My mother (95) has dementia but with a UTI she becomes violent. Should I document this?

By the way, you can use the evidence that you tape with your smartphone to show the doctor how your mother is behaving so that he or she can actually witness your mother's behavior and can better determine what's really happening. A picture says a thousand words. Of course, be certain that you have her permission.

Before my mom was on hospice I was able to get her in a special grouping with her medical plan that was for people with multiple and/or complicated health/mental issues. The last time I knew mom had a UTI - and after enough of them you just know, right? - anyhow, I was positive she had one - I was able to just talk to a doctor on the phone and he phoned in a rx for ciparo. Believe me - I was beyond stunned that it was that easy. Thing is - I had no idea this program even existed until after many, many calls to my moms Doctor over the course of several months - for one thing or another. It was moms doctors head nurse that told me about the program. It's a brilliant idea so why it's treated like a secret club is beyond me. In my opinion every medical insurance should be required to do this AND there should be an automatic qualifying system that kicks in and they notify you of the oppertunity. In a perfect world, right? Morale of my story? Check with your loved ones insurance carrier for a similar program if they have supplemental insurance. You never know - I sure as heck didn't.

Oh it did, and I cd see her going downhill, but the MD does not rush on my say so, sigh.

There are two special problems that can happen with elderly people. First, they are at greater risk of sepsis than younger people. Second, their behavior can be totally out of line, making caregiving next to impossible. Doctors are trying to not prescribe the wrong antibiotic. I understand -- it can make someone resistant to an antibiotic that could be of future benefit. But can we afford to wait that long? I know that 4 days with my mother with a UTI would feel like 4 years.

Really? U get better care at the urgent care center, faster? I haven't tried that, thinking well, they don't know her. Yeah, I called the MD on a Friday. She was out. I called back on Monday. Got a response back to my two messages on Tuesday, took a sample down. It was obvious to me with all the sediment that this was another UTI. They said no, they thought it might be yeast although they found white blood cells upon first exam. Sent it out to be cultured and that took three more days. So total it was more like a week before Cypro.

Jeanne is right. Four days is too long to wait for an elderly person. It's good to get the right antibiotic, but a better protocol could be immediate treatment with a general antibiotic, e.g. Bactrim, then switching when sensitivity results come in. I take my mother to urgent care when she has a UTI or suspects she does. The urgent care facility here gives a shot of ceftriaxone and a prescription for a general antibiotic. I can follow up with her PCP.

If you have a cell phone with a camera you can quietly film her behavior.
Today, you can never be too careful in protecting yourself.

4 days with an untreated uti -- I think I would be in the ER or urgent care on day 2.

Thank u Jessie Belle. She is already on daily cranberry capsules, and we reported the suspected UTI last week but the doctor was out, and then it took four days for the doctor to culture it out and decide to put her on cypro. But thank u - all good ideas!

Ellies, my mother also has a huge behavior change when she's getting a UTI. One thing you can do is when you notice her behavior starting to change, run her to the doctor or to urgent care to see if there is a UTI. You may be able to catch it before the worst part hits.

My mother began having recurrent UTIs last year. What her doctor did was put her on Bactrim to be taken three times a week to try to keep the infections at bay. I also started giving her cranberry capsules to help to acidify her urine. If your mother is having recurrent infections, her doctor may consider a preventative treatment.

About documenting the assaults -- you can keep a journal with everything that is happening. I would mainly use the information to let me know what I need to do to make things better.