If you provide care for your elderly loved one, there is a health condition that you should be on the lookout for – urinary tract infection. Unfortunately, there are many senior citizens who get a UTI, but it goes undiagnosed for a variety of reasons. If your elderly loved one develops this type of infection, it is crucial they get the treatment they need to clear it up. Learning about the common reasons UTIs go undiagnosed in senior citizens can help you to ensure that doesn’t happen with your elderly loved one.
Does your elderly loved one have dementia, Parkinson’s disease, or another health condition that affects their ability to talk or communicate well? If so, this could be affecting their ability to tell someone when they are experiencing symptoms of a UTI. For example, if your elderly loved one has burning with urination and they can’t explain what is happening, the infection could get worse instead of being diagnosed and treated. If this is the case for your elderly loved one, make sure you or senior home care providers keep an eye on them. If you notice they are hurting after using the bathroom or seem bothered before they use the bathroom, you may want to have them see their doctor.
Unfortunately, there are many people who instantly think that any elderly person who is confused probably has dementia. Did you know that some senior citizens are diagnosed with dementia when, in fact, they have a bad UTI? When the UTI is treated, the confusion goes away. This is not to say that every dementia diagnosis is incorrect. However, if you or a senior home care provider notice your elderly loved one is becoming confused, have them see their doctor. It could be something as simple as an untreated UTI.
Depending on the state of your elderly loved one’s physical and mental health, they may not be able to tell you what is happening with their body. In some cases, senior citizens are just too ashamed or embarrassed to talk about private issues such as with urination. For this reason, some elderly people will start having behavior issues when they have a UTI. You or a senior home care provider might notice your elderly loved one is experiencing aggression lately. If this is new and it seems to come about more often when your elderly loved one needs to use the bathroom, it could be a result of a UTI.
These are some of the common reasons UTIs go undiagnosed in senior citizens. If your elderly loved one is experiencing these issues and you aren’t sure what is going on, it could be that they have a UTI. However, the only way to find out for sure is to have someone take your elderly loved one to the doctor for a urine test. This is the test that can determine whether a UTI is what your elderly loved one has.
Sources
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3878051/
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