearing to a degree. a urologist is where we are headed and d-mannose might be something we ask about. my mom has now moved in with my husband and i and yes she was not so keen on having me help her in the bathroom but now she loves being clean. i bought her a $600 bidet then we wipe and clean after ever number two and she rinses and changes her pads every time they are wet to any degree. we also shower and really make sure both areas are clean. we also utilize coconut oil. she has fluid restrictions and salt restrictions but i make sure she drinks her water to flush and at this current time she has decided that sugar needs to be limited almost totally. my mom also wants to go to la fitness and swim which i am sure the clorinated water will help clean as well. sounds like a lot but she took care of me and she is my best friend. please pray that my mom will find relief so we can go to washington and colorado and create memories. also i have her drinking a twist tube that has 1000mg of vitamin c which is suppose to help fight these infections.

Cranberry may be contraindicated if Coumadin/Warfarin is also being taken, so be careful. It affects how long Coumadin stays in the body.

I was also told about D-mannose just recently. Mom is currently in hospital for a UTI, coming home today, but not before I get her some d-mannose. Just started her on cranberry pills too.
There are flushable wipes, but they are so small. I think I'll buy a diaper pail and a bunch of white washcloths, so i can bleach and use those every day.

My 95 yr old mother gets these urinary tract infections. You do not know she has one until she gets very sick(passes out, bahavior problems) and we have to call 911.To stop this I asked her doctor to check for this once a month to catch it early. I hope this helps.

At the health food store there is a product call D-Mannose. It is great for chronic uti's. works much better than cranberry pills for chronic situations.

Cranberry juice may interact with Warfarin/Coumadin, if she's on that, so be careful. The evidence is a little confusing - this study says it's okay, that study says it isn't, but it appears that it may raise the INR significantly.

Recurring UTIs in the elderly are well known as problems. When an elderly patient comes into our local ER, running a urinalysis is the first thing they do. And UTIs in the elderly can alter them significantly...my mother gets them frequently, too, and she gets completely altered - once, she called the police on me because she thought I was there to rob her and, this last time, she decided to water her garden at 3 a.m., fell (it was a "soft fall" so her automated lifeline pendent didn't pick it up), and broke her collar bone.

She needs to drink a lot of fluids daily (avoiding cranberry juice, if she's on Coumadin), and urinate frequently, in addition to the wiping front-to-back. Seniors typically do neither...which sort of ferments the bacteria in the bladder.

You could ask her doctor about whether she's a candidate for low-dose prophylactic antibiotics and/or whether it'd be a good idea to home-test. You can get test strips easily.

Are they culturing her urine each time? Every time my mom gets a UTI, they culture it and every time, it's a different organism and she needs a different antibiotic that's sensitive to the organism. The UTI my mom had last time, the ER doc put her on one antibiotic and it was the wrong one; the culture indicated that the organism was resistant to that particular antibiotic and so we needed to start a different one. This current UTI is antibiotic-resistent, it's VRE, so she needed to be on a different antibiotic yet again. And it must have been brewing, even as she was being treated for the one prior; she was in the hospital again only 3 days after ending treatment for the last UTI. I home-tested her the day after we ended the antibiotics for the last one, and her leukocytes were already high, I advised her doctor, they ordered a hospital-done urinalysis, and she was back in the hospital even as those results were coming in.

I feel your pain. My mom's in a care facility at the moment, since she's got the broken collar bone, but they'll kick her out within a few weeks, most likely and she'll be back home. And I'll be back to wondering how to keep this from happening yet again.

Good luck.

Cranberry can help. Definitely she NEEDS to be taught to wipe front to back!!! That is the #1 cause of UTIs I think!!

Normally after a person is in their mid 50's, this unfortunate situation takes place. I have had this problem for the past (3) years. This problem is enough to make any person feel very uncomfortable and down right miserable. I have learned a great amount of information about urinary infection. I tried yogurt, cranberry juice, and just about everything that was suggested to me. It is very important to wipe correctly and keep yourself clean. I tried using baby wipes but they dried out my skin. I decided after wiping myself clean, I use a wet wash rag to do the final cleaning. Use half of the wash cloth to do one end and the other half to do the other end. As I have discovered, you can have urinary infection if you do not have regular waste movements. Surprisingly enough, this can also cause yeast infections. Unless you are taking a natural antibiotic, It is very important not to keep taking antibiotics fthat doctors prescribe. If you use an antibiotic on daily basis, you are going to end up with more problems than you care to know about or have. I have a doctor now who only recommends "natural" cures for ailments. Since his advise has really helped me, I am going to give you my list of what I take on daily basis. We all get sick and tired of having to take natural pills every day but you just have to do it. Remember, Rome wasn't built over night. If you follow my recommendations, it will take time for the system and urinary track to get back to functioning normally. Check with your local vitamin store or the Internet for my recommendations:
Benebiotics, One Life USA (Advanced Anti-Oxidant), Cran Max 500mg (cranberry juice has too much sugar and can highly contribute to the urinary infection), Immuno Synbiotic (by Nutri Spec), I-Lysine, Vitamin D3 1,000IU, Yeast-Cleanse (by Solaray), DIM (helps to eliminate dryness within the vagina), and 5-HTP (5-Hydroxytryptophan with Vitamin B6). Please note that 5-HTP is wonderful because it removes you from depression and you are a much happier person. Also please note that I prefer not to take these pills withou first having food in my stomach. Otherwise, you may feel a little nausiated which can ruin your day.
For those of you out there who are suffering from this horrible problem such as I am, my love and prayers are with you. Please take care and I hope my information helps you.

