Never Ending Bladder Infection...

[wareagle]

Hey guys...I'm back from my trip...and still having urinary issues. It turns out that I've actually had a bladder infection this whole time...since the beginning of Feb.!! Apparently the GP I went to see here was unaware that antibiotic tx. can give you false negatives with the urinalysis for up to 10 days following the last dose...so instead of listening to me when I said my symptoms hadn't gone away she assumed my issues were a result of a yeast infection my OBGYN told me I had.

So...for several weeks I was attempting to treat a yeast infection which resulted in causing MORE irritation down there. When I got to my friends house I called my OBGYN and said the yeast tx. wasn't working b/c I was getting worse..and then they tell me I DIDN'T have a yeast infection?! Still confused on that one...the doc. looked at a sample under the microscope while I was in the office and told me I had yeast..but then when I called they said the culture was negative for yeast and it sounded like I had a bladder infection.

I went to my friends doctor and he did a repeat urinalysis which came back positive for an infection (go figure). I tried to take Macrobid but had a lot of trouble with it so I went back on the Ceftin even though it didn't work the first time...thought a longer course might work better...and I had a wedding to go to so didn't want to try anything else new in case of a bad reaction. Now I'm home..11 days into the tx. with Ceftin and still have the infection. I'm going to my old GP tomorrow if I can get in to see what she has to say about all of this. I really think I need a different antibiotic and hope it's okay to start a new one. The Macrobid actually seemed to be working...I just couldn't tolerate the 100 mg. twice a day...maybe once a day would work?

Does anyone have any experience with a persistent bladder infection? Any advise or suggestions I can take with me to the doctor tomorrow? PLEASE anything will be much appriciated....I need this thing to GO AWAY. It's just such a gamble with these antibiotics...trying to find one that actually works without making me too sick to function.

[Zoogle]

Hello,

My mother use to get chronic bladder infections that went on for years, as soon as she got off the antibiotics it would come back. She changed docs & was told to drink lots of cranberry juice, within a week she started to feel better. She now takes high dose cranberry capsules every day (cheaper than the juice) & she has not had an infection for 18 months. It has no side effects, so maybe worth a try.

Bronwyn

[willows]

Hi, sorry to hear about this awful problem .

I used to get an infection quite regularly , but found that if I had at least one glass pf cranberry juice a day I could keep the bugs at bay , its something to do with the acid in the juice or the other way around , the acid in the bladder , sorry cant get my brain to work this morning yet .

Is the infection tracking to your kidneys giving you back ache or are you just getting a low pubic pain , are you also having the old 'must wee every 2 seconds ............then pain , pain and more pain when passing just a teaspoon of the stuff.

If the answer is yes to the kidney one then its a definite antibiotic job , but with the other two you must really drink, drink and more drink , especially the cranberry juice , I cannot help you with a name of an antibiotic as its been so long since I was taken ill with an infection , but I'm sure your doctor will give you something to knock it on the head as soon as they see you .

I dont know if you are male or female from your name , so I'm taking a risk and saying your one of us lot of loonies ( a girl)

I was told in no uncertain terms by a very eminent gyne doctor the following things what you must do if you want to stop getting all those infections , so I'm passing them on to you , some you probably know already , but some are not so well known .

The first is the old wipe from front to back routine ( I hope you know what I mean , if not email me and I'll tell you in person )

Then never use those special female deodorents on this 'delicate place ' or use any other type of perfumery stuff .

Always have a cotton gusset in your underwear , if you dont have all cotton underwear and always, and I mean every single time go to the loo after you and your partner/husband have been close together ................I'm not saying anymore about this bit but it works for me and since following these simple rules I have kept away all infections ( touch wood ) for 7 years now , not one , nothing , not a hint of a bug in sight and my goodness is that good !..............

I hope this helps a bit , sorry I couldnt be on the ball with any drugs , but at least you know that someone here is thinking of you and hoping you feel better soon , there's nothing worse than a kidney/ bladder infection to make you feel low.

Look after yourself............. AMI.

[P SUDIK]

Wareagle,I hate to hear that you are suffering so much,I also have this problem.My experience is that they can find the infection with a quick test in the office,they usually start me on something right away,but more times than not they send it out to lab,and they call me and change the antibiotic,because the lab finds the specific infection.Different antibiotics work for different infections.

I sure hope this helps and that I did'nt ramble to much, any questions ,just ask Hugs P

[Sunfish]

so sorry that you've gotten such a run around.

it's not so much in regard to chronic infections but more so in regard to getting rid of the initial infection, but what pat said is definitely true. certain antibiotics are needed depending on what the actual bug(s) growing on the culture. there are definitely some antibiotics more likely statistically to zap any UTI (which is what docs will start people on in the office if they're pretty sure of a UTI but don't have a culture back yet). but no drug is a guarantee for all bacteria.

i actually am fighting a kidney infection myself at the moment. for me i don't have much bladder sensation so we never "catch it" until i have pretty bad kidney pain, which oddly enough this time around felt more abdominal. definitely dragged out our figuring out what was going on. b/c i have to self-cath i'm at super high risk for UTIs so the fact that i've only had a handful since having to do so is actually considered good. but i digress...

i hope you get some answers & relief sooner rather than later...

melissa

[wareagle]

Okay..so I went to the doc. and the urinalysis was negative (which I expected). The doc. gave me a rx. for Cipro...but I told her I didn't think that was a good med. for us..and after looking through some old posts I'm not planning on taking it. So now I don't know what to do. The Ceftin isn't working...or it's not getting rid of the infection completely. The Macrobid @100mg BID was too much for me and I don't know what I should take for this. I'm just so tired of doctors looking to me for the answers.

Does anyone have any experience with antibiotics that worked for your UTI that were tolerated well?

[Sunfish]

i've never had a problem with cipro. currently i'm on levaquin for my infection (in the same class as cipro i believe). i do tend to be sensitive to meds though not quite to the degree as some others on the forum. the only antibiotic i've ever had issues with (other than expected GI stuff that's just annoying) was via IV and even that was okay at a lower rate of infusion.

i'm not saying posts can't give good/helpful info or that you shouldn't ask your doc about it but we're all different and people tend to post more negatives than positives when it comes to reactions to meds b/c the negatives are more memorable. obviously you need to make your own decision but if you truly to have an infection that's been persistant, cipro could be just what you need to get feeling better.

melissa

[flop]

Hi Wareagle,

don't write off the cipro immediately. I have been luck to stay away from UTIs for over a year (fully agree with willows advice) but have recently been laid low with a nasty chest infection / pneumonia. I had 5 lots of antibiotics with no lasting improvement in my chest then got microbiology results back showing that ciprofloxacin was the only oral antibiotic that the bug was sensitive to. I took 2 weeks of cipro with no real side-effects except for some mild nausea (better if I ate something with the tablet).

Keep drinking buckets of water and cranberry juice. Hope you're feeling better soon,

Flop

[P SUDIK]

Hello again WE,I have alot of problems with meds. but I also did ok on Cipro, and got rid of my UTI,I have also taken Bactrim,good luck P

Keep us posted!

[wareagle]

Thanks guys...it's good to know that some can tolerate Cipro in case I have to take it...it comes in 250 and 500mg do you know which you took?

I've decided to do nothing at this point. I finished the 2nd round of antibiotics and I'm going to wait a couple of days and see how I feel. If the symptoms continue to worsen..which I have a feeling they will...I'll go back to the doctor and discuss options. I'd like to go back on the Macrobid as it seemed to be working...I just don't think I can take it twice a day and don't know if it can be used only once a day effectively.

I'm just so scared and frustrated at this point...I don't want this to turn into a kidney infection but none of my doctors are stepping up saying.."This is what we need to do". The one I saw on Monday was like.."well, the urinalysis is negative but I can give you cipro if you want"...and told me I knew more about the appropriate anibiotics to use with POTS than she did and left it up to me if I wanted to take it or wait and see what happens. Putting the desicion on me has made this very stressful...I feel like I should know what to do but I don't...just keep going round and around with it in my head.

Thanks again for all your advise and support..

[juliegee]

You may want to look into interstitial cystitis. I had a several year bout with this almost 20 years ago. It's really important to find a good urologist, who is knowledgable about this. The fact that your urinalysis is coming out clean and you're still having symptoms is a clue. Do a serach on this site as I'm fairly certain thare's some correlation with autonomic dysfunction.

I feel awful for you. I remember how horrible that felt. I'm sure there are drugs to help you feel more comfortable now. I did have to take an anti-B for years to address the issue. A cystoscopy should help the doc determine if this is really what's going on with you

Julie

[Sunfish]

just to clarify - have you had a full urinalysis/ culture run (that can take several days) or just the quickie version they do in the doc's office? the results can differ greatly so while i'm guessing you've had the full cultures run i just wanted to make sure. antibiotics have saved my life more than once in the past year but i too would be wary of taking antibiotics if not directly indicated in any way...

having to make the decision yourself can definitely be stressful. i know that as much as i like to be a part of medical decisions and tend to like having options & making my own decisions, at times i just want to be told what to do...especially when i'm feeling my worst & can't even think straight. even when there may not be a cut & dry "right" answer it'd be nice sometimes to not be the one having to make the call, double check what others are deciding, etc. it can be more than exhausting.

i hope you get some answers & relief soon...

melissa

p.s. i'm pretty certain that i've taken both doses of cipro at varying times (and for varying numbers of days depending on the situation).

[Guest tearose]

Can the test come back negative and you have an infection?

Recently I had symptoms and my gyn started me on a three day antibiotic. The third day was the day the results came back "within normal limits" although some bacteria were found...I felt much better so I don't understand. Is this an infection or not?

Maybe this is that interstitial cystitis? I guess I too need to learn about it.

tearose

[morgan617]

You should always have a culture with a UTI, to see which drugs work best.

I didn't like macrobid either, but found it wasn't as bothersome if I ate food with it. But you can take antibiotics till the world ends and if it's not sensitive to it, it will never work.

We always started people on meds after they gave a sample, but always did cultures to make sure it was the right drug....I hope you feel better soon. Oh, can you take pyridium? it turns your pee (and everything it touches) a lovely shade of bright orange, but certainly does help the discomfort.....

[wareagle]

RE: Urine culture vs. urinalysis

Lets see...In Febuary when I was first dx. with a mild bladder infection they did an in office urinalysis and sent it out for a culture...I was put on the Ceftin. As I got closer to finishing the round of antbx. I called my Dr. to make sure it was the right one b/c I wasn't getting rid of all the symptoms. They told me it should be working so I'm assuming it was on the list of possible tx. that came back with the culture. Once I finished the antbx. I had a repeat urinalysis about 4 days out and came back neg. so I thought I was having some other issue.

I had another urinalysis done a couple of weeks ago that came back positive again..but they didn't do a culture. I'm really thinking that the original infection just didn't clear up and although the second round of Ceftin has given me some relief it just isn't enough to get rid of it all together. It's really confusing though b/c it is a mild infection...just really irritating...I would think if the Ceftin was listed on the culture it should have worked but in doing some research I found that it really isn't as effective as some of the other "typical" UTI tx.

I have friends coming this weekend...so I'm just trying to keep this in check untill they leave then I'll look into some new tx. I really think that just a few days of the right tx. would probably clear this up...just nervous about which one I should try next.

Morgan,

What's Pyridium? Is that like the AZO stuff you can get OTC?

My friend's mom is a nurse and told me that in order to get an accurate reading on a urinalysis you have to be off the antbx. for 7-10 days...any opinion?

[kmpower]

Hi all,

A long time ago, when I was in college, I used to get bladder infections all the time. I had analyses, cultures, even that awful test where they use a needle into the full bladder to take out urine for testing to be sure any bugs aren't just on the outside. Anyway, when there were bugs I got an antibiotic and pyrideum (an anaesthetic) and it always helped...

...for about 3 weeks...

Then it came back. Dozens of times. I finally got that the drugs killed bugs, but didn't heal the tissue. I started my health research then. I studied about natural antiobiotics, probiotics to support my own defenses, herbs and vitamins to heal the bladder and kidney walls, natural diuretics and painkillers, and lifestyle things (as mentioned above, stuff you know about wiping, chemicals, water, etc.)

There are a few good books written by women with "our" stories. You Don't Have to Live With Cystitis is one and I just tried to find my copies of the others to tell you the names and I couldn't.

I know it helps to know which antibiotics you can take. But if you can heal the tissues to make them less vulnerable, maybe you can avoid infections. It took me awhile and changes in my diet and habits, but -- knock wood -- I was able to stop getting them.

I really hope that each of you can get help. Only someone who has had them knows the misery and excruciation of cystitis.

OLL