Can a urinary tract infection cause someone to lose their ability to speak and use their vocal chords?
May 31, 2009
in
Urinary Tract Infections
Can a urinary tract infection cause someone to lose their ability to speak and use their vocal chords for three days?
Are people put into the ICU for a urinary tract infection and inability to swallow? And if so, would they begin feeding the person that milkshake stuff or just sugar water in the ICU?
I prefer someone from the medical community answer this. Thank you!
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6 comments
andyc9982 on May 31, 2009 at 9:12 am
UTI's can cause confusion and increased instability in elderly patients, but I haven't heard of it causing swallowing difficulties. It would be possible that the person suffering from the UTI had a stroke (CVA which is what most of us just call a stroke, or a TIA which is a mini stroke, it mimics a CVA but is only temporary, usually a precursor to a CVA) while the infection was occurring and that can cause the difficulty in swallow. The milkshake stuff you are talking about sounds like tube feeding or Thicken added to food (both are used to help a person get nourishment while suffering from difficulty or inability to swallow). Also the patient would be receiving NaCl (normal saline) which is mostly water with 0.9% sodium added (it is the same salt to water balance that the body has) to keep the person from dehydration.
Siggysal on May 31, 2009 at 9:12 am
A urinary tract infection (UTI) will NOT make someone inable to speak.
Most people are NOT put in the ICU for an tract infection.
If the UTI has progressed to a kindey infection, you can be sure they'd only be passing clear fluids into their body.
There could be multiple problems and maybe one of those could render someone inable to speak.
ared0025 on May 31, 2009 at 9:12 am
No, but a untreated UTI can lead to sepsis, a blood infection. This can be caused by an infection being left alone and can infect the bloodstream… not always the case, but more possible than people think. Sepsis can put you in the ICU if bad enough case.
gangadharan_nair on May 31, 2009 at 9:12 am
Chronic UTI may lead to Kidney infection (pyelonephritis).
Possible Complications of Pyelonephritis:
* Recurrence of pyelonephritis
* Perinephric abscess (infection around the kidney)
* Sepsis
* Acute renal failure
In this case X th cranial nerve (Vagus nerve) might have affected due to septicemia.
Please note that I am not a medical professional.
Naomi K on May 31, 2009 at 9:12 am
okay Iam not a doctor my mum is a nurse the inability toswallow and ability to speak boils down to a neurological problem the symptoms you have given me are a sign of a stroke I suggest you call an ambulance and get yourself to the hospital they can prevent it from happening
aljea on May 31, 2009 at 9:12 am
Only if the UTI bacteria got into their blood stream and they became septic. This could be the shock, and then yes they would be in the ICU