Mom keeps getting urinary tract infections.

Adult briefs contain matter after bowel or bladder movements so a person wearing one is at a higher risk of contracting a UTI. Most UTI's are caused by e-coli which is found naturally in the anal area. Try UTI FreedomStrips, they protect the vaginal area from coming in contact with e-coli, especially for patients wearing adult diapers.

Dear AZcaregiver,

The exact same thing happened to my mother. I found out after she was discharged from the hospital that she had a UTI for almost 6 months based on her behavior. I spoke to her primary care DR about the change in mental status during the six months and nothing was done until I rushed her to the hospital. The hospital DR wanted to put her on lantis and humalog and spent 8 days rising and crashing her diabetes numbers. I advised them that her recent weight loss removed the need for medicine and they ignored me. Her diabetes was managed with diet until she had the UTI. She is better now but it is a dally challenge getting her to exercise stand or walk.

I am relieved to know that she is not alone in having trouble walking after a UTI.

Thanks for sharing,

My Mom has this difficulty too... We are doing probiotic's and also cranberry pills. We have tried MANY things, Detrol and another medicine for frequency and also macrobid and other antibiotics... I do encourage fluids she loves coconut water, and I get cranberry juice for her NOT cocktail the real juice... MANY times older folks think if they drink to much they will be up all night... However they have to stay hydrated! Mother will take two sips and say she is done! We tried some vaginal cream however she could NOT get that concept bless her heart, she is 86 an has dementia... take care, J

Stevensmom, give your mom lots of fresh fruit - watermelon, peaches, melons, etc. They have lots of fluid, which is what you want.

If you look on this site for other discussions (in the daily care section) about getting elderly family members to drink more fluids, you'll see lots of good ideas and answers. Just search for "drink more" or "more fluids" and you'll see lots of threads. Good luck!!

I just happened upon this conversation and could use some help....my mom has constant UTIs. The doctor gives her antibiotics and tells her to drink more water...but she just won't drink the water...doesn't feel thirsty, doesn't remember she is supposed to drink lots of water, whatever reason, when I've been there to visit she only drinks 20-30 ounces a day of orange juice, coffee, sometimes Pepsi, a swallow or two of water.

We tried putting up reminders, she took them down. We bought a pitcher to keep in the fridge, she can't remember what it's for. She isn't incontinent, but does wear pads for leakage.

Does anyone have any advice?

my mother was having recurrent UTI's , so many hospital visits.. Finally
applied Evalon cream (Vaginal cream) every alternative days. It got stopped her UTI problem but she started getting white discharge .... After discontinuing Evalon cream it stoped... Why can't you try this one ???

fyi,some utis can be made much worse by cranberry juice.M y mother had a certain strain of e coli which was being sort of fed by it.Not all antibiotics work on all uti bacterias either.We found this out after she had the recuring ones..months of UTIs.Not fun!

Why don't you guys try giving Pro-biotics. ??? Providac or so...

This is can increase good bacteria in her/his body so that the frequency can be reduced

FWIW - I discovered that large doses of vitamin D on a regular basis can cause increased UTI's. if by chance your mom is taking a vitamin D supplement, you might consider that as the cause.

I've had similar experiences as lildeb, where I KNOW she has a UTI but the doctor did not want to give antibiotics until the culture came in (48 hours) and then there was a weekend involved, and then the meds was not called in to the pharmacy, so she did not get any medication for 5 days and it is so important to catch it early... now I have a very good relationship with her primary care physician. I know her so well and I can tell when she's getting a UTI (despite drinking fresh juiced cranberries, bathing daily, changed-toiletted almost every 2 hours during the day) When I suspect a UTI we take a urine sample- I have containers at home- and getting a urine sample from someone who is incontinent isn't easy- run it out for testing and her doctor prescribes some antibiotic right away and then calls back and readjusts meds when the culture comes back if need be. She's been on Nitrofur-MACR 100 mg for 7 days, or Nitrofurantoin MCR 50mg for 10 days usaually. I will ask her doctor about this HIPREX as momof2 spoke of since my mom has UTI almost every 2 months

I had no idea their r different types of UTI either n thanks for sharing. It seems we learn as we go for their is no true book on taking care of AD. Unless, one of us writes one.

In June, when my mom went in to Er for suspected UTI..(it was late Sat afternoon and I had no place else to turn to!) the nurse told me that I was good to catch it so early - that if it goes on too long it can cause sepsis and can kill them...so I have been very careful lately..interesting to know there are different kinds of UTIs- thanks for that info, Oreos! good grief ! there is so much to learn and it seems that when you start to get comfortable something happens that creates a whole new learning curve!

My son is extremely susceptible to UTI's , he has a spinal cord injury and therefore he has to cath himself. He was having chronic infections and this can be life threatening to him. He was put on HIPREX (methenamine) and hasn't had one for four years. My mom who has MS was dealing with them also- she has been UTI free since she started HIPREX. Hiprex is used to prevent or control returning UTI's. Google it. Talk with your doctor about this medication it worked for us. My son and mom take cranberry pills with it and vitamin C .

