My mom had constant symptoms of a urinary tract infection.Does anyone have experience with this?

This question is well-timed for an article I just submitted yesterday to agingcare.com regarding management of recurrent urinary tract infections in elderly patients with dementia. It is quite comprehensive and should help you out. It will be published anytime in the next couple of days, but if you would like to know more about it sooner, you are welcome to contact me directly (see my profile for details).

Best wishes,
Vik Rajan, M.D.

I'm happy Dr. Rajan is providing an article on this. UTIs are very common in elderly people, and sometimes they don't even feel pain. My mother-in-law's symptoms were dizziness and confusion. The UTI was found during a physical. It's not uncommon for people to fear their loved one has dementia, when the problem is a UTI, so it's always vital for the elder to have a complete physical.
I look forward to reading Dr Rajan's article along with you.
Take care,
Carol

Sapphire, you said the tests came back negative after starting the antibiotics? Did that mean it was NEVER a UTI or that the meds solved the problem quickly? I know for me, I have had chronic bladder infections so my doctor put me on a preventative antibiotic. But I also have 'vaginitis' which causes burning when going to the bathroom, but NOT an infection. My age and the thinning in that area due to decrease of hormones, causes it. I thought it was ALWAYS a UTI, but not evidently not necessarily so. Who would have thought it. :)

This is going to shock people. My 89-year-old mother had recurrent UTI for decades. There was some words like "interstitial" associated with it to explain why the infection was never absent for long regardless of any type of medication or other treatment. ANSWER: My mother never properly wiped herself after defecating. Why did it have to be me who figured this out during my three-year caregiving stint decades later? You have to investigate the most basic causes, things you couldn't possibly THINK were at work.

I'd suggest some other alternatives. Cranberry juice works well, as does lowering sugar and sweets intake.

There is an over-the-counter supplement called D-Mannose (vitamin store) that, when taken, coats the bladdar and helps to prevent the bacteria from sticking to it and causing a UTI. Check with your doctor first, but it has helped my mom greatly. You can sure tell when a UTI is suspected by the way their personality and behaviors change. Good luck.

I have interviewed many cna's and just hired one to come and help me 2x a week. She worked many years in the best most expensive assisted living/nursing home place in the State. On her first day I sat and watched her attempt to bathe my Mom. I was shocked to see her use one cloth and was about to use the same water for Moms back and peri areas, before I stopped her that is! She told me they are only allowed 2 cloths and her entire body was one and then face and hair the other. She bathed 12 dementia patients a day and each one in a bucket of water for the entire body. I said no wonder they get UTI's all the time! She agreed but said she has to rush and she rinses the cloth well. Ugh! Dont assume your NH is cleaning properly. My Mom is bathed at home, is 91, never had a bedsore and no uti's since she was at daycare.
TonyRovere, good for you advocating for your Mom!
RR

What I was trying to say is, they treated her for a uti. But tests results come back negative.

Thank you very much!

My husband is prone to frequent UTIs because he has to self-catheter in order to urinate. UTI's can be very serious for people with dementia. The symptoms with my husband start with irritability and confusion followed quickly by a loss of all motor planning skills so that he isn't able to walk or figure out how to do something as simple as sit up in bed. He has been hospitalized on a few occasions for this and has had delirium on at least two occasions. Fortunately his doctor trusts me to recognize the earliest symptoms of of UTI and has given me antibiotics which I am authorized to administer immediately so that the condition doesn't progress dangerously, particularly during those times when his doctor isn't available (evenings, weekends, holidays, etc.)