UTI in mother - early 70s

[Jumpingjackandjill]

My mother was at the doctor yesterday. She said she wasn't feeling very well over the past week. She said her sleep was disturbed about every two hours because she needed the toilet. My mother went to the doctor and the GP diagnosised a UTI. This is my mother's first UTI as far as I know. She has antibiotics now for 5 days.

It's bad timing, a week before Christmas. I hope the antibiotics work and it clears up. If not I don't know what she can do over Christmas.

Is there anything I can do to help her aside from encouraging to drink fluids which she likely won't do because she's going to the loo a lot.

I read about d mannose but I have no experience of this.

My mother says cranberry juice will help but I am apprehnsive about that due to sugar in the juice. My mother has claimed there is sugar free cranberry juice.

Is there anything I can do to help her?

I had a uti a few years ago and cranberry juice did the trick.

Unless she is on warfarin or similar then it's fine.

Why are you worried about the sugar? Is she diabetic? And yes, I've seen low sugar cranberry drinks.

No added sugar cranberry althought evidence about cranberry juice & uti is very uncertain. that said fluid drinking is good.

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/252648579

Antibiotics should start to work within 48 hours.
Just encourage her to drink more and make sure she is keep her private parts clean in furture, changing underwear every day that kind of thing. Men get less utis because they have a penis - longer to travel to get an infection even if dirty underpants.

if she's not keen on drinking try ice cream, ice lollies etc all of which help.

the main thing to watch out for is it going septic and deliurium which is frightenting. then you may end up hospitalised and needing IV stronger antibiotics.

D mannose was life changing for me and worked far better than antibiotics (which sometimes didn't work or worked but I'd have another UTI within months). I used to get UTIs a few times a year and it was horrible. Thanks to d mannose, I haven't had one in over 5 years. I bought capsules on Amazon, it wasn't expensive. I hope this helps your mum

D-mannose is a sugar. The suffix -ose is used in biochemistry to denote a sugar. Whether it’s metabolised in the same way as glucose, sucrose, fructose, lactose I don’t know.

The comments about underwear are really quite offensive.

I get regular UTIs and in my case they are related to menopause and a lack of oestrogen. Certainly not due to dirty knickers.

The comments about underwear are really quite offensive.

I get regular UTIs and in my case they are related to menopause and a lack of oestrogen. Certainly not due to dirty knickers.

Please don't be silly. UTIs have many causes but it is right that bacteria from faeces entering the uthera is a very common cause in women and more so that in men. Genital hygene in terms of washing, wiping from front to back and clean underwear matters.

I don't know why you find the comments offensive because its true and was not directed at you personally. You don't have to have pants full of shit - it's faecal bacteria - never had a skid mark?

Quick google bring this:

https://www.kidneyresearchuk.org/conditions-symptoms/urinary-tract-infections/

UTIs are usually caused by bacteria from faeces in your gut (e.g. E. coli) colonising the skin around the opening of your urethra (the tube that carries urine out of your body) and then entering the urinary tract.
Anyone can get a UTI at any age but women are more prone to getting them because they have a shorter urethra than men, making it easier for bacteria to reach the bladder or kidneys and cause an infection.
It is estimated that around half of all women in the UK have had a UTI.

She's my mother. She's never going to appreciate me talking about keeping her underwear clean so I will give that a miss.

Barley water helps me sometimes and might encourage drinking

Early 70’s is hardly ‘elderly’. Lemon barley water can also be helpful to reduce irritation, and it is easier to drink large amounts of fluid if tepid or warm, than cold.
Washing pants separately with non perfumed, non-biological powder and no fabric conditioner/‘dryersheets’. Cotton pants are better than manmade fibres.

Could you buy her some continence pads so that she won't have to worry too much about increasing her fluid intake?

UTIs are very common in elderly people of both sexes due to dehydration, deteriorating pelvic floor muscles, enlarged prostate, constipation, diabetes, and vaginal atrophy.

The phenomenon where an elderly person reduces fluid intake because they are fed up with constantly using the toilet or worrying about accidents causes a lot of problems.

No way, the answer is not to stop increasing her fluid intake and to keep the fluids and hydration up.

What the fuck? The poor woman is in her early 70s and there is no suggestion she’s incontinent. How offensive.

The antibiotics will sort it out. You’d have to drink gallons of cranberry juice for it to have any effect.

What the fuck? The poor woman is in her early 70s and there is no suggestion she’s incontinent. How offensive.

It wasn't me that sugggested this but I'm really shocked how everyone is so quick to take offense on this thread.

It is common for people as they age to drink less than they should for unrelated issues that they don't tell people about - lots of examples

• so people with mobility issues who are slow to get to the loo worry they won't get there in time people who have bladder weakness (doens't have to be wholesale incontinence) and maybe have urge incontinence or need to keep going regularly - say if they are going out of the house will drink very little people with Utis and pain on urinating drink less to avoid having to urinate

I think all the poster was saying was that if a potential issue is a reluctance to increase fluid intake is related to a fear of not getting to the toilet in time for any reason at all, pads are a possible solution. It's just an idea. It's not offensive. If it doesn't apply, just disregard it.

She's my mother. She's never going to appreciate me talking about keeping her underwear clean so I will give that a miss.

