Heartandsoul

Pumpkin, Just curious. When you wrote over active bladder following infection does that mean urgency with little volume or voiding volumes? Thank you, Heartandsoul

I started with uti symptoms over a month ago. MD wanted to wait for culture before giving me abx . Due to a snag and then a weekend took 7 days to get positive culture result to get on abx. By then in kidneys. Vomiting, fever, chills, extreme flu like and more. Meanwhile using salt aggravated burning and urethral swelling thus was UNABLE to pee cept a trickle. Started to improve from severe symptoms but still very symptomatic for voiding issue still trickle, urgency (but little production) and more issues. Next culture was negative yet still symptomatic but told to stop abx. A week later feeling so poorly went to urgent care where dipstick revealed heavy bacteria, blood, etc. They sent urine sample to hospital for culture and way over the top positive for TWO organisms. Btw dipstick looks for nitrites said doc and he was puzzled why none. Makes me wonder what dipstick from drug store etc actually looks for to be positive for infection. I did a smidge of research and found that it looks for nitrites only but correct me if anyone finds other info. I only searched a bit. Meanwhile cuz of salt causing burning I had to give it up. Bp and hr all over the place. (Btw not on midodrine). So brought UrgentCare results to MD and brought hubby along too for some MAN CLOUT and MD said well I guess if you are still symptomatic she'd give me stronger abx. Been improving but still not voiding well. Btw a week after sick to near death from kidney involvement went to ER cuz no voiding at all yet had been drinking tons of h2o. Must've washed out NA cuz was very low. Also told I was dehydrated. Got saline. On day 9 now of new abx and sort of over all better bet still voiding little and still flank pain. At latest MD appt was told somewhat dehydrated. Called MD today cuz afraid to stop abx tomorrow. MD says now it must be something else. No extension on abx. Well when I got dx with Lyme bladder was red and inflamed ....urologist peered in there ...ouch....and was going to bathroom 100 times per day. Given dx of NON bacterial cystitis. Interstitial cystitis. But a few months later when dx with Lyme abx got rid of that problem. I don't like taking abx at all but grateful for symptom relief. Sorry so long a post. Someone I know well is a research scientist and found something printed in NEJM about urine cultures and how they are not always reliable for neg. cultures. During this past month I've had 2++ cultures and 3 neg cultures. I don't know how to cut and paste on iPad but if interested google.... (Common test for bladder infections misses too many cases NPR) This is for synopsis of NEJM paper. I write this post in case anyone wonders ...is this infection? Cuz I've had infections but told many things other than infection esp when told interstitial cystitis or clean culture when in fact infection was going on. I am a very immunocompromised gal and pick up major weird things that are infectious and it takes forever to get dx. This POTS was triggered by last relentless infection for wc I ultimately ended up on 6 wks IV abx. SO NOT on midodrine but much talk about cystitis and uti etc so wanted to put in 2 cents .....just food for thought about dipsticks mainly and urine cultures even though I went long way around.

MomtoGiuliana, Thanks for posting about your low NA. My bladder does not empty properly either even without uti.s. How did your bladder issue get corrected if you don't mind me asking? It does seem strange to have high salt intake while having low NA in blood work. Best, HeartandSoul

I am still wet behind the ears with my dx of POTS so pls excuse if topic title question seems odd. I had been on the lowest end of NA ref range. A month ago however for NA I was 132 with ref range of 135-145 For past two weeks I've been ill with really bad uti that went to kidneys. Yesterday another blood test for the uti issue at same lab showed NA at 128 with same ref range of 135-145. So 6 points lower than last test approx 5 weeks apart. I will discuss this with doc but just wondering what results members on this forum have had re: NA in lab results that you've seen. And as aside has anyone seen a change following or during an infection? Thank you, Heartandsoul

I too awaken with heart racing. It WAKES me from sleep usually 5~6 hours into sleep. And it's pounding. Two full mugs of water often will help some but not perfectly. But then what starts up is racing thoughts and THAT prevents me from getting back to sleep. I hardly ever get enough sleep. Heartandsoul

Stephsurf, I had to raise my D level prior to POTS onset for another reason. That said, The cardio doc who eventually referred me to POTS doc felt it was impt to check my D level. When the number came back, She said it was the highest she's ever seen but was happy with the number. It was even higher prior to POTS onset. So for me the D did not prevent onset. My b12 is in Very good range also and made no diff at all for me.

Gjensen I just came back to the site and see that we must have cross posted way earlier in the day. Thank you for your input. I'm sensitive to lots of drugs. I think I do better with natural things but I never know until I try. I have to start with the teensiest tiniest amount and slowly work up. I'm hoping I won't react to the butchers broom as you did eventually. I'm sorry that it turned out to be not so good for you. I think I'm going to try the tincture so I can control the dosing more easily. I will report back about that particular part of my treatment once I get my hands on the brand I want and see how it goes. Regards, Heartandsoul

Thank you very much Corina. I just checked out the links you provided for me and very much appreciate your help. Regards, Heartandsoul

Hello all. I am new here. I got a dx of POTS recently. Had a bad infection over a year ago wc triggered symptoms. I apparently have genetic pre-disposition since very close family member has POTS. Using non pharm techniques per MD and own research wc MD validates. One thing I want to try is butchers broom. I know it comes in tincture and capsule forms. Wondering if anyone has had better experience with one or the other. I want to start in teeny increments and titrate up to what my body responds to (hopefully will help but won't know til I try) btw?.. Are we allowed to discuss name brands on this forum? Thank you Heartandsoul