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Suggest Treatment For UTI In An Elderly Person
Question: I am a 70-year-old woman who recently had a UTI that was very severe. I have learned that women my age and older are prone to this illness. How can I prevent another occurance of this illness? How do they start and why couldn't I see or feel it before it became so severe? My email address is YYYY@YYYY .
Brief Answer:
Information
Detailed Answer:
Hello Ms. Beaver,
Woman who are postmenopausal have a higher rate of getting UTIs because of decreased estrogen. Estrogen keeps the urinary and genital tissues more resilient. You might want to talk with your doctor about using topical or intravaginal estrogen cream to strengthen the urethra and urinary meatus so that it can ward off bacteria and infections better.
Taking estrogen orally has more risks, because then the hormone goes through your whole system. But with topical estrogen cream, not as much of it gets into your system but can help locally.
If you needed to be hospitalized, my guess is that he infection went up into your kidneys. Sometimes when a UTI goes into the kidneys, people don't experience typical bladder infection symptoms (burning, urgency, frequency to urinate) but instead feel some nausea, flank area dull discomfort, and eventually fever.
Some doctors recommend taking cranberry powder capsules daily to help prevent infections, but that is not necessarily supported by research. Still it might be useful and worth a try.
But I would recommend talking to your doctor about topical estrogen.
If you are sexually active, be sure to go to the bathroom and urinate immediately after intercourse, and wash away semen with a shower or wash cloth.
And stay hydrated so that there aren't long periods of time between when you have to urinate.
I hope this information helps. Please let me know if I can provide further information.
Information
Detailed Answer:
Hello Ms. Beaver,
Woman who are postmenopausal have a higher rate of getting UTIs because of decreased estrogen. Estrogen keeps the urinary and genital tissues more resilient. You might want to talk with your doctor about using topical or intravaginal estrogen cream to strengthen the urethra and urinary meatus so that it can ward off bacteria and infections better.
Taking estrogen orally has more risks, because then the hormone goes through your whole system. But with topical estrogen cream, not as much of it gets into your system but can help locally.
If you needed to be hospitalized, my guess is that he infection went up into your kidneys. Sometimes when a UTI goes into the kidneys, people don't experience typical bladder infection symptoms (burning, urgency, frequency to urinate) but instead feel some nausea, flank area dull discomfort, and eventually fever.
Some doctors recommend taking cranberry powder capsules daily to help prevent infections, but that is not necessarily supported by research. Still it might be useful and worth a try.
But I would recommend talking to your doctor about topical estrogen.
If you are sexually active, be sure to go to the bathroom and urinate immediately after intercourse, and wash away semen with a shower or wash cloth.
And stay hydrated so that there aren't long periods of time between when you have to urinate.
I hope this information helps. Please let me know if I can provide further information.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
I didn't have any symptoms, at least that I recognized. Nothing like you mentioned here. I had a very rough time of it, I'm told. My husband and at least one friend thought I wasn't going to come back from it. So you can understand why I might want to know all I can about this. I drink water a lot. So this is just mystifying to me. Thanks for your answer. I appreciate you taking the time to do that. Blessings, XXXXXXX Beaver
Brief Answer:
Thoughts on this
Detailed Answer:
Given the severity of illness you experienced, I would pursue this issue further with the urologist or nephrologist who attended you. Things that are important to know are what bacteria they isolated on culture of your urine or blood (was it something unusual) and anything that was seen as abnormal on imaging studies (such as any deformity of urinary tract structures or blood vessels). So consider requesting a consult and reviewing your case and what might have predisposed you to the infection and to the severity of the infection.
Thoughts on this
Detailed Answer:
Given the severity of illness you experienced, I would pursue this issue further with the urologist or nephrologist who attended you. Things that are important to know are what bacteria they isolated on culture of your urine or blood (was it something unusual) and anything that was seen as abnormal on imaging studies (such as any deformity of urinary tract structures or blood vessels). So consider requesting a consult and reviewing your case and what might have predisposed you to the infection and to the severity of the infection.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Good advice! You're the only one to recommend this to me. I will follow up on this you can believe! Thanks so much for your attention to my questions. I appreciate that very much. Have a great rest of the weekend! Blessings, XXXXXXX Beaver
Brief Answer:
Your welcome!
Detailed Answer:
Your welcome and I hope you can find some answers to this as an infection of the severity you described is unusual.
Best regards,
Bonnie Berger-Durnbaugh, MD
Your welcome!
Detailed Answer:
Your welcome and I hope you can find some answers to this as an infection of the severity you described is unusual.
Best regards,
Bonnie Berger-Durnbaugh, MD
Note: For further follow up on related General & Family Physician Click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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