My poor nana.

[Unforgettablefire]

I didn't know where else to post this sorry if it's in the wrong place.
Ok, my nana is 95 and she's getting one uti after another. The doctor doesn't come out he just sends a prescription for antibiotics but they never seem to work and time after time my nana has ended up in hospital because she gets really ill.
In August she got another one, doctor again sent a prescription and said no need for a water test or anything just give her the tablets.
She finished the tablets as usual but as usual again it came back, this time though she was found unresponsive in her bed in the morning.
She'd vomited and inhaled it and when they took her to hospital she had pneumonia from inhaling her vomit along with the uti.
They had her hooked up to intravenous antibiotics and she seemed to get better but they needed the bed so they sent her to a home while they got carers in place for her.

Two days later and the uti is back. My mother rang the doctors today to be told sorry no doctor available to speak to until Saturday. So my mother pushed and got a doc to speak to tomorrow.
My nana is in sheltered accommodation so we can't stay and provide care through the night and that's when she needs it, she's soaking her bed every night and having to lie in it. She has incontinence pads and pads on her mattress but she's still getting soaked as she's being constantly pushed with fluids.
She has had social services dealing with her care and whatnot but it's this uti thing not going away, soaking her bed every night and in and out of hospital. She's becoming increasingly frail and she's skin and bone since these uti's started we're at our wits ends.
Is this how it ends these days for the elderly?
Sorry for the length of this and thank you if you got this far.

My nana was a big strong woman, she didn't retire until she was in her 70s it's just awful to see what's became of her.

Sounds like an embedded uti, the treatment is a long course of antibiotics, but most people who need this treatment end up having to go to Prof malone-lees clinic in Harley Street.

is she in a home at the moment, or is she in sheltered accommodation?

She's back at home it's sheltered accommodation, she was in this home from the end of August until a few days ago. I don't think it was up to much all her clothes have gone missing they bought new and they've also gone, even her underwear and she was sitting in someone else's clothes so my mothers trying to get her stuff back. It's never ending.

Is anyone can afford it, but it's also very interesting to read on how it's treated to get in donated and challenge the NHS on this test, treat and send home.

www.chronicutiinfo.com/treatment/conventional-medicine/uk-treatment/prof-malone-lee/

Thanks for the replies.
We are in the north east and she can't travel as she's quite frail but this link is very interesting thank you.
The most ridiculous thing is it must be costing the nhs a fortune,
I don't know why if something can be used that works they don't use it.

Has her urine been cultured? What antibiotics are they treating her with?
It sounds like the bacteria has developed resistance which is very common in elderly people.

Has she been tested for diabetes

My mum had this, it turned out to be bladder cancer. Her gp kept giving her antibiotics. Bladder cancer is rare in women so they didn't immediately check for this.

When she was in hospital they did bloods and apparently only infection showed up, and a chest X-ray as inhaling her vomit made her chest rattle.
I don't know what it is. I know at her age you expect them to decline but she's only declining because of these constant infections. The first time she got it I thought she'd had a stroke, she was delirious and accused a family member of having another family members dead body in the boot of their car and all these other crazy things. We laugh about that now but it was scary at the time.
She's always been very proud and took care of herself, still wearing make up, having her hair done and eating out but she's just worn out now.

I'm not sure. The last time my dm rang the gp she asked him do you not need a water sample he said no just give her the tablets see how she goes.
Obviously it came back and ended up in hospital again but this time she was unconscious, they had her on intravenous antibiotics.
If anything had shown up on the X-ray or in her bloods they'd tell her family wouldn't they? She's deaf now so can't converse either.

Could she try d-mannose? I had recurrent UTIs and it worked wonders for me.

@Pseudonymminymie
As a frequent suffer of UTI's for the last 20 years I've just bought some D-Mannose.
Do you take it daily as a preventative measure or just when symptoms start please?

@Crumpleton I used it each day for prevention. I took it twice a day following UTIs around once every month, and I was clear for five months. I did get another UTI then and used Trimethoprim to clear it. I continued with the D-mannose for maybe another six months or so then stopped. That was around five years ago and touch wood fine since then.
I think there is some school of thought that says bacteria become embedded in the bladder tissue where the antibiotics don't reach, so even though you clear the symptomatic infection, bacteria remain to cause further recurrence. The bacteria stick to the D-mannose though so get flushed out before that can happen. Not sure if that's right, but makes sense to me. Wishing you good luck with it.

@Pseudonymminymie
Thank you.
Yes I've heard of embedded UTI.
There was a time I did take an antibiotic nightly but the Dr stopped prescribing it as they felt I'd been on it long enough.
I've had 5 courses of antibiotics this year so hoping I have some relief with the DMannose.