My 83 year old mom was getting UTI's on a regular basis along with other infections requiring antibiotics. Once I moved her in with me and began closely monitoring her bathroom habits (the wiping back to front, not washing her hands afterwards, staying in damp or wet Poise pads or Depends) I could then begin making changes. I now have a baby monitor in the bathroom she uses so I can make sure all is well, if she stays too long or things just don't sound right, I go in. I will wash her down with baby wipes, dry her off, make sure she has a clean, dry pad and panties, make sure she washes her hands. It's just where she is now and I know it will not get better, so I just have my routine and I go with it each time. Actually makes my life easier than if I have to go back after the fact and clean her and the bathroom up. At first it was embarrassing for her I think, but we have both gotten past that! I'm her bathroom buddy now! LOL! I also have her drinking more water than she did when living on her own and I try to have her eat a yogurt for snack on a daily basis. An ounce of prevention... 8)

Receiving a bath every day seems to be helpful. Cranberry juice may help but one would need to drink a lot of it. Probably helpful over a long period.

Mike Baker

Nitrofurant Macrodantin, 50 MG Capsules. My mother was hospitalized 3 times last year for UTI's until I took her to a Urologist who prescribed this for her. Not a single one since then.

My mother has been incontinent for almost 10 years now (as long as I have been her caregivre). ILike the others said, I make sure she gets lots of water and give her Nature Made Triple Strength Cranberry capsules, 1 in the morning and one at bedtime. Each capsule contains 25,000 IU of the cranberry essence. It works great. She used to get UTI's fairly often, now only about 2x a year. She also can't seem to remember to wipe front to back, either, and that certainly doesn't help. Anyone know of a flushable moist wipe?

Cranberry capsule twice a day, profilaxis with Nitrofurantoin for the rest of her life, plenty of liquids up to 6PM and later in the evening just apple sauce type of sauce to replace the water needs and of course changing and washing every time.

The an antibiotic too can be the cause of her UTI's.com
that is some good advice that was given by spudeater. Good luck....you can also take her to the bathroom every 1/2hr and make sure she is dry and clean.

Of course cranberry juice 100% Pure will help also get her to drink more water because the older folks tend to not drink enough water during the day. and as for cleaning have you encourage her to use those baby wipes each time she goes. they are a helpful product.They also have cranberry pills on the market we use Puritan's Pride, try to get the purest extract that you can find. As for getting your Aunt to relearn wiping different that may not happen. My first wife who now has passed on always wiped back to front and she never got any UTI's but she cleaned up often and that's the key.

My husband had this problem and I put a lemon diffuser in his room, increase his intake of cranberry juice to 3-8 oz. glasses per day, and snacks consists of dried cranberries almost daily. I also had a Master Reiki for special sessions on his bladder. So far it has helped and he has not suffered another infection since last Xmas. I keep my fingers crossed. Hope this helps.

yogurt may help prevent (it apprently won't cure) but having a familiy member with chronic infection due to prolapse bladder, cranberry didn't seem to stop them from reoccurring but yogurt seems to be working, at least for now. as mentioned, a lot of water and proper wiping.

The only thing I can think of is keep them clean, clean depends and cranberry juice and water. Mom still gets them. I'm going ti
Bask about a daily antibiotic. I have a friend that is a pharmacist and we talked about that last night at dinner.

I myself tend to get bladder infections fairly often, which is a pain literally and figuratively. My doctor finally put me on a preventive antibiotic that I only take once, right after sex. Jury is still out whether it will stop this nonsense from happening though. So for a chronic UTI like mine, I can see why your aunt's doctor has prescribed that for her. My doctor did say that cranberry pills & juice DO help also. I know that when you pump up your water intake, that dilutes the urine and helps flush out bacteria. My mother-in-law will get a bladder infection, and not even know. She doesn't have the pain and discomfort that goes along with it like I do. The only way I know she even has one, is that I'm having to stop and find her a bathroom all the time. Then I take her in and have her tested.

radienz1,

Unfortunately urinary tract infections are common among the elderly. Here are some articles that relate to UTI's that might help you when caring for your aunt.

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

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

Best of Luck!