Dad (66) in a nursing home with catheter. He gets a UTI every month or 2 that require IVs and hospitalization to cure. Any advice/education?

My wife's Uro/Gyn has her on a regimen of vitamin C, D Mannose and methanamine which has helped her tremendously. She's gone from multiple (12+ over. 2 years) UTIs to none. The vitamin C reduces the ph of the urine which is a factor in UTIs. Bacteria thrive in a high ph environment. The methanamine is a med that greatly reduces the ocurance of UTIs. Also an estrogen ring for females is very helpful.

I learned about a helpful supplement here on this forum. Those who are familiar with me know that I'm no gushing fan of supplements for many reasons BUT I've personally had success with my MIL's constant UTIs by giving her maintenance D-Mannosse. She is 88 and in LTC at a good facility but was getting UTIs like every other month. AlvaDeer (from this forum and a retired nurse) told me about her success using this supplement. When my MIL did not have a UTI the facility started giving her the d-Mannosse that I provided and she has had almost 0 UTIs since then.

The scientific community is not quite completely sure why it works but since it is a simple sugar, you cannot "overdose" on it and there are no side effects. It may or may not work depending on the reasons why your LO is getting his UTIs. For elderly women, it is not only a hygiene issue, but also their pH and hormones change, and their physiology changes so that their bladders do not fully empty anymore. All I know is this works for my LO and it is low risk for your Father. If he has diabetes I would make sure to clear it with his physician first. I bought mine on Amazon.com. Since it is a simple sugar you can open the capsules and but it in his food -- it's not bitter like most other meds.

You could inquire about a maintenance dose of antibiotics that he takes every day to keep him from getting UTIs. Ask his urologist.

Its the catheter. It will cause UTIs.

I think your best solution would be to work towards getting rid of the catheter, if at all possible.

I moved my mother from an AL/Memory Care to a nursing home because they kept sending her to the hospital for every little thing (trouble breathing, UTI, falls, etc.). A nursing home should be able to administer IV meds, take on-site x-rays, call in specialists, etc. That's why she's there now and isn't being sent off to the local hospital every 2-3 weeks. Those transitions were really hard on her.

Don’t use a catheter. My father had bladder cancer they fixed him up with a way to urinate through his penis. Another choice may be a colostomy bag. Or just a bag he can pee in with an external sleeve. As a private pilot they make ways to pee in flight and capture the urine without leaving your seat.

does he have to have the catheter for a medical or convenient reason? You could inquire how much water he’s drinking every day and make sure he gets enough to clean out the toxins in his body. Also, hygiene issue - making sure they daily clean him thoroughly. If you live close enough you can go and check on a more frequently to make sure they’re caring for him properly.

I don’t know about supplements. When I was taking care of my Mr. he started having UTI problems, going to the hospital, getting his catheter reinserted etc too.

all I started doing was mandating the caregivers to carefully wash his penis throughly every night and put Desitin on it like a baby. Move the folds of skin, wash, rinse, pat dry - the whole 9 yards. He didn’t get infections this way unless they started getting lazy about it. Because I was a caregiver too I could monitor their work.

Otherwise I don’t know how to answer your question and I’m so sorry; what a dreadful problem to deal with. Good luck

My father at 90 was on a catheter for about 6 months after he had a bad fall and also blood in his urine. I had thought he was destined to need to keep it in forever, but working with a urologist from outside the facility they suggested doing a urinating trial where a nurse removed the catheter and they gave my dad a few hours to see if he could urinate on his own (along with plenty of fluids at that time.) He managed to do it and so he was able to have fewer issues - much more comfortable and less likely to get UTIs. The only down side for him was he wasn't independent in getting to the toilet and even had some problems using the male urinal jug that they would leave beside him - so he was upset by getting a wet adult diaper and/or not getting help soon enough to go in the toilet or urinal. That was an issue for him because he didn't have dementia and he'd somehow hoped/assumed he could get help when he needed to go, but the staff weren't always available in time. I still thought it was better and more "freeing" for him not to have that catheter in.

I agree with @JoAnn29 that you need to find out just why your dad is being catheterized in the first place.