Miller Land | Our Family's Little Blog

You know what’s really scary?

A smart person in the grip of a psychotic episode. I’ve seen it happen to intelligent people in their 30’s and bright kids as young as 8, but in those cases, you know it’s not Alzheimer’s. You don’t have that assurance with older people who develop dementia-like symptoms.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not an easy thing to watch anybody “losing their mind.” With the growing pressures, imperfection, and who-knows-what toxins in our air, food, and water, is it any wonder that according to NIMH (yes, it actually exists) an estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older — about one in four adults — suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year? One in four, staggering.

A fascinating, but sobering thought – Elderly people with a UTI have been misdiagnosed with senior dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.  This is because a UTI can mimic the symptoms of such conditions. Also, according to Nursing magazine, 30% to 40% of elderly patients with this infection don’t have a  fever, a typical sign of infection.

Because the barrier between the urinary tract and the bloodstream thins out in old age, the bacteria in the urine spreads more easily to the blood stream and causes confusion and other cognitive difficulties as it crosses the blood-brain barrier. Sudden onset of these symptoms may indicate a UTI.

When my mother experienced confusion last year that landed her in the hospital, I had to convince each new set of medical professionals – the EMT’s, the ER personnel, the attending nurses and doctors that she was exhibiting unusual behavior.  It took some doing because even at her worst, she still looked dignified. And that’s all they had to go by since they couldn’t understand what she was saying in Korean.

As soon as they found traces of a UTI, they started her on a regimen of antibiotics. That seemed to do the trick. She slowly regained her mental powers and was eventually back to her feisty old self. Needless to say, it made all of us a little more aware of UTI’s and doing all we can to avoid them.

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