Confusion and urinary tract infections: The Living with Parkinson's Tip of the Day

“My spouse or family member has Parkinson’s and has suddenly become confused.”

This is one of the most common calls we receive in the Parkinson’s clinic and on the 18004PDINFO Parkinson’s Foundation helpline.

Some of the callers are frightened because there may also be coexisting hallucinations or paranoia.

Here are a few tips to remember:

This confusion could be caused by a urinary tract infection, even without a fever or other symptoms (pain when urinating, change in urine color, frequency, other symptom).
Urinary tract infections can occur in both men and women with Parkinson’s.
Untreated a urinary tract infection can lead to sepsis (infection in the blood) and if you get septic there is a high chance of death or other bad outcome(s). The infection can start in the bladder and travel up to the kidneys and even enter into the bloodstream. Immediate treatment is important.
Sometimes doctors call urinary tract infections, UTIs— for short.
A urinalysis and culture of the urine is important. The culture will hopefully grow the specific bacteria so that an appropriate antibiotic can be chosen for treatment.
Urinary tract infections can lead to confusion, thinking problems, illusions, hallucinations and paranoia.
We should have a low threshold for checking for the presence of a urinary tract infection if there is sudden onset confusion.

To read more on Indu Subramanian M.D. she does live interviews of experts in Parkinson’s for the PMD Alliance. She is one of the few doctors in the world trained in both Parkinson’s disease neurology and in integrative medicine.