I know for those who don't like cranberry juice there is a cranberry pill they can take too.

if you can get them to be admitted to the hospital we call it getting flushed out ivs with antibodic be careful if on blood thinners cranberrys cant be given mom was on her own until a infection now she is bedridden i can also tell when one is coming on she get hateful pedilite and water mixers help them to drink more keep them drinking alot ham will make you drink more water i give her ham for breakfast so she will be more thirsty

My mother got a UTI so bad and didnt know it (she has early stages of dementia and Alzheimer) she went into a seizure that appeared to be a stroke. They took her by ambulance and before they got her to the hospital she was unconscious and on a resparator. They came extremely close to giving her this stroke medicine but decided not to since they could not pinpoint the exact time of the stroke and that seemed to be important because if they give it to late it can hurt them worse. Since she didnt have a stoke it would have REALLY hurt her but again cause they couldnt pin point when they elected not to give it to her, then after some blood work realized it was a UTI and they treated her with anti biotics and brought her back to normal, or at least normal for her.

We now worry that if she doesnt get enough baths that it could come back, so I have hired a prof. caregiver / bather to come to the house to give her a bath often to try to avoid this happening again. she has alot of problems going to the bathroom, or more specically, she has diareaa and such quite a bit, so we think that issue along with trying to keep herself clean could contribute to the problem.

My mom never complained to anyone of having pain related to the infection, so I suggest we all be very aware of this possibility. her seizure was quite bad and I suspect that if they had not detected the infection soon enough it could have taken her life. We were really lucky and had my entire church praying for her the day they took her to the hospital, along with all my family. We believe it was by Gods Mercy that they did not give her the stroke meds cause it looked just like one to the doctors at first. Whether you believe in God or not, I suggest we all pray to him each day to give us strength, patience, and the love and understanding we need to deal with these issues. I would like to say that whether you know God or not, he loves everyone in this world the same, whether you know him or love him, or dislike him. Its his promise to us that he loves us all equally, and I find comfort in that for myself and for people who do not know or care to know who he is.
Best regards,'
DT

For those of you using the cranberries, how often is the person still getting UTI? This will be the 3rd time for my mil but this time seems to be the worse. She only drinks about 2 glasses of water n 2 glasses of decaf cola per day. I will dilute her 2 liter once their is room to add some water without her knowing. She don't like sweets not bitter tasting stuff. I just bought her some cranberry juice cocktail which now I see it should have be just plain cranberry juice. The first ingredient, is water then, cranberry juice from concentrate cane or Beet sugar???, Ascorbic acid n vit. C. We just left the gut/butt dr yesterday n she didn't even mention her lower stomach was bothering her. Of course, on a Friday they only stay open half a day n she didn't say anything until noonish. So, I had to call her GYN n he wasnt their either but I was told I could take her across their hall to the lab n get her to pee in a cup n if she shows any signs they would call me for her to have something. That sounded all good. I get a call around 3ish n they say she does have UTI n they would call something in for her. So, I go to pick up around 5ish while running around n come to find out their is nothing at the pharmacy for her.. Ah!! I had to re-call for her antibiotics n of course he not there so one of his dumb ass fill in dr calls me n get this, he only fills enough pill for 3 days! She has always taking them for a week or more. Now, I will have to recall her dr Monday. The prescription is Bactrim DS 800-160MG twice a day.
Anyone else had their love one on this kind of antibiotic n did they take them longer than 3 days? I also have to take her to get a barium x ray on the 8th too n I would like to get this cleared up as much as possible before that test. Help, stressing n venting... ; 0

Ask your doctor about the medication - Hiprex.

Anyone who has chronic UTI's should see a good urologist. There are so many new things that can be done to help prevent them these days when you have done all of the front to back wiping, cranberry juice etc.. Women post menopausal become dry due to loss of estrogen that produces secretions that help protect them. There are Rx cremes that can help them.

yes, The UTIs wreak havoc. My mom becomes so weak. They just wipe her out and if she just lays in bed, everything becomes worse. 2 days in bed mean at least 2 weeks of physical therapy to get strength back. I asked her primary care physician forhelp and a nurse came 2x a week and a physical therapist came 2 x week for 3 weeks after she had one serious bout of UTI. The insurance covered it

My mom also. We now have a standing order with the hospital for a urinalysis. When she complains a little, I run a sample over, call the doctor's office, they start her on the last effective antibiotic we used (pending results of the urine culture, if the organism isn't sensitive to the antibiotic she's already on, then we change it), then run another u/a after the antibiotic is done to make sure she's clear. This has been working for us for nearly 4 months. (fingers crossed - when we don't catch them, she gets VERY altered and usually ends up hospitalized)

Do NOT dose with cranberry ANYTHING if your mom is on Warfarin/Coumadin without checking with your doctor first. It interferes greatly with the action of that blood-thinner and will likely really mess up her INR and she'll run a much greater risk of bleeding. If they give the okay, it's likely that they'll want to monitor her INR much more closely for a while.

Also, as I understand it, both cranberry and D-Mannose are effective only against the e. coli organism - which DOES account for the majority of UTIs. My mom hasn't had an e. coli UTI for almost a year. Every other one she's had, it's been a different organism, and neither cranberry nor D-Mannose would have been effective.

I can completely relate too. My MIL has frequent UTI's, and she too does show definate signs when she gets them. It's amazing how a urinary tract infection can cause someone to get totally confused. The strange thing about her situation is that she took a turn for the worst with her Alzheimer's disease last April when she got a really bad UTI. We were seeing signs that something wasn't quite right with her before that, but we really didn't know it was Alzheimers until she got the infection. She ended up having to go to the emergency room because she got to be in such bad pain. It seemed like one day she was fine, and then the next her symptoms advanced. After she went into the hospital, she changed. She ended up having to go into rehab because she actually was having a hard time walking, became incontinent, and she had a horrible time with memory. My point is that she was doing everything on her own before she caught the UTI in April, and once she got home from rehab in May she was dependent on us. UTI's are nothing to mess with.

My mom , 88 years , also gets UTI about every 2 months. I have a juicer and I juice fresh cranberries every day for her- but she still gets UTI. She is Incontinent and also on lasix because of congestive heart failure. I watch how much water she drinks, fluid intake, because of her congestive heart failure. ( normally she should be drinking more water) I can also tell when it comes on- more confusion than normal and just general weakness. i was hoping that by giving her cranberries every day- that would help- but she still gets frequent UTI

My mom gets UTI's easily as well. I give her cranberry juice everyday, as well as the little cranberry gel pills. That helps CONSIDERABLY. The fact that she wears depends might be a clue. Does she still change them at least once a day even if they are clean? I know people of that generation hate to waste. I could see my dad doing that... wearing them day after day because he never "soiled" them. There would still be bacteria growing on them and for a female, it could add up to a bad UTI. Just a thought. Also make sure she is washing front to back. Using wet wipes can also help. (We use the baby ones (cheaper) and have a trash can next to the toilet for disposal, as they can't be flushed.) Hope you find solutions. :)

We have had this issue with my Mom too... I do think it is common with older ladies... We have had some testing done, and did not find out anything... I would encourage you to do the cranberry juice, (orange juice can irritate the bladder) also encourage her to drink water. My Mom is now taking a pill at night for frequency. I had a chat with her about cleaning herself carefully. hope things get better... take care...

My MIL has been getting them as well. Since she moved in with us, I noticed when she goes to the bathroom she is wiping from front to back, sideways, and everyway in between. Now that she is bathing more regular and keeping herself clean, she hasnt had 1 in 2 months.

How women wipe themselves after urination can have a big effect on whether or not she gets chronic UTIs. Women (or those that help her) should always wipe themselves from the front to the back and NEVER wipe from the back to the front where bacteria can be introduced to the urethra.

tommy- all good advice here... my mom has started getting uti's much more frequently also.... I havent done the cranberry juice but I will stop on the way to her alf to buy some for her! anything to keep her off antibiotics. she actually was on amoxicillin a week or so ago for a UTI and I bought culterelle probiotics which comes in capsule form. I was able to empty the capsule into a glass of water/juice at lunch for her to drink since she doesnt take meds well. (we also have the worry about Cdif reoccuring!)

My mom gets frequent UTIs as well. I give her cranberry juice and she always has water by her bed/chair. Be careful with the use of antibiotics....mom got Cdiff from the antibiotics used for her UTI. Make sure that if your loved one is on antibiotics that you give them yogurt with active cultures at least once a day (twice a day is better).

My dad has had a couple of UTIs and I always know when he's getting one: he gets mean and very nasty. My solution is to dose him with 100% cranberry juice--the kind with no sugar and that lists cranberry juice as the 1st or 2nd ingredient. The "cranberry cocktail" juices are no good. Ocean Spray has a great "100% Juice" cranberry juice that I have him daily (8 oz). I also sneak in dried "craisins" and he eats them willingly. CHeck with your doctor too; eldery people tend to eat alot of sweets as that is the last taste sensation they can enjoy, and they don't drink enough water; hence, a breeding ground for UTIs. Your MD can put your elderly on meds too. But truly, keep them on a regimen of 100% cranberry juice with no added sugar and feed them craisins. I bake my craisins in orange-cranberry muffins and I make a cranberry-orange relish (Just process sweet mandarin orange segments briefly in a food processor with dried cranberries) that goes great with turkey, chicken and even a small side dish with stew! Try it!