- Introduction
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Caregiving
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- Coping with Memory Loss
- Costs and Insurance
- Creating a Daily Routine
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- Health and Wellbeing of the Caregiver
- Home Safety Adjustments
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- Talking to Children about Alzheimer's
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- Telling Someone They Have Alzheimer's
- Transition to Assisted Living
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Q: can a bladder infection on a elderly person with dementia caused shakes(hands)and confusion?
It definitely can cause confusion. UTIs are well known to sneak up on many elders and cause all kinds of problems. Any infection in the system can cause someone frail a great deal of trouble, so watching carefully is important.
Carol
Dinon
Yes, it is very, very common for a urinary tract infection (or any major infection such as pneumonia) to cause a severe backslide in a patients Alzheimer's symptoms. My mom had a urinary tract infection and it accentuated her symptoms dramatically. This also happened with pneumonia. It was a total setback.
The problem is that they don't always get totally back to the way they were before they contracted the infection.
In fact we had no idea that mom had a urinary tract infection, but her Alzheimer's suddenly to a very bad downward turn. We took her to the neurologist who is treating her and the first thing she tested mom for was for a urinary tract infection. She, in fact, had a severe urinary tract infection and was showning no symptoms nor was she complaining of any burning when urinating, etc.
The Dr. treated mom for the urinary infection and like magic both herurinary tract infection was cleared up AND her Alzheimer's returned to the way it was before.
Scotchie42
Hi "dinon", I agree with the other answers that were submitted. My mother's UTI caused her to have some peculiar problems. The tremors could also be a negative side effect of medication. When the UTI gets cleared up, if these other symptoms remain, contact the doctor about them. If it does turn out to be a medication problem, it needs to be corrected quickly to avoid the possibility of an irreversible condition that sometimes develops. (Search: Tardive dyskinesia) Good luck! -- Joe
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