Expert: Paula Damgaard - 8/20/2009

Question
Hi Paula, my Grandmother is 83 and recently had a UTI.  She stopped taking her meds and wasn't drinking enough water and ended up in the hospital.  The doctors did tests and a heart cath. and so far the only thing that she is doing is pulling out her foley and IV's and talking about children from the past.  I know that when the elderly get UTI's that they get a little senile, I used to work at an ALF.  I'm wondering if she will come out of this or if it is in fact the begining stages of AD.
Thank you for your time.
Demmeri

Answer
Demmeri, I am sorry I have taken so long to respond.  The day you sent this I had hand surgery and am now only able to use one hand.

So there maybe a lot of typos!

You ask a good Question, which I don't really feel I can answer.  There are many factors in your question which could lead me to say, it could be, her age, her reaction to the UTI.  However you also say that she had stopped all her meds and was dehydrated, this could cause a person to seem demented.

The only way to know for sure is to get  her back to her normal baseline and then see how she is.  You may want to get her to see someone who specializes in dementia and have a full work up done.  She may pass with flying colors, and good for her if she does.  Them you would have these results as a baseline incase she fails later.

I hope this helps.  Again I apologize for the delay.