Mom is in an assisted living and loved it until 3 weeks ago. She thinks she is being sued, everyone against her, being bugged in the dining room etc... and gets agitated if I try to reason with her. The director suggested a UTI and that has been confirmed. So far the antibiotic is not helping this issue. So now she hates the assisted living and wants to move. She is very depressed and not acting at all like herself. She does not want to participate in activities or go to dining room. Any suggestions?
Culturing to identify the bacteria is good, but if the patient is having repeat UTI's it's often because they have become 'colonized' and no treatment actually gets rid of all the bacteria any more. In those cases, the right thing is 'treat as soon as symptoms show up'.
The most important thing is, Don't Wait. Catching the UTI early is the key to good quality of life and avoiding complications.
Your post doesn't say how long your mom has been on antibiotics but antibiotics are the course of treatment for a UTI.
Trying to reason with her when she has these symptoms is a waste of time as she is unable to be reasonable. If her symptoms haven't improved at the end of the course of antibiotics don't waste time in contacting the doctor again. She may need a stronger antibiotic.
We decided that, for our own safety and protection, we would have Mom tested monthly for UTIs. They did a simple urine dip stick test and if it looked odd, they’d do a culture. It was better than a daily antibiotic because people develop resistance to them. But, if she seemed to be developing one, they were prepared and could treat her before things got out of hand.
I recently went to the Urgent care and as usual they would be annoyed with me, because the culture would come back with minimal growth.
I finally went to a Urogynecologist I told her I think, as I suspected long ago it is Interstitial Cystitis( Chronic Bladder Pain Syndrome).
She gave me Phenazopyridine for Bladder pain and Prelief ( I brought it from Amazon). Its like heaven sent. I feel like a different person and my constant bloated feeling is gone. Prelief removes the Acid from your food, so your Bladder does not irritated by the Acid.
Chronic Bladder Pain makes you very irritable.
My wife carried a constant low grade UTI for years.
In 2011, a severe UTI required ER visit. She was reduced to 5 year old mentality with psychosis. Low dose antibiotic was ordered for continuous use. It never worked.
She never regained mental function.
In 2012 another severe UTI. Now she is a 2 year old with autism and aggressive. Doctors say after the UTI clears, mental function will return to normal. It has not.
In 2014, a UTI prompted a doctor visit. Cyproflaxin cured the UTI overnight. Even the trace she had been carrying for years, disappeared.
In 2015, an ER visit for seizures, resulted in a catheter catch and subsequent UTI.
On return visit, the doctor paid attention and administered Cypro via IV.
Next day, no UTI and severe UTI has not happened to this day
. We monitor with test strips.
The Cypro removed whatever had been dormant. Then aggressive hygiene prevents recurrence.
Never underwear. Cotton washable bed pads for sitting and sleep.
Dementia makes hydrating difficult. We use a turkey baster. Toilet every 2 hours.
Detailed cleaning after any toileting. We installed automatic toilet seat bidet.
$500 and very worth it. Hand sprayers are $40. We use the shower sprayer if bed wet.
We administer Cannabis for seizures and mood.
Cyroflaxin has bad effects if used a lot, but 1 dose has cured severe UTI twice. When we see a change in mood, we test urine with test strips available on Amazon.
A slight positive will prompt natural effort for a couple days, hydration, natural antibiotics, garlic, honey..... No result will prompt 1/2 dose of Cypro 1 day and full dose next day, if needed. We have never needed more.
Now in 2018 she is the same 2 year old, autistic. But she is usually a joy.
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