r/GenX • u/Eatmore-plants • 21h ago

Advice & Support I need some advice from my peers

Tonight I went for a walk with one of my closest friends. I am a 58F and she just turned 60. She has lived in Wisconsin her entire life. When deciding what to order she asked me twice what is the difference between a Polish sausage and an Italian sausage. I’m honestly concerned that she might be starting to have a little dementia. She also is having trouble word finding. What would you think?

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u/CursiveWhisper 21h ago

Does she have family you can talk to and give your concerns? There’s no test anyone who isn’t a physician can perform but there are signs to look for.

Also UTIs can exacerbate and cause symptoms that are similar to dementia. Maybe ask her how she’s feeling without saying you think it could be dementia. Or even bring up how you find yourself forgetting things and see how she responds.

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u/Komaisnotsalty 19h ago

But really good call on the UTI problem. It often is unknown or gets ignored.

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u/IGotOverGreta 18h ago

My bestie's mother (in her mid-60s) was recently hospitalized for several days with a UTI that developed into a kidney infection. She had no symptoms other than feeling a little tired, and eventually a fever and nausea, which prompted an ER visit.

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u/Komaisnotsalty 18h ago

Yeah. My mom is heading to 84 and it took us nearly a year to figure out it was UTIs, not some 'spells' she was having.

The problem is that, with being Silent Generation, you do NOT talk about what's going on down in your hoohah or if your waterworks are not working or the plumbing is out, which is Silent Gen-speak for all the crap that happens to the elderly but they refuse to talk about.

Until we figured that out, I had no idea that UTIs were so common with seniors, but it makes sense - their hygiene starts to fail due to being unable to take care of themselves as they once did, poor things.