Schizoid UTI

[essdipity]

Well, my life without urinary tract infections seems to be over.  I had been having strange bouts of burning at urination, just once, or at most twice in a row. This happened every few days, or up to a week, with nothing out of the ordinary in between. Every time I thought to call the uro-gyn it was a weekend (what else?), and by Monday things were fine again. Cathing as needed seemed routine.

Last Saturday, however, the burning was fierce, twice in a row. No other symptoms. Sunday was normal. Being tired of this merry-go-round, I called the doctor on Monday and was told to come right in. The doctor did her quick and dirty lab test and said all was quite normal. Of course I wasn't surprised, my bladder being schizoid and all. She decided, though, to send the specimen out to a lab.

Yesterday her nurse called and said, "Surprise, surprise, you do have an infection." It's a bacterium called, I think, proteus. So now I have a sulfa antibiotic.

The moral of this story, for me, is that it's possible to have a UTI with and without symptoms, all during the same episode. So in the future I'll make sure to nip this kind of thing in the bud. Never in my previous, semi-normal life have I been troubled with plumbing problems.

ess

[essdipity]

OMG, "down" to 15 or 20 times a day? I would just set up my desk in the ladies' room and be done with it!

Cathing 3 or 4 times a day, every day, is a lot. But I know you are plagued with both leakage and retention, the twin scourges. Luckily for me it's just retention. My trips to the facilities are normal in number.

In her written report, my uro-gyn referred to the office testing of urine as dipstick urinalysis. I guess that catches most infections but clearly not all. I now know to trust my own bod more and push for lab testing if things don't seem right. Hope Heather will do this too.

The mostly smiling ess

[Lulu54]

Hi Ess,
We went a while without this topic, huh and now its back again?  I'm sorry - my crazy bladder seems to have gotten quiet and happy with the 3-4 times daily cath routine.  I'm only in the bathroom about 15-20 times a day now!  Much improved over the every 15-20 minutes.  :-)

I'm fearful I am just experiencing a lull in the action and the UTI and activity will come back.  I know its not really gone ... but just lurking.  I'll look into this other bacteria to find out more.

Keep smiling,
Lulu

[essdipity]

I do get loads of vitamin C. I don't have cranberry pills but I drink the juice and just love Craisins. I hope that's good enough.

ess

[essdipity]

Gosh, this is scary. My uro testing has been nearly all on function, not on content. Failure to empty the bladder completely is what my uro-gyn attributes these infections to. That in turn is caused by neurogenic problems, including weak or absent reflexes. The urethra is failing to relax. Since all this seems to have come about in the last 6 months or so, she isn't looking into the possibility of kidney stones. However, my bladder is very stretched out of shape and much larger than it should be, so its capacity is very large also, and I'm thinking may have gotten that way very slowly.

Because of osteopenia I take a lot of calcium supplements, per another one of my doctors. I know that calcium is what kidney stones are made of. If all this continues I will certainly ask for some thorough checking. This is my first infection since diagnosis, and first in general in many many years.

Thanks for your comments.

ess

[cydney27]

Boy, did this one strike a nerve for me.  I spent years suffering with UTI's some would come on so fast and intense that I would end up in the ER. Finally my PCP just put me in the hospital, and ran tests. KUB x-ray's and ultrasound revealed that I had 2 kidney stones, one in each kidney.

Now this doesn't sound bad, but when I saw them on the oblique x-ray, I freaked out! My Dr, explained that though there were only 2 stones, they  took up about 90% of the collection cavities in each kidney.  They looked like deer antlers in velvet.

My first question wass, How did I get these? My Dr.'s answer, the bacteria Proteus, is relatively common in bladders. The  problem arises when the urine is held, and backs up into the kidney's.  He said that once the bacteria is in the kidneys it has a "Happy Home" and produces calcifications, where it lives on happily and continues to cause UTI's and kidney infections.  Apparently my stones had been growing for 10-12 yrs.

I was referred to a wonderful urologist, and we began the 4 year process to rid me of the stones. 11 surgeries, 4 lithotripsies,and a couple of other procedures, (can't remember what they were called)  later, I was declared "stone free" only dust. I have been without a UTI for the last 8 years.

My point is, your dr needs to check for stones, even very tiny ones, can harbor the bacteria, or a stone embedded in the tissue.

Have you done the 72 hour urinalysis? This helps determine what kind of meds you need. I noticed that you said are on sulfa meds, they work! I am on them for the rest of my life (low dose) as well as a diuretic.  

Good luck, and I pray you don't have to go through what I did!

Happy Holidays!

Cydney

[doni54]

Hi Ess,

Sorry you are dealing with this again.  I am one of the lucky ones in this realm of health issues, never had a UTI, knock on wood!!!

Good luck and hope this is not going to be a regular thing for you.

doni

[monotreme]

Yes, most UTI's are caused by E. coli  (found in feces) .  However, I have had staph and strep UTI's so there can be any contaminants.  And I have also had negative readings in a doctor office but bacteria found on the same specimen in a lab.

I think the doctors just dip the urine with a strip that tests for white blood cells in the urine, and protein, and red blood cells, all of which are a sign of an infection.  In the labs, they actually culture it and look for bacteria under a microscope.

Good Luck ess.  Do you take cranberry pills and plenty of vitamin C, both of which work to prevent infection?  Cranberry extract pills can be found in the vitamin section of grocery stores.

Elaine

[essdipity]

Yesterday I did a bit of Googling on proteus and UTIs in general. There's a lot on line about this.

I got the impression that most UTIs are caused by fecal contamination. Someone please correct this if I'm wrong. But anyway, proteus may be one of the less common contaminants, and is not fecal. I don't know what quick test the uro-gyn did, but am guessing it was for the more common infectants.

If you come up with more info on what causes UTIs, please post. If you're not emptying your bladder, maybe you should cath. Do you?

Christmas hugs,
ess

[Heather3418]

I can't begin to tell you how many times I have had symptoms of a bladder infection, but has been negative on doctor's urine exam process.  The burning at the start of urination, the burning through the middle and a spasm and burning after I am finished.

I was diagnosed with Neurogenic bladder many years ago with frequent bladder infections.  I do not fully empty my bladder, so this is an infection just waiting to happen.  

I have never heard of the baterium 'Porteus.'  I wonder why more doctor's do not check for it, when we still are having symptoms of an infection but negative in the doctor's office.  This is something I will bring up to my doctor.  As this sounds, it seems that your negative readings in the office are common, then do a more detailed study and find a bacterium.  Do you think this is possible?

If you can offer any more information on this ess, I would appreciate it.  Like the burning before, during and after.....  I might have missed many true bladder infections and suffered needlessly.

I will do some research on Proteus today.  Feel better soon, ess.

Big Hugs Precious One,
Heather