Just thought I would post here to see if anyone has any thoughts or similar experiences.
To start with my 93 year old Mum lives with my wife and I. She has worsening dementia and is doubly incontinent, though more often than not she manages to have a poo when on the toilet which is some relief.
She suffers from recurrent UTI's. At least we think they are UTI's! Its been impossible to check because whenever we have sent a sample for testing it comes back as contaminated. We've worked through various antibiotics and is currently taking a daily low dose. Not really sure if it helps or not because she still gets UTI's, but I'm starting to wonder if that's what they really are.
Our measures for thinking she has a UTI are as follows:
Thanks for any thoughts.
To start with my 93 year old Mum lives with my wife and I. She has worsening dementia and is doubly incontinent, though more often than not she manages to have a poo when on the toilet which is some relief.
She suffers from recurrent UTI's. At least we think they are UTI's! Its been impossible to check because whenever we have sent a sample for testing it comes back as contaminated. We've worked through various antibiotics and is currently taking a daily low dose. Not really sure if it helps or not because she still gets UTI's, but I'm starting to wonder if that's what they really are.
Our measures for thinking she has a UTI are as follows:
- Increased confusion - but that's a tricky one with dementia. For example she can still be doing jigsaws reasonably well when in other areas she's clearly below par.
- Flushed appearance - but not always.
- Cloudy urine - but not always, in fact quite often not.
- Decline in mobility - this is always the case. There is always a massive decline in this area. She even struggles to stand up using her frame or when leaning on a stool in the toilet (I won't go into further detail). In fact on more than one occasion we have requested UTI antibiotics based purely on this decline in mobility - because they help.
Thanks for any thoughts.