Re: To Sharon and Others RE utis, yeast infections and constipation

[Guest guest]

Sharon, Here's another message for you! You are so helpful I just want to send a

big hug! Your situation and my mom's sound somewhat similar. And yes, I do

understand these are your personal experiences. The input and feedback is very

reassuring, however! I am guessing my mom has some blockage which contributes to

the constipation. The GI doc doesn't want to do a colonoscopy: thinks we'll

never get her cleaned out sufficiently. But since thisis getting worse after

nearly a year on antibiotics for the UTIs, I am beginning to suspect an internal

problem. And since she is nearly always on antibiotics, naturally it's worse.

She is on Miralax 2X/day and Citrucel 1X/day - and still constipated. We give

her suppositories, and then we have the opposite problem. So complicated. Then

there's the fungal infection - a yeast which won't go away. We tried Diflucan,

but it didn't work. She's now on a " third-line " (extremely strong for when

nothing else works) med called V-Fend. It makes

her very tired, increases confusion and tremors. Poor lady. Her UTIs include

the oddest assortment the MD has encountered in one person. Again, althoug h I'm

not a clinician, I suspect a structural problem. With her dementia and suspicion

of MDs, getting her checked out is a near-constant problem. Becuase of some

psychiatric issues, she takes Seroquel, and cannot then take macrodantin or

nitrofurantoin. They mix badly with the Seroquel. What a mess! But i still say

thank you to you - and everyone here - because hearing from you is close to the

only thing giving me strength to continue. Sharon, you and my new friends here

are in my thoughts and prayers.

Lin

LadySmilingAtU2@... wrote:

lin,

there are some over the counter things like benfiber that you can mix with food

or drink to help keep her regulated. they had me on that in the hosp when i had

a severe intestinal block. i also take prescriptoin zelnorm to regulate but i

have chronic bowel issues due to my medicines. benefiber and other like products

can be used to help make a person normal. benefiber is mostly tasteless and can

be mixed with food or drink *i dont recommend mixing with soda gives it a flat

taste* and the dosage can be adapted to each patient.

as for chronic utis, i can speak again from personal experience but i do not

know how these medicines affect lbders. macrobid or macrodanton can be taken

long term as a preventative for someone with chronic utis. dosage is usally

100mg once a day maybe twice but not often. methenamine 400mg is also another

medicine to help control chronic utis but they are horse pills. and need to take

them 4 times a day. i would start with the macrobid or macrodanton first. also

for chronic yeast infections, there is a tablet called diflucan taht can be

taken to prevent or heal yeast infections. and i take one or two monthly to keep

the yeast infections in check as i take antibiotics on a regular basis.

i want you to understand tho, that this is all my personal experience and as of

yet i havent been diagnosed with lbd although we are watching for signs and

symptoms of it. and i am like you a non medical professional, i am a

professional patient. all i can do is tell you what helped me, personally.

and for the uti's and yeast infection what always helped me in the past wasnt

very lady like but very very comforting was keeping cold (from the refrigerator

) and wet but well wrung, 100% cotton washcloth and put it across my privates.

it was cooling and comforting as my utis' burn burn burn. also cornstarch from

the grocery store and use very very freely as a powder as it draws the yeast

out.

i hope this info helps, good luck and hugs, sharon

---- l pratt wrote:

Dear Sharon, again! I must not be reading postings in order. Sorry for multiple

messages. Here I could use some help re UTIs and constipation. What you describe

is my Mom's situation. Constipation really bad - once we get her on a decnt

amount of laxatives, then the opposite effedt sets in and she's miserable but

for opposite reasons. Also she hs nerly chronic UTIs, and all the antibiotics

have now led to a fungal infection. The mix of meds to treat the infections seem

to be worsening her confusion, depression, frustration, tremors and sleep. The

MD's response is that we have to treat these infections, which I do understand.

