What Causes Frequent Urination, High Fever And Lower Abdominal Pain In An Elderly Person?

Posted on Wed, 15 Jun 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Wed, 15 Jun 2016 Answered on

Sat, 9 Jul 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : My wife (55 yrs old) has all symptoms of gastroenteritis with pain in middle lower abdomen. Has had fever that went up to 102 yesterday, down to 98 now. She has begun to hold down water and a little apple sauce over the last several hours. Now she is concerned because she feels like she needs to urinate but can't. Her last stool was extremely watery but no urine. She last urinated about 3 hours ago.

Wondering if she should to go to emergency room or give this more time to resolve?

Answered by Dr. T Chandrakant (45 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Please take her to ER

Detailed Answer:
Hi.
Thanks for your query.
To recapitulate: Female/55 - gastroenteritis - pain in middle lower abdomen - fever 102 yesterday - holding water and apple sauce - feels need to urinate but can not - last stool extremely watery but no urine - last urinated 3 hours ago - wondering is to go to ER or give time to resolve ...

My thoughts:
All these symptoms are suggestive of active intestinal infection and now may be of urinary tract infection.
I would advise you the following:
Please take her to ER. The reason being she needs proper clinical evaluation, investigations of the blood, urine and stool and medications.
With such symptoms there is always a change of some sort of complications like dehydration, septicemia, bacterimia and effects on kidneys or other organs.
Hence it is always better to have proper care.

I hope this answer helps you, please feel free to ask for further relevant queries if you feel that there is a gap of communication.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar