urosepsis and paralytic ileus

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I had a 70+ female patient who didn't have a bowel movement for a week. We gave her stool softeners, urged her to ambulate more often, and added more fiber and fluids into her diet. We also held off all narcotics but still, she didn't have any bowel movement. The MD then ordered for a fleets enema and of course, everything came out. The next week after that, it was still the same thing. No bowel movement for a week. Then the MD suddenly told me that it was her UTI (based on the high WBC lab results) that is causing her paralytic ileus. I was surprised because I couldn't connect / visualize the pathophysiology of UTIs and paralytic ileus. Can someone help me on this? I tried googling it but it doesn't show up.

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The only thing I could thing of is maybe the sympathetic nervous system kicking in?? Bowel function slows because the body is under stress...

Otherwise... Im stumped... lol

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