And I know folkswith LBD are generally limited in meds to counter the anxiety,

etc. So we are adding to her Seroquel, which ALSO increases tremors and makes

her very groggy. Any ideas, anyone, about any of this? Thank you all for being

here. Lin

LadySmilingAtU2@... wrote: oh my, does the comment dr jekyll mr hyde bring

back memories, that is exactly waht my dad did. and it was soooo bad on sinemet

even only 2 doses of 1/2 tablet of the lowest dose did he do that and then as we

had to take him off of exelon and namenda it got even worse.

daddy would be so evil esp to me and usually only me, and the nurses had to

remind me that people tend to hurt the most teh ones they love and trust the

most so that in a a very weird sort of way that his outbreaks to me were showing

me how much he loved and trusted me. but boy were they ugly, too the point that

dad tried to pimp me out to his best friend, quoted him a price and was very

specific as to what i would do to /for him. it was awful. on his better days dad

would complain that the 'little man in his head'*what he called lbd was being

bad again wanting him to say/do bad things.

it was very very difficult to convince myself that the disease was talking not

my daddy. but you have to do that, you have to separate the perosn and the

disease. or you will go crazy in frustration,

i like your doctors thinking about what matters is how the patient feels, great

doctor, i like comments like that. your bro sil, and director are going to have

to learn how to work with your mom, giving her chioces like i did with dad, dad

do you want to shower before or after you eat. let him choose and then we did it

in that order. dad do you want milk or coke with your medicine. not giving him

the option to take his medicines but waht to drink so he felt in control still,

all that makes a difference.

also fyi, urinary tract infections and constipation can cause severe aggression.

i would have your mom checked for both. our lo's cant explain to us what is

wrong so we have to treat them like children and figure out what is wrong, for

some reason our lo's are prone to uti's. they cannot complain that the pee is

burning or itchy feeling and it hurts in the bladder, they just get agitated,

same with constipation,

anyways just a few thoughts, good luck and hugs, sharon m

---- el62671 wrote:

My mothers doctor who is a Geriatric Specialist, has told us that

the Parkinson's drugs, like Sinimet, do make the person more mobile,

but will eventually have an adverse effect on the dementia. At the

time he put our mother on Sinimet 2 years ago, her dementia had

stabilized, but she was very depressed about her mobility. It has

worked very well, but unfortunately the dementia has reared it's

ugly head again-big time! Hallucinations, aggression, paranoia and

incontinence. So bad that she was very close to being asked to leave

the Adult Care Home, where she has lived for almost 5

years. He said with this disease, you sometimes have to pick your

battles and choose what is best for the patient. At every visit,

which were many all summer, he said it didn't matter if she was

driving everybody crazy. What mattered is how she was feeling, and

she was still able to get out of the house with family and friends.

She always seemed to be just a sweet old lady at the appointments,

until 2 weeks ago. Things had gotten so bad that my brother, sister

and the director of the home showed up with mom at the appointment.

This was after he had received many call in that 2 weeks. She was in

rare form and even he acted very sad about some of her behavior. She

told him she feels like Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde, and never knows who

she will be. He finally decided to reduce the Sinimet. He said it

would take awhile to see results, and I think some of the behaviors

have abated a bit, but she can hardly walk now.

--

Daugher of Leonard, diag May 2004, had lbd since 1993, had hip surgery from fall

7/05, aspiration pneumonia 7/05 with pulmonary embolyis, had aspiration

pneumonia and uti 8/05, died of blood pressure drop on 9/25/05,

may he rest in peace with his mom and dad,

a smile a day keeps the meanies away

Welcome to LBDcaregivers.

[Guest guest]

lin i am so glad i could be of some help, wish i had more to offer, but i would

still consider teh benefiber, as i was on all you mentioned while i was in hosp

plus benefiber, instead of teh suppostiories to help keep her on a normal track

for bowel movements. apple juice on a regualr basis will help too esp the

natural apple juice, tastes better tjan prune juiice and i am wondering if the

new plum juice mighthel[p too. i love plums so i want to try that. good luck

and hugs, sharon m

---- l pratt wrote:

Sharon, Here's another message for you! You are so helpful I just want to send a

big hug! Your situation and my mom's sound somewhat similar. And yes, I do

understand these are your personal experiences. The input and feedback is very

reassuring, however! I am guessing my mom has some blockage which contributes to

the constipation. The GI doc doesn't want to do a colonoscopy: thinks we'll

never get her cleaned out sufficiently. But since thisis getting worse after

nearly a year on antibiotics for the UTIs, I am beginning to suspect an internal

problem. And since she is nearly always on antibiotics, naturally it's worse.

