Why exactly does an UTI cause dementia like symptoms in geriatric patients, but not in younger patients?
Why don’t younger patients with urinary tract infections suffer from the symptoms of dementia when they have a UTI, but the elderly experience this symptom. Please note, I use “dementia” loosely. I do realize the difference between actually having the psychological disease and merely a symptom from an UTI. I am only using the term to best describe the situation I’m referring. In other words, why do the elderly get “crazy in the head” when they have a UTI, but younger patients do not?
It’s name is long and complicated, so I’m not going to bother; When you’re a kid, and constantly growing, one of your growth hormones also does double duty in controlling your physiology- in this case, it keeps your brain temp down. Your brain functions optimally at a slightly lower temperature than your body. Now, when you get to the end stages of adolescence, your growth rate slows down as this hormone stops getting dumped in your system in bulk, but it’s still there. A different group of hormones take over at controlling all sorts of fun things in your body, including brain temp, As you start getting elderly, howerver, your hormone balance changes again- primary hormones like testosterone and estrogen really get curtailed, as do a whole suite of other hormones. Now, things like resistance to fever and such are really problematic- adults can shrug off a minor fever, and maybe complain about being lightheaded and nauseous. The fossils among us, however, are going to be laid out. They just don’t have the chemical wherewithal to fight off fevers like the rest of us, and UTI’s give a one-two. They give you a fever, pain, and are attacking your reproductive area. Now you’ve got fever, pain, and endorphins (fever and pain combined make you dump feel-good chemicals in your bloodstream). The body figures you’re in trouble, so you’d best be ready for action. Unfortunately, in the elderly, the chemical storm just makes you loopy and feverish.
Hope that helps. I tried to keep it simple. Chemical physiology is awesome, but like ecology- there’s whole levels of interaction.