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Originally posted by Johanna C.:
This is great advice from Maebee. I have had much experience with both moderate and severe changes in behavior that stemmed from a "silent" UTI.

Very often when Mom's behavior and even sometimes cognition changed, though she did not have any symptoms of a UTI, it was indeed a UTI of the "silent" variety. Once she was treated, she was back to baseline.

CAVEAT: Several times my mother had a course of antibiotic therapy but things were still off kilter. When I insisted we re-check the urine, sure enough; she still was with positive results. Twice she had to receive IV abx followed by a more lengthy course of oral abx in order to quell the nasty organism.

Sometimes it's easy to forget about UTI's, but over the years I finally got to the point where I'd think "UTI" first and then other causes later when things went over the top.

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" To Nessa and Everyone Else..."

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Originally posted by Jean57:
What do you do when your mother's behavior becomes different than it was and the doctor doesn't care?
Mom woke up several days ago and usually she has a stack of "things" she plays with, but now she seems almost psychotic. She babbles constantly, she get's up wanting to get out of here. She can barely get up, but she tries her darnest. I've increased her ativan and started her a few days ago on Seroquel, but so far no change. I feel something could be wrong physically, but when I called the doctor he said that's how it is with AD, they can stay awake for days. Mom is suffering and I'm afraid. What do I do?

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Originally posted by Jean57:
This is what I asked the doctor about, sending her someplace to get her meds under control, but he just doesn't seem interested.
This doctor is an AD specialist, I live in a small town where there is no other specialist, he's it. However, it seems like he takes it all for granted and just brushes everything off as AD related and doesn't even check her. I took her to the ER about a month ago when I thought she was having a heart attack as her neck was bulging every time her heart beat. They didn't do a cardiogram even. I wanted two hours before the doctor came in at all, it's like they figure she's old, why bother. I wish I could find good care for her, but I don't know where that's going to be at.
I've asked the alz association for a list, but the list is just that. I can't get out to look as I'm her only caregiver. This is new behavior, she is yelling and seems like she has no clue what's going on. If I give her the things she likes to play with, she just throws them. She won't eat or drink much and is afraid of the food. Yes, this is a big change, overnight it seems.

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Originally posted by Jean57:
Does anyone know if Medicare will pay if you take the person to another state to be seen or do you have to stay in your own state?