She is on Miralax 2X/day and Citrucel 1X/day - and still constipated. We give

her suppositories, and then we have the opposite problem. So complicated. Then

there's the fungal infection - a yeast which won't go away. We tried Diflucan,

but it didn't work. She's now on a " third-line " (extremely strong for when

nothing else works) med called V-Fend. It makes

her very tired, increases confusion and tremors. Poor lady. Her UTIs include

the oddest assortment the MD has encountered in one person. Again, althoug h I'm

not a clinician, I suspect a structural problem. With her dementia and suspicion

of MDs, getting her checked out is a near-constant problem. Becuase of some

psychiatric issues, she takes Seroquel, and cannot then take macrodantin or

nitrofurantoin. They mix badly with the Seroquel. What a mess! But i still say

thank you to you - and everyone here - because hearing from you is close to the

only thing giving me strength to continue. Sharon, you and my new friends here

are in my thoughts and prayers.

Lin

LadySmilingAtU2@... wrote:

lin,

there are some over the counter things like benfiber that you can mix with food

or drink to help keep her regulated. they had me on that in the hosp when i had

a severe intestinal block. i also take prescriptoin zelnorm to regulate but i

have chronic bowel issues due to my medicines. benefiber and other like products

can be used to help make a person normal. benefiber is mostly tasteless and can

be mixed with food or drink *i dont recommend mixing with soda gives it a flat

taste* and the dosage can be adapted to each patient.

as for chronic utis, i can speak again from personal experience but i do not

know how these medicines affect lbders. macrobid or macrodanton can be taken

long term as a preventative for someone with chronic utis. dosage is usally

100mg once a day maybe twice but not often. methenamine 400mg is also another

medicine to help control chronic utis but they are horse pills. and need to take

them 4 times a day. i would start with the macrobid or macrodanton first. also

for chronic yeast infections, there is a tablet called diflucan taht can be

taken to prevent or heal yeast infections. and i take one or two monthly to keep

the yeast infections in check as i take antibiotics on a regular basis.

i want you to understand tho, that this is all my personal experience and as of

yet i havent been diagnosed with lbd although we are watching for signs and

symptoms of it. and i am like you a non medical professional, i am a

professional patient. all i can do is tell you what helped me, personally.

and for the uti's and yeast infection what always helped me in the past wasnt

very lady like but very very comforting was keeping cold (from the refrigerator

) and wet but well wrung, 100% cotton washcloth and put it across my privates.

it was cooling and comforting as my utis' burn burn burn. also cornstarch from

the grocery store and use very very freely as a powder as it draws the yeast

out.

i hope this info helps, good luck and hugs, sharon

---- l pratt wrote:

Dear Sharon, again! I must not be reading postings in order. Sorry for multiple

messages. Here I could use some help re UTIs and constipation. What you describe

is my Mom's situation. Constipation really bad - once we get her on a decnt

amount of laxatives, then the opposite effedt sets in and she's miserable but

for opposite reasons. Also she hs nerly chronic UTIs, and all the antibiotics

have now led to a fungal infection. The mix of meds to treat the infections seem

to be worsening her confusion, depression, frustration, tremors and sleep. The

MD's response is that we have to treat these infections, which I do understand.

