Eli5 Why do bladder infections effect personalities in older people?
In: 0
In the very elderly, infections can cause significant mental abnormalities. I am not a medical person, but I have seen this in person with three relatives. In one case, what looked like sudden dementia and poor motor control, turned out to be a viral infection .
I assume you meant mood? Personality is more or less impossible to change once its formed and it definitely is in old people.
1. Being in pain and sick makes you behave differently
2. It can creep up to the kidneys and cause electrolyte imbalances – low sodium especially can make a person behave weirdly, loose memory, be confused and in general show signs of mental disturbance.
Bladder infections cause a whole range of uncomfortable symptoms that can happen all at once. Older people also have more difficulty expressing themselves so they can become frustrated. This is even more apparent when they have memory impairment.
Urine infections can cause something called ‘delirium’, which is basically sudden confusion. A lot of times the person will come across as if they have dementia. Luckily many people will recover from delirium but it can still be life-threatening for some, and is very frightening.
Latest Answers