left kidney pain

[elipsis]

I have had chronic uti's since I was 2yrs. old. From the time I was 2-21 I was on daily antibiotic's for prevention and when I would get an infection have to double up on, or switch to a new one til infection was done. When I was 21 I had enough of the antibiotics, since my overall health was suffering( chronic colds, flus etc.) I was basically free of infections til I turned 36 and had to have hysterectomy for medical reasons. Since then I am plagued by uti's and now going into my left kidney most of the time leaving me in the hospial and home on iv antibiotics. To make my story worse is that my right kidney is scarred from all the previous infections and is failing. If I have no infection why do I have persistent left kidney pain?

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,

Women are at more risk for developing UTI’s which are commonly recurrent in nature. Recurrent urinary tract infections may be an indication of a urinary tract abnormality, such as vesicoureteral reflux.Other causes could be due to hygiene practices, changes in hormones, an irregularity in the urinary tract, or a weakened immune system. In some cases, it is never explained why the person relapses.

Drink plenty of water every day and rinate when you feel the need; don't resist the urge to urinate.Wipe from front to back to prevent bacteria around the anus from entering the vagina or urethra.Take showers instead of tub baths and cleanse the genital area before sexual intercourse and avoid using feminine hygiene sprays and scented douches, which may irritate the urethra.Some doctors also suggest drinking cranberry juice.

Persistent left kidney pain in your case could be due to recurrent UTI’s which manifest as ascending pyelonephritis sometimes.Your right kidney is already scarred,now ascending pyelonephritis can be involving your left kidney as well.

My advise is to consult a nephrologists as well as a urologist so that the cause of recurrent UTI’s can be identified and pyelonephritis be treated.

Hope it helps.Take care and pls do keep me posted on how you are doing or if you have any additional queries.

[sunshine28083]

Elipsis, I had chronic UTI's from 2 months until about age 14 consistently, ending up in the hospital on IV's more times than I can remember.  It took five or six years of daily antibiotics to get mine under control, and I was left with severe scarring of my left kidney, so it is the size of a toddlers and functions very low if at all anymore.  Since getting them under control, I have had one or two infections a year.  Even when I do not have an infection, I get pain in my functioning kidney as well.  I'm not a doc, but here are some tips of things that help me.  It seems that the pain is worse when I don't get enough rest, so make sure you are resting enough.  Also, since I was a child, I have had to stop eating and drinking anything with artificial colors, flavors, or sweeteners in it.  No soda, no juice that isn't 100 %, etc.  That seems to help alot, when I am bad and have something that does contain any of those, my health really suffers.  Also, try getting some 100% cranberry juice (read the labels carefully, most of them have corn syrup in them) and drink a couple of glasses a day to flush bacteria from your kidneys, there is an enzyme in it that prevents bacteria from sticking to the walls of your urinary tract.

Hope this is helpful, and God bless!