And I know folkswith LBD are generally limited in meds to counter the anxiety,

etc. So we are adding to her Seroquel, which ALSO increases tremors and makes

her very groggy. Any ideas, anyone, about any of this? Thank you all for being

here. Lin

LadySmilingAtU2@... wrote: oh my, does the comment dr jekyll mr hyde bring

back memories, that is exactly waht my dad did. and it was soooo bad on sinemet

even only 2 doses of 1/2 tablet of the lowest dose did he do that and then as we

had to take him off of exelon and namenda it got even worse.

daddy would be so evil esp to me and usually only me, and the nurses had to

remind me that people tend to hurt the most teh ones they love and trust the

most so that in a a very weird sort of way that his outbreaks to me were showing

me how much he loved and trusted me. but boy were they ugly, too the point that

dad tried to pimp me out to his best friend, quoted him a price and was very

specific as to what i would do to /for him. it was awful. on his better days dad

would complain that the 'little man in his head'*what he called lbd was being

bad again wanting him to say/do bad things.

it was very very difficult to convince myself that the disease was talking not

my daddy. but you have to do that, you have to separate the perosn and the

disease. or you will go crazy in frustration,

i like your doctors thinking about what matters is how the patient feels, great

doctor, i like comments like that. your bro sil, and director are going to have

to learn how to work with your mom, giving her chioces like i did with dad, dad

do you want to shower before or after you eat. let him choose and then we did it

in that order. dad do you want milk or coke with your medicine. not giving him

the option to take his medicines but waht to drink so he felt in control still,

all that makes a difference.

also fyi, urinary tract infections and constipation can cause severe aggression.

i would have your mom checked for both. our lo's cant explain to us what is

wrong so we have to treat them like children and figure out what is wrong, for

some reason our lo's are prone to uti's. they cannot complain that the pee is

burning or itchy feeling and it hurts in the bladder, they just get agitated,

same with constipation,

anyways just a few thoughts, good luck and hugs, sharon m

---- el62671 wrote:

My mothers doctor who is a Geriatric Specialist, has told us that

the Parkinson's drugs, like Sinimet, do make the person more mobile,

but will eventually have an adverse effect on the dementia. At the

time he put our mother on Sinimet 2 years ago, her dementia had

stabilized, but she was very depressed about her mobility. It has

worked very well, but unfortunately the dementia has reared it's

ugly head again-big time! Hallucinations, aggression, paranoia and

incontinence. So bad that she was very close to being asked to leave

the Adult Care Home, where she has lived for almost 5

years. He said with this disease, you sometimes have to pick your

battles and choose what is best for the patient. At every visit,

which were many all summer, he said it didn't matter if she was

driving everybody crazy. What mattered is how she was feeling, and

she was still able to get out of the house with family and friends.

She always seemed to be just a sweet old lady at the appointments,

until 2 weeks ago. Things had gotten so bad that my brother, sister

and the director of the home showed up with mom at the appointment.

This was after he had received many call in that 2 weeks. She was in

rare form and even he acted very sad about some of her behavior. She

told him she feels like Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde, and never knows who

she will be. He finally decided to reduce the Sinimet. He said it

would take awhile to see results, and I think some of the behaviors

have abated a bit, but she can hardly walk now.

--

Daugher of Leonard, diag May 2004, had lbd since 1993, had hip surgery from fall

7/05, aspiration pneumonia 7/05 with pulmonary embolyis, had aspiration

pneumonia and uti 8/05, died of blood pressure drop on 9/25/05,

may he rest in peace with his mom and dad,

a smile a day keeps the meanies away

Welcome to LBDcaregivers.

[Guest guest]

I am beginning to suspect an internal problem. And since she is nearly

always on antibiotics, naturally it's worse. She is on Miralax 2X/day

and Citrucel 1X/day - nitrofurantoin. They mix badly with the

Seroquel. What a mess! But i still say thank you to you - and everyone

here - because hearing from you is close to the only thing giving me

strength to continue. Sharon, you and my new friends here are in my

thoughts and prayers.

Lin

To Lin and all those who have loved ones on antibiotics. Please use

probiotics to help the gut. Quite often older people with trashed

immune systems get yeasty and full of fungus. Most of the time drs do

not order probiotics because they are food supplements. I had my dad

on Culturelle X3 a day. He had c-diff and that's a very nasty bowel

disease. It did help some before his death. Since it is a food, it

shouldn't react with any drugs...it should help. Sara, new to group.