Yes been there have that t-shirt. You'd be surprised how aging breaks down everyones boundaries. I always thought I'd never deal with urine or clean a bottom as it was too intimate. Then if you are suddenly faced with a crisis and you are the only one to be able to help, it all becomes a thing of the past. It is I am afraid something more and more people will face as parents live longer into their 90s and become more physically frail and mentally frail.

I know your mother is only 70s so you have all this to look forward to but aging really sucks.

I do suspect my mother has some bowel issues but she's not talking about them. I found tablets for threadworms and also hamerroids cream in her room. I know with threadworms they can be contagious and go around the family due to laundry. But she never told me about it. Also I have no idea how she would pick up threadworms. I do suspect maybe she could be paranoid because we do have a cat too that comes into the house and she's not happy with the cat.

I do suspect she has some bowel issues but I don't know either.

I suspect the two over the counter stuff might be connected. Tuesday was the first time she went to the GP. I don't know what she discussed there. She says she has a UTI. I dont know what her symptoms are of any and of she mentioned anything.

I am not a stranger to bowel health unfortunately. I was diagnosised young with divertiticulitis. So I am familiar with bowel issues.

I wish she would just talk to me.

I think she's embarrassed too. I left a box of my suppositories on the bathroom counter. She put them away as if it was a dirty sin or something. The same happened when I left UTI test strip kit out on the counter.

OP, it's good that you are watching out for her. UTIs in elderly people can escalate quickly and cause delirium. If she starts acting oddly, just get her to A&E

Thank you for the heads up. I don't drive a car. If she acts out, do I call her an ambulance or maybe contact a neighbour for a lift.

Personally I think it's best to try and stay away from hospitals when elderly, unless completely necessary. Delirium can be caused by, or get worse in, hospital due to the confusion of being away from home. Mobility can quickly decline too if you're in there for a while.
It saves NHS money to not have people in hospital so if she got very bad you could ask for someone to come and visit. The antibiotics should clear it up anyway, but UTIs can get more and more frequent.

No what I meant was - she can have the increased fluids and then she won't have to worry about not making it to the toilet because she will have the incontinence pads on.

Theres nothing offensive about incontinence, or wearing incontinence pads.

I agree with @Charley50 about keeping the elderly out of hospital 100%. The older a person is the worse the effect on them hospital is. one day being bed bound for an elderly person is like a week for a younger person. plus risks of hospital acquired illnesses.

The thing with infections is you need to act fast if you see delirium.

severe infections need some heavy weight antibiotics which you can get from the GP but if its gone too far then you may need IV antiobiotics which you can only get in hospital

once you've seen delirium you are more likely to suspect it or spot it but the first time can be pretty horrific. sepsis caused by urine infections is also pretty unpleasant to witness and can cause very serious delirium.

my experience is that it starts with mild confusion, moving to more severe confusion, and then the more extreme stages there is a loss of spacial awareness - they might try to put a mug on the table and 'miss' placing it into thin air so it falls to the group. aggression is also common from what Ive seen.

@Jumpingjackandjill regarding the bowel issues you mentioned, I know you said shes uncomfortable talking about it but cant you just have it out with her. what I would worry about from what youve said - thread worm and haomerroid cream - are both very different, the thread worm cream is odd for an elderly person and it looks a bit like self medicating wildly for some unidentified problem. I would be concerned that there may be symptoms trying to be addressed that could be related to bowel cancer. my close friend died too young of bowel cancer so I do get very jumpy about the first sign of anythign bowel problem related.

About the bowel issues - what do I say to her?

I only found the over the counter meds in her room where I wasn't even supposed to be. She locks her room every time she leaves the home because she's paranoid about someone know she's out and someone targeting the house. It was only this year I managed to get a spare key for her room and I wasn't being nosy it was just in case she was to lose her bedroom key or if she was to take a turn outside and someone called her an ambulance and if I need to take a hospital bag into her.

It does give me a snapshot of what's happening with her and her deteriotion. There has been stuff happening for about two years. Just things here and there that wasn't quite right. It's behavioural stuff.

The spare key, every once in a while I dip into her room to see what's next. I found items of my underwear amongst her clothes as of they were hers even though we are completely different sizes. I also found period swimwear from primark That's not even in her size. She would be a size 10 or 12 and she has size 16 period swimwear. She doesn't even swim. It's just so odd. That's how I found the over the counter meds.

I do think she has incontinence and she's not saying. Maybe she bought the period swimwear to use for that. I don't know but it's not even her size. I never once saw her launder them either so she's not even wearing them.

I do strongly suspect she has bowel issues too.

I have issues with my bowel and I am not a stranger any more so I wouldn't really have an issue talking about them.

I just don't know what to say to her about hers.

Actually I have diverticulosis that flares into infections that was only found because I thought it was a UTI. There was stuff my mother said over the past few years about her diet and nothing really agrees with her and she can only ever eat simply. I do suspect that maybe she might have the same thing.

Maybe later I will ask her if she had any backpain or pain on the left or bowel issues with her UTI.

Even if she does have bowel issues she's extremely stubborn and in her old age I find her to be sarcastic and arguematative. She is neglecting high cholestrol and she will not manage it.

Early 70’s is hardly ‘elderly’. What would you call it then? “Middle aged”?